Tax Tips for Ages 55+

Get more after-tax retirement income by lowering the taxes you pay. Between ages 55 and 70 the right kind of tax planning will mean you pay less taxes in retirement.

In the United States, there are no specific retirement taxes. Instead, you continue to pay tax on your income each year as you receive it, much like you did before you were retired. So, if there are no retirement taxes, how do you know how much tax you will pay in retirement? Each type of income you receive will have different tax rules that...

Earned income is the money you earn from working. It includes wages, salaries, tips and net earnings from self employment income. Earned income does not include investment income like annuities, pension income, withdrawals from IRAs and other retirement accounts, capital gains distributions and passive income generated from rental real estate.

There are two times you may pay capital gains tax when you own a mutual fund. A tax managed fund helps to reduce one of these types of capital gains tax, and also can minimize other forms of taxable distributions.

Capital losses can carryover to future tax years to be used to offset future capital gains.

Socking away all your money into tax deductible retirement accounts may not always be the best thing to do.

IRS publications and tax tips for Americans age 55+.

Free tax help and tax preparation for low to moderate income levels, age 60 or older. Offered through AARP. Ask a question online, or locate an office near you.

Tax deferred savings means you use an investment or account where you don’t have to claim the investment income earned on your current year’s tax return. Here's how it works and how to accumulate tax deferred savings.

Filing a tax extension is not a big deal, not at all. It doesn’t raise red flags at the IRS. It doesn’t put you in the automatic “to be audited” file. So why the heroic efforts to avoid filing a tax extension at all costs? I'm not sure, but here's what I do know about tax extensions.

When discussing retirement plans and taxes we often use the terms “pre-tax” or “after-tax” dollars. How do you know what is pre-tax and what is after-tax?

Is retirement income taxable? It depends on where your retirement income will come from, and how much of it you will have. Below is a list of common sources of retirement income broken down into taxable retirement income, partially taxable retirement income, and tax free retirement income.

One of my favorite resources for quick, easy-to-understand answers to tax questions is Fairmark.com. From their home page you’ll find links to Fairmark’s Online Guides covering topics like ROTH Retirement Accounts, Social Security, Capital Gains, AMT, Compensation in Stock and Options, and much more.

You can have far more income to spend if you live in one of the best states for retirement income taxes verses one of the worst. Is it worth relocating? You never know until you start looking.

You have just finished preparing your tax return and notice that you owe Uncle Sam a hefty sum, but you can’t afford to pay it. Are you going to jail? Probably not. The realization that you can’t afford to pay your taxes can make you feel uneasy, but don’t worry, there are some actions you can take to remedy the situation.

Is rental real estate a good investment? Sometimes it depends on your ability to use the rental real estate tax deduction.