FILAM FINANCE

It is April 15 again and here in the United States, it means the deadline for taxes for those individuals and businesses who are on a calendar tax year. It is actually 45 days from the end of your tax year. So if you are on a fiscal year and your tax year end is […]

I’m sure that you have seen those ads about getting your refunds fast in two to three days. Well, these are not really your refunds but a loan from a bank that charges you fees. Your anticipated refund is just a collateral. It should be noted that taxpayers can get their refunds in as little […]

For a change, IRS is giving us money by offering a tax refund on those “telephone excise tax.” If you’re wondering what is that telephone excise tax,  it is a tax that was created in 1898 to fund the Spanish-American War. After losing several lawsuits disputing the legitimacy of the tax, the IRS instituted a program […]

On my previous post, Can I deduct my gambling losses, I mentioned that gambling losses are only deductible up to the amount of the winnings and if you are itemizing your deductions on Schedule A. Also, you need to be able to substantiate your winnings and losses by keeping wagers, tickets, or any records just […]

Most people in the office create a pool of money to play the state lottery. In our office, we normally play when the jackpot prize is big. In January 2006, our group of 18 people won a decent prize by getting 5 out 6 numbers in the California Super Lotto. The number that we missed is the mega […]

On my previous post “Why buying a home is better than renting,” I mentioned that one of the advantages of owning a home is that homes build equity. Equity is the difference between the current value of the house and the amount owed. Overtime, houses appreciate in values while your home mortgage decreases as you […]