That’s a question one of my clients asked recently as we prepared for 2008 taxes. I’m sure it’s a question a lot of you have so here’s an example and my explanation.

2009 Gross Income

$68,953

Estimated Federal Taxes

$5,251

Marginal Tax Bracket

15%

% of Income to Taxes

7.60%

You can see that the marginal tax bracket is higher than the actual percentage of gross income paid to taxes. That’s because the government taxes the first money you make at a lesser rate than the later money and what that means is that the more you make, the …

Although the stock market is not ending the year in positive territory, you may still want to fund your retirement accounts. Every retirement account lets you use cash investments inside of your retirement account and you can decide later how you want to invest it. 
For 2008 you can make contributions to the most popular retirement accounts:
Contributions to some accounts must be completed by December 31, 2008 while other accounts can still accept contributions until April 15, 2009. Check with your employer or tax preparer regarding your situation.
Higher way earners may …

This is part of our Financial Literacy Month Question and Answer series
Question: Can I still get my 2005, 2006 or 2007 refund?
Answer: If you didn’t file a tax return in 2005, 2006 or 2007, there’s still time.
But, for 2004, it’s too late because there’s a 3 year statute of limitations on refunds from the date it was originally due.
So you have until April 15, 2009 for a 2005 refund and April 15, 2010 for 2006. But why wait? The IRS isn’t paying interest!
This is …