College Graduate? Here Are Some Tax Tips For You!

Moving forward from being a student to a graduate can be a strenuous experience. After graduation comes job hunting, and then next thing you know, you're receiving your first ever post grad paycheck. You will encounter new financial decisions that are crucial to a successful financial life.

Here are some very useful tax tips for new graduates like you:

Tip #1 A Tax Professional Can Help

One important matter is to never neglect your taxes and credits. Sorting out the paperwork, laying down the figures, writing down tax deductions and other specifics can be a tedious and grueling job. Tax laws change often and each's financial situation differ. Because factors vary, it is an excellent idea to speak with an experienced tax professional before filing your income tax return.

Tip #2 Take Advantage of Tax Credits

Everyone single and less than 65 years old who make more than $10,300 will need to file taxes. It is also important that you are no longer declared as dependent by your parents before filing your own taxes. You will be able to take advantage of tax credits if your most of your expenses are paid by yourself too.

Tip #3 Check Your State's Website

Remember to check your state's website first before anything else. Some states allow filing of state returns for free. You can also see several options available.

Tip #4 You May Qualify for Student Loan Interest Deduction

Congratulations new graduate! Unfortunately, many will be continue to be burdened by student loan debt. The good news is that you may qualify for a student loan interest deduction. After receiving a 1098-E from your school, your interest paid can be subtracted from your total earnings as adjustment. This will lower your adjusted gross income.

Tip #5 Take Advantage of HSA

If your employer offers a health savings account (HSA), take it. Contributions will be carried over to future years and can be tax-free if used for health expenses. Deposits are up to $6,150 per year, tax-deductible.

Tip #6 Lifetime Learning Credit

Tuition and Fees Deduction or the Lifetime Learning Credit is available for post-graduation college courses you take. Aside from your tax savings, you can increase your value to employers.

Tax credits can be equal to or 20% of the first $10,000 from tuition paid, fees required and other certain expenses during the calendar year. Even if you don't qualify for it, you'll still be able to claim "tuition and fees deduction" for qualified educational expenses paid in connection with enrollment during academic term. Take note, this offer is not available if your married and filing separately or if someone else has already claimed an exemption for you as dependent. Higher level incomes also phases out this deduction.

Tip #7 Think About Retirement Right Away

Although it's not really a requirement, looking into retirement options sooner has its advantages.
Your options include:

Roth IRA - The lifetime of the investment grows tax free and you can pull out your money before you retire without getting hit with a penalty. Income should be no more than $110,000 however.

Traditional IRA - When you contribute your money to a traditional IRA, you take an income tax break and you are only taxed when you take distributions from your account. You can take out distributions without penalty starting when you are 59 years old and 6 months.

Savers Credit on Contributions - You may get tax returns of up to $2,000 from your IRA contributions when you claim the Savers Credit. This applicable if you are individual taxpayer of legal age with an income of up to $30,500. It won't apply though if you're a full time student during the year or if you have been claimed as a dependent.

401(K) - Take the golden opportunity should your employer offer you a 401(K). This will not only help lower your overall taxable income for the year, it will also jumpstart deferring tax from your income until a later period.

Final Thoughts

Remember, when it comes to taxes, saving as much documentation such as receipts can maximize your possible deductions. If you are required to move no less than 50 miles to take on a job, expenses may be tax deductible. These little details that may seem like too small to declare can add up and become a contributing factor to lowering your yearly taxes. However, there's no better way to fully take advantage of tax reductions than to get a tax professional to assess your unique financial situation to help you streamline your tax and credit needs.

Sources:
http://www.curadebt.com
http://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/individual-retirement-arrangements-iras-1
http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/080816/are-student-loans-taxdeductible.asp

What is Debt Settlement?

How does a debt settlement program work? How does it compare to other programs available? How is it better than others? Your questions answered on this http://www.curadebt.com/debt-settlement-program/.

A CuraDebt Review By The Experts From Advisory HQ

Top online news media Advisory HQ , reviews one of the longest running debt settlement company, CuraDebt Financial Services.

Advisory HQ gave a summary of the company's extensive background and length of service in the debt settlement industry. They also explained how their services work. Fees were laid out and made transparent. Reputable review sites which contain hundreds of 5-star reviews from customers were highlighted.

