End of year Finances

It is that time of year again.  That miserable experience of trying to pull together your financial information so you can figure out how much you are going to owe in taxes for this year and hustling to determine what items you need to pay prior to the end of 2017 in order to take the deduction in this current tax year. 

If you pay your Utah State Taxes that you will owe for 2016 BEFORE December 31st you will be able to take that payment as a deduction on your federal taxes that you will owe on March 31st of 2017.  If you need extra deductions against your income than this is a good way to get them. 

Also keep in mind that your health insurance deductible is starting over in January so you may want to take care of medical and dental appointments this month before that happens.  Also by taking care of them this month you can count your copay portion of those treatments as a write off for this year’s taxes. Donate to charities before end of year.  This is a good way to support great things happening in the world and save on your taxes at the same time. 

 Those with children attending college, put money into a 529 college savings fund and contribute to a 401k or IRA You know, when it comes to paying taxes I have mixed emotions: On the one hand I am incredibly grateful to live in this amazing country and I realize that it’s because we pay our taxes that we have clean streets, clean water, nice freeways, public schools, etc.  After having spent time in other countries where they don’t have these luxuries, I decided I should feel grateful to pay taxes because I am blessed enough to live in the U.S., which is an amazing and beautiful country. 

 On the other hand, I hate that I have to pay a portion of my tax dollars that I know are not being well managed nor well spent by the US government.  I cannot stand the waste and overspending on crazy things that our tax dollars go to support every year when that money could be used far more wisely.  All I know is that if a CEO ran a business the way the US Government is running, they would be fired so fast your head would spin!  Unfortunately we don’t have the ability to take that action with some of our current Government leaders in place.  So yes, it is hard to watch people be so wasteful with your hard earned money, and that makes paining taxes even more painful to bear.

And going forward into 2017 the reward for being ambitious and doing well financially will be the opportunity to pay even more of your hard earned money to the government.  Argghhh….

Well I have hours to go yet on getting my tax records gathered tonight but I will share with you one final quote:

 “Abracadabra, thus we learn the more you create, the less you earn. The less you earn, the more you’re given, the less you lead, the more you’re driven, the more destroyed, the more they feed, the more you pay, the more they need, the more you earn, the less you keep, And now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to take, if the tax-collector hasn’t got it before I wake.”- Ogden Nash

Con amor,

Vero