Be aware that important tax consequences are often associated with some fairly common events involving your home. Here are some handy things to know. Home purchase. When purchasing a home, you may pay a portion of the mortgage interest in advance. This loan origination fee, or “points,” is a percentage of the total amount borrowed. If points are paid for a principal residence, you generally can deduct the full amount in the year paid, even if the points were paid by the seller. One caution: you must reduce your home’s tax basis (cost) by the amount of seller-paid points. Of course, one of the greatest tax benefits of home ownership kicks in during the early years of the mortgage, when most of your payments go toward tax-deductible interest. IRA withdrawals. The tax law allows penalty-free IRA withdrawals, up to a lifetime limit of $10,000 for the purchase of a first home for you or members of your family. Withdrawals from Roth IRAs for qualifying first-home expenses can be both penalty-and tax-free after the Roth is five years old. Refinancing. What happens if you refinance? If you pay points, the general rule requires that you prorate deduction over the life of the loan. But if some of the refinance proceeds go toward home improvements, you may be able to take a current deduction for the portion of the points related to those improvements. Read more... Taxes often come into play for homeowners, and it’s important to be aware of potential benefits and pitfalls. To learn more, schedule time with one of our tax experts here. Websites : https://bas-pc.com/

Owning a pet may improve your quality of life, but it probably won’t be cheap. Basic food, supplies, medical care, and training can cost hundreds of dollars. Add to that surgeries, grooming, kennel boarding, and miscellaneous costs, and you may end up spending much more than you anticipated to keep your pet healthy and happy throughout its life. Fortunately, many of the costs associated with responsible pet ownership can be controlled, or at least reduced. Here are a few ideas: Adopt an animal. Not only are you helping to stop factory-style breeding when you adopt an animal from a humane society or a rescue organization, you may save some money. Often spay/neuter procedures and vaccinations have already taken place before you adopt an animal. And in some cases, the animals have already been through training classes. Spay/neuter. If you do own an animal that has yet to be spayed/neutered, you’ll find that some animal shelters provide this procedure at a relatively low cost. Getting your dog or cat “fixed” may also mean fewer health problems down the road. Buy food in bulk. For most pet owners, food is their largest ongoing expense. So reducing that cost often generates the greatest savings. Although big-box retailers offer substantial cost reductions for large quantities of pet food, it always makes sense to shop around. (Specialty stores have sales, too.) Generally speaking, the more you buy, the cheaper the food. But be careful. Though there’s no legal definition of “premium” in terms of pet food nutritional quality, think twice before grabbing the cheapest bag off the shelf. Long-term health problems may result from routinely feeding non-nutritional meals — food that’s mostly filler — to your animal. Exercise! Regular exercise and routine veterinary visits often reduce long-term health care costs. Get More Info : Click here Owning a pet is a commitment and the above points should be heavily considered before you become a pet owner. Contact us today at https://bas-pc.com/appointment-center/ with any questions on these money-saving tips.