I recently had a situation where an individual had bought their first house and took out their mortgage through Bank of America. The loan required a 3% down payment, but Bank of America granted her the funds to cover the 3%, meaning she didn’t actually have to put anything down on the mortgage. When looking into this, I found that no down payment for first-time homebuyers is becoming common. In recent decades, a large portion of the state and city governments in the country have instituted their own down payment assistance programs that first-time homebuyers can apply for. In many

One of the most common reasons taxpayers seek out professional tax help surrounds the uncertainty of which state or state(s) they need to file in, and how to fill out those returns. The federal tax return is the same no matter where you are located, but each state return is unique with its own tax system that consists of different rules, calculation methods, and deductions. Advances in technology and an increasing popularity in remote work has thrown new wrinkles into the system. There are many avenues to explore with state taxation, but what I will focus on today is the

Banking rewards, such as cash-back offers, points, and miles, have become a common incentive offered by banks and credit card issuers to attract and retain customers. However, the tax implications surrounding these programs often leads to confusion. So let’s look at a handful of common programs and discuss the tax status surrounding each. The 5 most common types of reward programs are: Credit Card Spending BonusesCredit Card Spending RewardsFrequent Flyer MilesBank Account Sign-Up BonusesReferral Bonuses It’s important to point out that there is not a lot of official guidance on the proper tax treatment for some of these items. This

What is it? Sales and use tax is a form of tax that is imposed by both state and local governments on the sale or use of goods and services. Sales tax is assessed by the state or local government to the seller and is a certain percentage of the sale. This percentage varies by state and locality. The sales tax is usually passed on to the buyer, resulting in the buyer paying the tax. When the states first enacted their sales taxes, the tax was imposed only on in-state sales.  There was no use tax.  As businesses began to

When it comes to financial advice, investing in an IRA is often recommended but rarely understood. We’re going to solve that problem today by exploring two of the most common IRA’s: a Traditional IRA and a Roth IRA. We’ll delve into what the benefits of each are, their respective rules, and what can and cannot be done in them. By the end of this article, I hope you’ll have a better understanding of what an IRA is. After reading, if you feel an IRA might be right for you, I’ll invite you to reach out and we can get you