CFD 162 - Tax Time Blues? Turn that Frown Upside Down with Tax Credits!

Published: April 16, 2015, 3 p.m.

From about the end of February to April 15 each and every year, Americans move through a special season. It doesn’t come with a colorful, icing-laden cookie shaped like a tree or reindeer, and it doesn’t come with decorations. What is it? Tax season, and it has the power to get millions of Americans stressed to the gills and very frustrated. Some taxpayers procrastinate to the bitter end, standing in long lines at the post office on April 15 just to make sure their tax filing is postmarked with that date. These people make the news year after year, too. They rarely look happy as field reporters hold mics to their faces and ask why they waited so long. Maybe it’s a thrill to wait till the last minute, or maybe it’s because these people aren’t happy with how much they have to pay. Perhaps they don’t know that there are ways to keep from paying way more in taxes than they have to. And every bit of it is legal. That’s right. There’s a fat rule book written by the good people at the IRS that tells us all how we can pay less in taxes and take legal deductions that can dramatically cut taxes… sometimes to zero owed. In fact, there are FOUR things you can do that the government actually smiles upon that specifically reduce your tax burden. If you do one or more of them this year your stress levels come tax time next year might just be reduced significantly. That’s because you can get all sorts of tax credits when you do one or more of these four things! Plus, there is a fifth thing that you can do to help someone else reduce the amount of taxes he/she will pay! Do you know what the five things are? Do you know about all the tax credits available to you? That’s what this short Cash Flow Diary podcast episode is all about. If you want to learn why wealthy people can “get away with” paying less in taxes than the average hardworking Joe, you’ll need to understand the difference between being a consumer and being a producer. That’s also what you’ll learn in this special tax-time episode.