It's Summer time!

Wow! It is already the end of May. Memorial day is on it's way. It's getting warmer and were breaking out the shorts. It is almost Summer!! The summer makes me think of cook outs, pools, and taxes. Taxes??? Yes, taxes. We have now almost lived through the first 6 months of 2008. A few months back we closed out our 2007 financial history, but now we should be thinking about this year's taxes. Why??? You may ask. Because we can only change this year while we are still in this year. When we hit January 1, 2009 there is little that you can do to help your taxes. So, go ahead and make that log of miles you have been saying your going to make some time. It is easier to recreate those miles for the log now than it will be next February. Try to track how much you have given in charity this year so far. Maybe you can plan to give more. If you want to start a business find out all the tax deductions you can take for it. Now is a great time to start an IRA. Don't wait to February because it may be hard for you to put away that $4,000 dollars in that account.

To sum up all of what I said before - plan, plan plan. Plan your refund or how much you owe now. It won't be much of a shock come January.

P.S. If you are employed look at you withholding. If you only get an exemption for you on your tax return and you are claiming 5 withholding, then you will probably need to change this because you are going to owe.

P.P.S. Look at your state taxes too. There may be things you can do their to help you.

Yay! First post!

This is the first post from the Tax Belle. I will discuss issues in U.S. taxes on this blog. Please feell free to post any questions to me.