2014

2018 vs 2017 Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), Social Security and Medicare Tax Rates

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[2018 COLA Increase] The Social Security Administration (SSA) has announced a relatively large 2% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for 2018. Benefits like Social Security or Supplemental Security income, that are tied to COLA will reflect the 2% increase in January 2018. The increase is equivalent to about $27 more a month or $329 a year […]

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2018 Military Pay Charts Reflecting Latest Raise – Updated Monthly Basic Pay Tables

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[2018 update] In his first year of office President Trump approved a 2.4% pay raise for Military staff and troops under the Fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This is the largest annual increase service members have received since 2010.The updated basic pay tables reflect this across the board raise effective from January 2018. Unlike the relatively […]

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2018 Pay Raise Approved for Federal Employees on GS Pay Scale

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[Updated 2018 GS pay chart] In his first year of office President Trump has approved an across the board 1.4% 2018 pay rise for the over 1.5 million government employees on the GS pay scale. In addition to this a 0.5% locality pay adjustment is being made to bring the total pay rise to 1.9% for […]

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2017 vs. 2018 Savers Tax Credit and Income Limits to Help Workers Save for Retirement

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[Updated with 2018 details per the IRS] The savers credit helps middle to lower income earners save for retirement by providing an offset to retirement plan (401k and IRA) contributions. But a lot of people don’t know about or take advantage of this little known credit, officially referred to by the IRS as the retirement savings contributions […]

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2015 Tax Brackets and Other Federal Taxation Updates

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Given the low inflation environment over the last year, the 2015 IRS Tax Brackets, standard deductions and personal exemptions have only seen a moderate increase over 2014 levels. Federal income tax brackets and related tax items, under the tax code, provide for mandatory annual adjustments based on inflation. This is to prevent the phenomenon known as bracket […]

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2014 vs 2013 AMT Exemption and Thresholds

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Following enactment of the American Tax Relief Act (ATRA) in 2012, the AMT patch legislation that Congress had to pass every year to ensure more people were not snagged by the Alternative Minimum tax (AMT), is now no longer required. Instead the AMT exemption and associated thresholds based on filing status are now tied (or […]

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2014 Earned Income Tax credit (EITC)

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[2014 EIC Update] The IRS has released 2014 Earned Income Tax credit (EITC) details which are shown in the table below. There have been some minor increases to the EITC amount and qualifying limits following inflation adjustments. How to read the table above. The “earned income amount” (line 1) is the amount of income (minimum limit) at or […]

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2014 IRS Tax Brackets and Rates With Standard Deduction and Personal Exemption Updates

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Below are the 2014 IRS federal tax brackets based on annual inflation adjustments. Given the low inflation environment there were only moderate increases in tax brackets, standard deductions and to the personal exemption. The main changes for the 2014 tax year were: Marginal tax rates remained the same as last year with 39.6% being the highest marginal […]

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2014 401K and IRA Contribution and Income Limits

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The IRS has released updated 2014 limits for defined contribution (or pension) plans such as 401(k) and IRAs. This was delayed from the usual mid-October release due to the government shutdown. The annual limits are tied to Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) figures and based on these the updated 2014 limits and contribution amounts are shown below […]

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Short-Term Budget Deal Reached That Includes Back Pay Plus 1% 2014 Pay Raise for Government Workers and Pay Freeze For Congress

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A short term budget deal has been reached and the government shutdown is over. The debt ceiling has also been raised which will allow the nation to pay its bills and service new debt/payment obligations. But the deal legislation includes a few interesting provisions which are summarized below The Senate brokered budget deal would finance […]

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