Finance Guide

Get the tax debt relief you deserve We publish unbiased reviews; our opinions are our own and are not influenced by payments from advertisers. Learn about our independent review process and partners in our advertiser disclosure. Approximately 114 million Americans had unpaid tax debt in 2018, according to figures from the Internal Revenue Service. The total dollar amount equaled $131 billion in tax debt, including penalties and interest that year.1 Many people fall into tax debt because they don’t realize how much they owe due to filing errors or incomplete bookkeeping records. Others don’t have the money to pay their taxes. Some think they can avoid filing taxes and it won’t catch up with them. But the U.S. government earns too much revenue from taxes to let taxpayers slide. In 2018, the IRS filed 410,220 federal tax liens and 639,025 notices of levies. The agency seized the property of 275,000 taxpayers. Ignoring tax debt is rarely a solution to a problem that will only grow over ti...

A self-directed IRA is a type of retirement account that gives you more control over the types of investments you include in your IRA. In many cases, the custodian that holds the account for you will place more of the risk on your choices. Learn more about how a self-directed IRA works, and the types of assets you can include, along with the costs you’re likely to encounter when you open this kind of retirement account. What Is a Self-Directed IRA? With a self-directed IRA, you work with a custodian that is more likely to allow you to choose from a wider variety of investments for your retirement portfolio that go beyond what an IRA custodian would normally suggest or allow.     Alternate definition: A self-directed IRA allows you more leeway to choose investments that might be considered “alternative” investments     Acronym: SDIRA How Does a Self-Directed IRA Work? IRAs are held by custodians who usually provide a limited menu of assets to invest in. Custodians ...

While in office, the U.S. president receives a salary of $400,000 a year and a $50,000 expense account.1 Congress sets the amount and raised it to the current level in 2001. This pays for the president's personal expenses, such as food and dry cleaning. Title 3 of the U.S. Code also grants a $100,000 non-taxable travel account and $19,000 for entertainment.23 Other perks include free transportation in the presidential limousine, Marine One, and Air Force One. The president receives free furnished housing in the White House. The First Family also receives $100,000 to redecorate the White House to feel more at home.4 White House upkeep requires permanent residents including maids, cooks, valets, and groundskeepers. The president receives free health care from the official physician who directs the White House Medical Unit. Presidents and their spouses cannot receive free clothing. If they wear any piece as a gift, they must place it in the National Archives after being wo...

President Donald Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) on Dec. 22, 2017.1 It cut individual income tax rates, doubled the standard deduction, and eliminated personal exemptions from the tax code. The top individual tax rate dropped from 39.6% to 37%, and numerous itemized deductions were eliminated or affected as well.2 The Act also cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% beginning in 2018. The corporate cuts are permanent, while the individual changes expire at the end of 2025 unless Congress acts to renew some or all of the provisions of the TCJA. How It Affects You The TCJA is complex and its various terms affect each family differently depending on their personal situations:     High-income earners: The Tax Foundation has indicated that those who earn more than 95% of the population will receive a 2.2% increase in after-tax income. Those in the 20% to 80% range would receive a 1.7% increase.3 The Tax Policy Center said those in the bottom 20% would only rece...

The debt ceiling is a limit that Congress imposes on how much debt the federal government can carry at any given time. When the ceiling is reached, the U.S. Treasury Department cannot issue any more Treasury bills, bonds, or notes. It can only pay bills as it receives tax revenues. If the revenue isn't enough, the Treasury Secretary must choose between paying federal employee salaries, Social Security benefits, or the interest on the national debt. The nation's debt limit is similar to the limit your credit card company places on your spending. But there's one significant difference. Congress is in charge of both its spending and the debt limit. It already knows how much it will add to the debt when it approves each year's budget deficit. When it refuses to increase the debt limit, it's saying it wants to spend but not pay its bills. That's like your credit card company allowing you to spend above its limit and then refusing to pay the stores for your purchases....

You will inevitably wind up juggling college applications and considering your financing options at the same time. The three major costs of college are tuition, room, and board. Understanding all three will help you plan for college and prepare to apply for any financial aid you need to get you through. Tuition Tuition is the core of the college bill. It is the fee associated with taking each course, and it's often calculated per credit. For example, a college may charge $300 per credit for undergraduate courses, which means that a three-credit undergraduate history course will cost $900. The average general education course is three or four credits.1 College students typically take between three and five classes per term.23 Some colleges and universities provide a flat rate for tuition, which covers a minimum and a maximum number of units per semester.4 That can work well for a student who is committed to a full schedule of classes each term. For example, a college may charge...