Many people have been troubled by the impact of the financial crisis on their savings. If you are retired, you probably know that there is an annual minimum distribution that you are required to take from your IRA if you are 70-1/2 or older, that is, you must take money out every year, or you are penalized on the funds. However, if you do not need the money to live on, you may consider it a disadvantage to have to cash something out at the moment, because you might want to leave your investments in place to recover, rather than … Read more at 2009 Taxes
February 23, 2009 – 1:22 pm
If you are one of the millions affected by the housing crisis, and last year managed to get your home sold to another buyer in a pre-foreclosure or short sale, then I have some good news and some bad news. If the amount that the sale was short of the mortgage debt was forgiven by your lender, as commonly happens, and you walked away from the house owing nothing, then the bad news is that the canceled debt which was forgiven is viewed as ordinary income by the IRS. It does not matter that you never saw any money, … Read more at 2009 Taxes
