If a notice of tax debt from IRS has been received for the 2008 tax period, mortgage forgiveness on that year may save you. In principle, forgiven mortgage amount is to be added as income which in turn will be taxable. However, given the fact that this mortgage is a primary residence, a tax debt relief may be applied to this situation. Taxpayer could apply for relief of a tax debt incurred that same year mortgage forgiveness was granted. According to IRS, any mortgage debt forgiven partially or entirely anytime within the years 2007-2012 may claim for tax relief. This is a special relief for a federal income tax return that same year mortgage debt was forgiven. If this has not been declared and a tax debt was identified then, reporting such will help. And this information should be included in the amended tax returns for that year. IRS has recognized the…

Having children may be financially draining these days, but they can also help during a taxation period. Married or single working individuals may use the fact of having children to get tax debt relief. IRS allows eligible parents to declare their children for tax credits. This tax credit may just be the answer to tax debts unpaid. Many individuals, when filing for income returns, are not aware that they can claim for child tax credits. This fact could have saved them from any tax balance of previous taxation periods. Such tax credit is, likewise, dependent to how many children a taxpayer has. Meaning, the more children a taxpayer had, equally more is its tax credit. So when notice of tax debt is received, there are more reasons to look over your income returns once again. And maybe one of its factors is not claiming a tax credit of your new…

There are tax credits that IRS has provided for related to educational expenses. Actually there are five ways to offset Education cost, and they come as tax credits. Parents worried of looming tax debt due to unpaid tax balance in 2008; it can claim such tax debt relief. For instance, they can claim for the Tuition and Fees Deductions that could reach up to $4,000 tax credit. The amount will be deducted from the parents’ taxable income for 2008. This would mean the income to be taxed will be reduced. An amended tax return with this information could turn out that no tax debt was even due to them. Parents can claim for this credit if they haven’t availed from any other education tax credits. This tax credit, however, can’t be claimed by both parents and students at the same time. For the parents with a joint income tax return, only one…

No less than 9% of the nation’s banks are in trouble and may fail, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The FDIC doesn’t disclose which banks are most at risk, but based on data from it and other regulators, at least six are in New York City or its suburbs. The deluge of what the FDIC kindly calls “problem” banks is threatening to overwhelm the agency’s resources and force it to allow sick institutions to fester, potentially delaying an economic recovery. The FDIC reported Tuesday that 702 banks that collectively hold more than $400 billion in assets are problem institutions as of Dec. 31. That represents a 27% increase in just three months. Since the beginning of last year, the government has seized 160 banks. As a result, its insurance fund has run up a deficit of nearly $21 billion as of Dec. 31, or more than double the previous quarter…

The following is a daily market commentary by Scott J. Brown, chief economist and senior vice president of equity research at Raymond James & Associates Inc. Tuesday : A disappointing consumer confidence figure sent share prices lower, but provided solid support for bonds. The Consumer Confidence Index surprised to the downside in February, generating more concern about the strength and durability of the economic recovery. Monthly changes of one or two points are normal for the headline index. A 10-point plunge is hard to ignore. Still, it’s only one month worth of data. From here, incoming economic reports will become more important, as investors look for indications of the recovery’s strength. ( View figures here .) Equities fell on the news and failed to recover. The dollar softened (as the confidence figure would make a Fed rate hike less likely). The bad (economic) news was helpful for bonds, particular in the…