Tax Filing Status Is Not Set In Stone

Tax Preparation (Photo credit: agrilifetoday)

This tax season many people will be changing their tax filing status from single to married. It's all so exciting for the newlyweds new life together. To make it more interesting you and your spouse can now file joint tax returns.

Your filing status is an important part of your tax return because if used incorrectly you could be paying to much in taxes. Many people do not realize that you don't have to continue to use the one filing status, you can change it depending on the tax implications.

“Newlyweds and married taxpayers can choose to file jointly or separately based on their individual situation, but keep in mind that this filing status can change each year,” said Mark Steber, chief tax officer, Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. “Generally, using the ‘married filing jointly’ status provides the lowest tax liability and the highest standard deduction. However, if one of the filers has large deductions or expenses, the ‘married filing separately’ status may be more beneficial.”

Some rules you need to keep in mind.

• The Internal Revenue Service recognizes a couple’s marital status on the last day of the year. Even couples who wed right before midnight on December 31 are considered legally married for the full 2011 tax year;
• Couples should note that certain credits, including the Child and Dependent Care Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit and certain education credits, are not available under the “married filing separately” status; and,
• Tying the knot often results in a new last name. Names listed in your tax return should match all forms of identification, including social security card, passport, driver’s license and documents from employers, loan holders and investment accounts.

Make sure you seek out professional tax advice when choosing a tax filing status. The money you spend on this counsel will benefit you with only paying the minimum tax owed.

A Reverse Mortgage Is A Smart Alternative For Tapping Home Equity

With the current lending climate, getting equity back out of a home is a challenge. Lenders aren't eager to do home equity lines of credit or second mortgages as they were a few years ago. However, the reverse mortgage is making a comeback, according to Annamaria Andriotis of Smart Money magazine.

You may be familiar with reverse mortgages from TV ads and infomercials. They may sound too good to be true, but reverse mortgages are backed by the Federal Housing Administration and are a legitimate government program, not a late-night TV scam. 

Smart Money says that MetLife Bank has increased its reverse mortgages by 171% from 2010 to 2011. That's a substantial increase for a single product by a single lender, even though the total number (10,512) may seem low.

Reverse mortgages are, of course, only available to people ages 62 and up. Homeowners are allowed to get a loan for a percentage of the home's value: up to 62% for a 62 year old and up to 72% for an 80 year old. There are plenty of associated fees with a reverse mortgage, including origination and HUD mortgage insurance premiums, but they can be a good way to leverage the equity in your home and use that money as long as you live there, especially if you can't get a traditional home equity loan.

How to find a good reverse mortgage lender? 

The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association has a website with lots of information on how to do that. You can also try Weemba.com. Weemba allows you to register and post your loan needs, including for reverse mortgages, at no cost to you. 

Because your post only shows up under a nickname, you can include information about the value of your home, how long you've been paying on it, any income that you have and a no-cost, no-impact credit score. No one can connect the information to who you really are. If a professional lender finds your post and wants to contact you, you will get an alert by email letting you know that, and you can say yes or no to it as you wish.

Besides reverse mortgages, Weemba allows you to post for all kinds of loan needs, both personal and business: HELOCs, mortgages, home improvement loans, medical loans, lines of credit, car loans, RV loans, boat loans and all kinds of business loans too. 

There is never a fee for a borrower to use Weemba; it is not a direct lender. The website simply provides users with the tools to present themselves to professional lenders in the best way possible. Weemba is changing the way that borrowers and lenders find each other online, forever.

Yearly Budget Review 'Could Help Prevent Debt Problems'

Budgeting (Photo credit: 401K)People could greatly improve their financial planning just by comparing today's finances with a year ago, according to financial solutions company Think Money.

Checking bank statements from a year earlier and comparing your spending then with today could give a good insight to how your spending habits have changed - for the better or for the worse.