CuraDebt's Features

According to Advisory HQ, here are the main features of CuraDebt Debt Settlement Company:

Free Consultation

CuraDebt offers a no obligation, free consultation through their hotline or through a short assessment of your debt status on their website.Through their free debt analysis, their expert debt counselors, you will be given the best possible solution to your unique financial situation. You may even qualify for their in-house program.

Debt Relief Services

CuraDebt offers debt consolidation, payment schemes or debt consolidation depending on your financial circumstances. They are an expert in negotiating with creditors to let you pay a reduced amount on your money owed for based on the set monthly payments dedicated to paying off your debt. Ultimately, the goal is for clients to be able to break free of their debt obligation at the least possible price and the least possible time.

IRS Tax Debt Relief

CuraDebt Tax Alliance provides you IRS Tax Debt Relief with the best possible solution to your IRS tax woes. According to Advisory HQ, the company complies with the IRS in reviewing your tax problems through their 3 phased approach. First, an investigation and financial analysis will be enforced. If deemed necessary, compliance is achieved by correcting mistakes and filing any missing taxes. The third and last phase is the implementation of the resolution to resolve your tax issue.

5-Star Customer Rating

Advisory HQ also highlighted the ratings CuraDebt reviews achieved over the years through dedicated review sites. One of the sites mentioned, Shopper Approved, has 104 \ reviews from verified customers with an overall rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars. Another trusted rating site, Customer Lobby, has 679 verified customer reviews with an average of 5 stars for each category: service, will recommend and total experience. 

It is also worth noting that TopConsumerReviews.com ranks them as the Top 2 Best Debt Relief Company for 5 years now.

Overall, Advisory HQ has given quite an extensive review on the CuraDebt website. As far as the lack of transparency being mentioned by the article is concerned, CuraDebt has added a page dedicated to introducing their debt counselors. 

No wonder CuraDebt is one of the best debt settlement companies in the industry today. Their length of service has allowed them to be one of the most experienced and highly trusted by consumers all over the US.

source:

http://www.advisoryhq.com/articles/curadebt-reviews/

Debt Consolidation Options

What Are Your Debt Consolidation Options?

Drowning in debt can be a very hard situation to manage. There are different types of debt consolidation programs available to help you. 

If you are looking for your options available, checkout the different types of programs and their real life example for you to understand.

Here are non-profit debt consolidation options for you

What is Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

What is Chapter 7 Bankruptcy?

Are you considering declaring bankruptcy to end your misery on your surmounting debt?

Do you think that bankruptcy is your last option?

It is important to know the ins and outs of Chapter 7 Bankrupcty. You should know how long bankruptcy stays on your credit report and how it will affect your future finances. You will  have to be subjected to a "means test" designed to check your disposable income and see if you are eligible.

If you are considering Chapter 7 bankruptcy, here's a very credit resource to make sure you are making the right choice.

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

Tax Debts? Know Your Options.

Owe Money To The IRS And Need Tax Debt Relief?

Are you in the scenario wherein the IRS is sending you notices and exhausting you to pay excessive tax debts? Perhaps you feel that you are paying too much or you want to be sure that you are not overpaying? In either circumstances, there are legal options to help you to pay the least amount of taxes you legally own.

What Are The Common Reasons Why People Owe Tax Debt?

1. Failure to file tax return(s)
2. Incorrect tax return preparation
3. Failure to make timely estimated tax payments
4. Early withdrawal from retirement funds
5. Under-withholding
6. IRS or state tax audit
7. Gambling winnings
8. Claiming Dependent that isn't rightfully theirs to claim
9. Unpaid payroll (forms 940 and 941) taxes
10. Mistakes from another CPA or tax company
11. Other tax issues

What Are The Possible Solutions To Your Tax Debt?

Read about the possible solutions to tax debt here:

http://www.curadebt.com/tax-debt-relief/

Important Questions That Anyone With Credit Card Debt Should Ask Themselves

America is a nation addicted to using credit cards. The American population has amassed $857 billion of credit card debt. As people begin to forget the 2008 financial crisis, banks have once again started aggressively marketing credit cards. Banks tend to send mail every week promising bonus points, extra cash back and a lifetime of plastic-induced happiness, and the marketing is working:  in April 2015, credit card debt grew by 11.5%, its fastest pace in years.

