Blog
How to Reduce Taxes in Retirement: Darryl A. Hale, EA, MBA, MST’s Pro Advice
Before I get into today’s discussion on how to reduce taxes in retirement, let’s talk about the combined excitement of the Super Bowl, the Olympics, and Valentine’s Day that has swept San Diego homes and businesses the past week. A surge of football parties, hours...
Retirement Contribution Tax Deductions for San Diego Filers
So, I’m not one for constant gloom-and-doom talk, but I do believe in giving it to you straight. And here it is:Things at the IRS are a maelstrom of hot mess. Some very serious voices are sounding the alarm of impending disaster at the agency ... and no one really...
Pros and Cons of Long-Term Care Insurance: Top Hat Tax & Financial Services’s Guide
Before I get into discussing the pros and cons of long-term care insurance, let’s talk about the weather… yeap… the weather.Warm and sunny temps marked the holiday season for most of the US in 2021, ruining visions of a white Christmas. Now, at the beginning of 2022,...
Darryl A. Hale, EA, MBA, MST’s List of 2021 Tax Documents Needed for Filing
Ding ding ding! Open season on 2021 tax filing has officially begun, and we’re already rolling up our sleeves and getting to work on tax returns for some of our San Diego clients.With all the backlog and changes at the IRS, getting ahead of the tax storm is going to...
Darryl A. Hale, EA, MBA, MST’s Tips on Getting Help with Medical Debt
Before I get into my tips for getting help with medical debt, let me start out by saying… we’re less than ONE WEEK away from the IRS beginning to receive electronically-filed returns.That means different things to different people in our San Diego client family, but I...
Top Hat Tax & Financial Services on the New $600 Reporting Requirement for Digital Payment Apps
To be fair, the new $600 reporting requirement for digital payment apps isn't a Venmo thing ... it's an IRS thing.(Personally, I'm still amazed by how people share their transactions so publicly on these kinds of platforms. But that's a topic for another day.)And I...
San Diego Taxpayers, How to Get 2021 Tax Filing Documents in Order
Before I jump into discussing tax filing documents, I hope it's okay that I spare you all of the "new year, new you" stuff.If you're anything like me, you’re being inundated with rehashed well-wishes and generic, happy-clappy "time to set some goals!!!" talk.And I...
Top Hat Tax & Financial Services on Last-Minute Tax Moves for 2021
I remember reaching the end of 2020 ... it seemed as if all of us were breathing a huge collective sigh of relief.And then ... more chaos.Is it wrong to hope that 2022 will turn out better? Hard to say ... but I do know that what I DON'T want to do is retreat into...
Darryl A. Hale, EA, MBA, MST’s “Help Me Remember” Holiday Prayer
These last couple weeks of 2021 are already a little unusual.Current events are swirling around virus policy, the big Biden "Build Back Better" Act seems to have hit a Joe-Manchin-sized brick wall, sports leagues are in an uproar around rising case numbers, and...
Darryl A. Hale, EA, MBA, MST’s Strategies for Fighting Inflation
If you’ve been in a San Diego store lately or visited your local gas pump, you’ve probably noticed some price fluctuations – up and up and up. Every visit, it seems.Inflation is here, and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. So, we all have to figure out how to fight...
Darryl A. Hale, EA, MBA, MST on Year End Tax Strategies
I'm going to go further than I did last week and offer you some tangible things you can do NOW.And look ... probably taxes aren’t the first thing on your mind now that the holiday lights are flickering. After all, it’s a happy season for every San Diego resident,...
Infrastructure Act Tax Implications for San Diego Taxpayers
I don’t know about you, but I'm still over here digesting leftovers from last week’s festivities -- as well as the passage of that trillion dollar infrastructure act in Washington (more on that in a minute). But as November turns into December, I realize (and you...