"Looking back at how your finances were in January 2011 could help you to make some important changes to the management of your finances here in February 2012, and give you a clearer picture of what decisions you need to make for the year ahead," said an expert at Think Money.

"Get together all your bank statements, receipts, budget plans, invoices for bills and any other important financial documents you have from the past year. Have your finances, generally speaking, improved? Got worse? Remained largely the same? Depending on what shape your finances are in now, compared with 12 months ago, you could take various approaches to dealing with them."

In particular, Think Money said comparing debt levels with a year ago could be very important.

"If you were managing your debts successfully a year ago, but feel you've lost control now, what were you doing differently then? Did you have fewer debts of smaller amounts, a higher disposable income, or were you simply more financially organised? If you're facing debt problems, it's important to get professional advice as early as possible, so you can find an approach to budgeting and debt management that works for you."

Save Money On Prescriptions With LowestMed.com

Prices of prescription drugs vary from one pharmacy to the next. Consumer Reports market research found a 26% price variation between pharmacies on the same drug. It's not easy to shop around when filling your prescriptions. Website Lowestmed.com has come out with a solution to help you quickly and easily compare the prices of prescription drugs at many locations in your area.

Lowestmed.com has three ways to access its comparison data base. Simply go online to Lowestmed.com and click on the search button. Enter the name of the drug you want to find out the price for. Also enter in the zip code of the area where you want to shop. You can search as far as 30 miles away or narrow it down to a 10 mile radius. After you press the search button you select what milligram strength and either the 30 or 90 day amount.

How to use the website on your desktop computer.

As a test I entered Lipitor 10 mg. I got 8 results back with a price range between $118.00 to $123.00. It listed Atorvastatin as an alternate drug and displayed a price range between $63.00 and $107.00. The stores where to purchase the prescription and a map to them were part of the results. When you go to the pharmacy just present the card and you will be charged the price listed on the website.

How to use it on your phone.

You don't have to be in front of your computer to use Lowestmeds.com. There also is an iPhone and Android phone app. Or you can just use your web browser on your phone to search while you are out of the house.

Open the app and enter the drug and milligram strength written on your prescription. Search for the lowest price and tap the discount card button. Your ID#, Group#, and Bin# will appear. Just show it to your pharmacist to get the discounted price. You don't have to use the member card because the info will be on your phone screen,

If you have Medical Insurance.

LowestMed gives you three ways to get low prices on your medications by comparing; 1.the prices of your insurance plan 2. a competitive discount card and 3. pharmacy low cost cash list prices. Carry both your insurance card and the LowestMed Discount card with you when purchasing your medications. Check LowestMed’s website or mobile tools to see which payment method you should use to get the best price.

When you use the LowestMed card to purchase your prescription or purchase a low cost generic drug, save a copy of the receipt. If later in the year, you need to apply the costs of your prescriptions to meet your deductible, submit the receipt and a copy of your insurance card to your insurance plan to get deductible credit.

• LowestMed provides you with access to a mobile internet application from your smart phone to find the pharmacies with the best prices in your local area.
• Our text message tool allows you to send LowestMed a text message of your drug name and zip code and you will receive back a text message of pharmacies with the best price.
• LowestMed does not limit you to one pharmacy chain like many discount programs, but has contracted prices with 58,000 pharmacies including: Costco, Wal-Mart, Kmart, Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS, Krogers, Target, Shopko etc. as well as local grocery store chains.
• Access to LowestMed’s web site gives you quick comparisons of prices for your medications at the pharmacies in your local area.
• LowestMed gives you access to contracted discounts that can save you 10% - 85% off retail prices. This is possible due to the volume purchasing power of 15 million consumers.
• Pharmacies have unique lists of low-cost drugs. To help you save money, every month LowestMed finds the best prices from all major pharmacy chains.

This app is something that is much needed these days because it will provide a savings to individuals who didn’t have an easy way to know if they were getting a good deal of not.

If you want to download the LowestMed app, just head over to the Apple App Store or Android Marketplace.