
New charitable giving tax deduction worth up to $2,000 is coming soon, and you don’t have to itemize
Millions of taxpayers will soon benefit from a new above-the-line tax deduction worth up to $2,000 for qualified charitable contributions.
Andrea Coombes, a tax editor at Bankrate, translates complex personal finance topics into understandable language that helps people live their best financial lives. She’s a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and over the past 25 years has worked as a financial coach, personal finance writer and editor, and volunteer tax preparer.
Her work has been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, MarketWatch and many newspapers nationwide. She's been interviewed on local and national TV and radio, including NPR's All Things Considered, CBS News, NASDAQ and Marketplace.
Andrea has moderated panels on how to invest for retirement, how to use 529 college savings plans and more, and she's an experienced personal-finance speaker who has presented to groups on a variety of topics such as how to budget, improve credit, manage debt, and build savings. She's also worked as a personal financial coach and certified consumer credit counselor, helping people reach their goals. For two tax seasons, she worked a volunteer tax preparer.
A lot of people are nervous about doing their taxes, and about managing their money in general. I'm here to say: It's not rocket science. There are small steps each of us can take to slowly start moving towards our long-term goals. We can do this, people.
— Andrea Coombes, CFP®
If you own rental property, you can reduce your tax bill by claiming valuable tax deductions.
Schedule E is a tax form used to report rental property income and expenses. Here’s what you should know.
Modified adjusted gross income, or MAGI, is a crucial tax term to know if you want to qualify for valuable tax benefits.
The popular IRS Direct File program, which lets you prepare and file your return for free, will be cancelled if the Republican tax bill becomes law.
The child tax credit could get boosted to $2,500 under a Republican proposal. But millions of children would be excluded.
It pays to know the difference between short-term and long-term capital gains.
Whether you’re classified as an independent contractor or an employee will have a major effect on your taxes.
You don’t have to file Form 5498, but it’s a key tax form to keep for your IRA records.