Retirement In Sight Presented by Carla J. Merlak AUGUST 2017 “If grass can grow through cement, love can find you at every time in your life.” - Cher TRAVEL TIP Road trip? Take an emergency kit If you plan on driving a few hundred miles (or more), make [...]
Divorce or Separation May Affect Taxes Taxpayers who are divorcing or recently divorced need to consider the impact divorce or separation may have on their taxes. Alimony payments paid under a divorce or separation instrument are deductible by the payer, and the recipient must include it in income. Name or address changes and individual retirement [...]
I cannot believe it has been one year since I joined Brookstone Capital Management as an investment advisor representative. This relationship has assisted me tremendously in achieving my primary goal, to best serve your investment needs. Brookstone is a leading wealth management firm with an impressive track record in helping clients to preserve and build [...]
Miscellaneous deductions are tax breaks that generally don’t fit into a particular tax category. They can help reduce taxable income and the amount of taxes owed. For example, some employees can deduct certain work expenses like uniforms as miscellaneous deductions. To do that, they must itemize their deductions instead of taking the standard deduction on [...]
If you have money in the bank, you probably haven't seen interest rates over 3% since the end of 2008, (5 year CD rate - source: http://www.bankrate.com/banking/cds/historical-cd-interest-rates-1984-2016). It's hard to believe that is 8 YEARS of historically low rates. Let's do the math...you would earn $3,000 per year on $100,000 at 3% and $2,000 per [...]
RETIREMENT FUNDS AND TAXES There is a huge benefit of having your retirement accounts and taxes done by the same person. Not only can they direct you in which accounts to open that would be the best fit for you and your retirement needs, but they can also tell you how they will impact [...]
A Short History Of Taxes “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” –Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin was correct in his assessment of both death and taxes, but while taxes have been certain, they’ve been far from consistent. America was tax-free for much of its early history. That is, [...]
EXCITING CORPORATE DISCOUNTS Did you know if you have a business, group, or organization of 10 or more people you can offer them a discount to have their taxes done by US!! We charge $69.00 for a complete personal federal and IL state return. With this amazing deal their tax return would [...]
An important part any retirement plan is your social security. Do you know what changes have been made and how they may impact you? Download the SSA Fact Sheet 2017 Social Security Changes to learn more. Still have questions? Call and set a time to talk to me. Carla Merlak and/or Merlak Tax Advisory [...]