Credit cards can be remarkably useful spending tools when used responsibly. Should you pay your balance in full and on time every month, you are receiving an interest free loan, often with some airline miles on top, however, over 40% of Americans are not able to pay their balance in full. Instead they are borrowing money at interest rates that are usually well above 15%, which means the typical family is paying over $1,500 of interest every year. In a world where middle class families feel increasingly squeezed, this is too much money to be lost to interest.

Being in debt does not need to be a life sentence, you can break the debt cycle and travel the country. Countless people have put together plans to become debt-free. Most people were surprised at how much power and how many options they actually had, it is very easy to sit back and let credit card debt control your life, but I want to help you take control of your life and crush credit card debt forever.

Why Are Credit Cards So Tempting?

Diners Club invented the credit card in 1950, the purpose of the Diners Club was to make it easier to make payments, diners would no longer need to carry cash, and restaurants could reduce the amount of cash they needed to keep in their registers, it was a great deal for both sides.

Over time, credit cards evolved from being a payment tool to a borrowing trap, most of the money is now made from the interest charged on balances.

The credit card has been designed to lull you into debt, credit limits are usually a multiple of your monthly gross income, it is very common to see a credit limit that is at least twice your monthly gross income, and sometimes even higher than that, the minimum payment is shockingly small, usually only 2% of the balance.

When people spend with plastic, they usually spend more than if they were carrying cash, so you end up spending just a little bit more than you should every day, and when the bill comes due at the end of the month, it is very easy to just pay what you can afford, and worry about the rest of the balance another day.

Why Do We Have So Much Debt?

There are many people buried in credit card debt.  A continuous question that people who are in debt get asked is how they got into debt to begin with? The vast majority of people cannot remember what they bought and it is very rare to get into credit card debt because of a single, large purchase. Instead, people usually just spend $10 more than they should, ever day, in just three years, you can have over $10,000 of debt, just $10 at a time.

If you started every day with a pile of cash, you would be much more likely to limit your spending, after every purchase, you feel that pile of cash get lighter but with a credit card, you can just swipe and enjoy.

Credit card balances usually build up over 12-18 months, and then they reach their “steady-state balance”, that is industry language for a balance that never goes down, your monthly payment barely covers the interest accrued and new purchases made in the month.

How Can We Break The Cycle of Debt? There are entities out there that can help you put together a plan to get out of credit card debt, we focus on a few key questions regarding this topic:

Should you be trusted with a credit card? Having a credit card is huge responsibility. The temptation of wanting to spend money while you have a credit card is easy to fall in. Be aware of on the purchases you make because there can be consequences later.

Are your fixed expenses too high? Credit card debt may just be the symptom of a bigger problem. You might have purchased a house or car that you can’t afford. As a result, you will always struggle to get through the month until you reduce your fixed costs. there are people that can help you do the math and find the true source of your budget problems.

Credit score? There are so many credit score myths out there that refuse to die. One of the most popular ones is that when a consumer wants to build a good credit score they first need to generate credit card debt, this misinterpretation in a lot cases causes people to fall into debt that they can not afford to pay. You can find people that will help de-mystify credit scoring and show you how you can take steps today, even while you are still in debt, to build your score. You do not need to be rich to have a good credit score.

Can you refinance your debt to a lower interest rate? Getting a lower interest rate can take years off your debt. Lenders can help cut your rate by 30% or more. It can be done by doing things like refinancing your home in order pay off all of your credit cards, you will end up with a lot of available credit. However, unless you’ve fundamentally overhauled your budget and your spending habits, there is a very good chance you will rack up credit card debt again. Within a few weeks, months, or years, you could end up with maxed out credit cards plus a higher home mortgage as a result of the refinance. You’ll be deeper in debt, and you won’t be able to turn to your house to provide relief. If you do decide to refinance your home to pay off credit card debt, you absolutely must make a true commitment not to get back into credit card debt.

Should you consider consumer credit counseling or bankruptcy? If you are just too deep into debt, you may have to take more aggressive action. But it should all start with advice from the experts. With the right professional help, you will be able to build a plan to be debt-free. People have more power, better tools and a louder voice now than ever before. These experts will help you use all of the above to get out of credit card debt as fast as possible.