 |
|
|
|||||
Changes may be happening to the government at lightning speed, but come April, tax season will still be in full swing. And this year, it might be advisable to file early. At the moment, the government has until March 14 to avoid a shutdown, while President Trump and Elon Musk are continuing their mass layoffs of federal workers, including potentially cutting the IRS workforce by half. This could very well lead to delays in getting your refund. Chye-Ching Huang, executive director of NYUs Tax Law Center, predicted that federal government layoffs will hurt everyday Americans who pay their taxes and count on the IRS to pay refunds on time while encouraging wealthy people and large businesses to cheat on their taxes. Yet, even as this tax season seems particularly topsy-turvy, its still worth doing your homework to understand whats the same and whats different this year, in an effort to make 2025 “your” year financially. Here are a few things to keep in mind: Make sure your personal data is safe from DOGE Filing taxes inherently means turning over personal data to the government. While as of yet, DOGE doesnt have access to the IRS, Musk is pushing for access to the IRSs databases. In a recent article, Fast Company personal finance writer Emily Guy Birken shared tips on protecting your personal information and finances. This included freezing your credit, and opening accounts at my Social Security and IRS.gov to prevent fraudsters from accessing your tax benefits. Decide to DIY or hire out Paying taxes is already painful enough, but doing them requires choosing between time (filing them yourself) and money (paying someone else to file them). If you work for one employer and are taking a standard deduction, your taxes are probably straightforward enough that its worth filing them yourself. And if you earn $84,000 or less, you may qualify to use the IRS’s online Free File program. However, if you work for yourself or have gone through a major life change last yearsuch as getting married (or divorced) or adding a new family member, selling a major asset such as a house or stock, or having moved to a different stateit might be worth the several-hundred dollars to pay a CPA to make sure you minimize errors and maximize your refund. Get up to speed on which deduction is best for you Taxpayers can choose between the standard deduction and itemizing deductions. The former is a lump sum that is deducted from taxable income, the latter requires itemizing expenses, which are then deducted from taxable income. In 2017, Trump nearly doubled the standard deduction, making it the better option for most taxpayers. For the current tax year, the standard deduction is $14,600 for single people, and $29,200 for married couples filing jointly. Understand the 1099-K Roughly one-third of Americans are gig workers, freelancers, or independent contractors. If youre one of them, heads up: You might be getting a 1099-K form this year. The 1099-K is used to report payments received through third-party platforms, such as eBay, Uber or Lyft, Etsy, and Venmo. Though the 1099-K has been around since 2012, it used to be for only those who earned $20,000 or more and had 200 or more transactions. This year, if you made $5,000 or more on third-party platforms, youll receive a 1099-K. Before starting your returns, review your 1099-K to make sure it doesnt include nontaxable payments such as Venmo transactions from friends and family, or items you sold at a loss. If there is nontaxable income included on your 1099-K, the IRS has added a space on the Schedule 1 form where you can report all the nontaxable income.
Category:
E-Commerce
This is for the crafty girls who want to save money, goes the voiceover on a recent TikTok, panning over the cheerful purple-and-gray exterior of Savannahs Starlandia Art Supply and its shelves stocked with art supplies. You need to be going to creative reuse stores, which are like thrift stores, but for crafts. Another TikTok keeps it even simpler, with the text pov: you find out thrift stores for arts & crafts exist, overlaid on a montage of the treasures available at Seattle Recreativepaint brushes, markers, a whole wall of yarn. In fact, there are dozens of these “creative reuse centers” spread out across the country, from Anchorage, Alaska, to Atlanta, Georgia. Some centers have been operating for decades; others have sprung up since the pandemic, amid renewed enthusiasm for crafty hobbies. They sell everything from crayons to stamps to beads to fabric, and their mission is explicitly tied to sustainability. Organizers say theyre getting more and more emails and calls from people interested in establishing their own local spot. And yes, the young people on TikTokwho love craftingare very enthusiastic about the idea. It’s likely that interest will only grow with news that the fabric store Joanna decades-old stalwart for sewers, knitters, and other craftersis closing all its remaining stores. My feeling is every municipality should have one of these, says Barbara Korein of Retake/Remake in Peekskill, New York. [Photo: courtesy of the author] Retake/Remake is a bustling little spot tucked into a converted turn-of-the-century hat factory in northern Westchester Countyand its my local creative reuse center, a regular stop on my Saturday morning rounds and my go-to for everything from old National Geographic maps for Girl Scout projects to cross-stitch materials to slightly patchouli-scented wrapping paper. Retake/Remake accepts donations on the first Tuesday of every month and typically gets around 1,000 pounds of materials, says Korein. Weve converted about 113,000 pounds of waste from the waste stream. The items are affordably priced when they put them out on the shelves, too: I once bought several skeins of hand-dyed yarn, a merino wool and alpaca blend, for $10 each, with an original sticker price of $32; Ive bought needlepoint canvases, which are famously pricy, for as low as $1. [Photo: courtesy of the author] The concept is an elegant solution to a longstanding problem: Generally, traditional thrift stores dont know what to do with half-used art supplies. Its an easy thing to identify and its a hard thing to donate, says Korein. Often, they go straight into the trash and eventually the landfill. But theres demand for that half-empty box of crayonsteachers, for instance, who often spend their own money on classroom supplies. Many creative reuse centers have special programs to serve this group: Austin Creative Reuse, for instance, has a Materials Mobile, which brings a truck full of no-cost supplies straight to educators. Creative small businesses often turn to these stores, for instance, and artists are a core constituency: If you have $20 left for your art supplies, and you go to a traditional art center and buy a $20 tube of yellow paint, then whatever youre painting is going to be yellow, and also its going to be paint, says Jenn Evans of Austin Creative Reuse. But at a creative reuse center, that same $20 might buy a variety of paints and materialsand broaden artistic horizons. It allows the artist to create artwork from their brains and their heart and not just have it limited by the materials that they can afford. [Photo: Austin Creative Reuse] Weve seen all people from all walks of life come in, says Ulisa Blakely, Director of Programs and Development at The Wasteshed in Chicago. But the patterns we typically see are students, teachers, artists whether theyre emerging or established, and also a lot of BIPOC people, which is awesome. [Photo: Austin Creative Reuse] The basic idea has been aroun for decades: The countrys first creative reuse center, San Franciscos SCRAP, was opened in 1976 by Anne Marie Theilen and artist Ruth Asawa. SCRAP grew out of a program by the San Francisco Arts Commission to bring working artists into schools, but money for supplies was scarce. Two years later, New York Citys Materials for the Arts was founded by Angela Fremont, an artist working at the Department of Cultural Affairs; its now a 35,000-square-foot behemoth (though shoppable by appointment only) supported by the City of New York. [Photo: Anthony Sertel Dean/courtesy Materials for The Arts] The idea percolated around the country over the years that followed, often in association with other reuse organizations. But it seems theres been a jump in the past decade, and its accelerating. Each center serves as a catalyst for the next oneKorein, for instance, volunteered at Materials for the Arts for a decade and served on their board. The more centers there are, the more people become aware of this idea, says Evans. And it turns out to be a pretty seductive idea. [Photo: Anthony Sertel Dean/courtesy Materials for The Arts] New technologies are making it possible for word to spread faster, too, and TikTok in particular can translate directly to increased business. Kimberly Maruska, executive director of SCRAP Creative Reuse (which is unrelated to the San Francisco original and has four locations across the country), says that after a popular TikTok featured their Ann Arbor outpost, they saw a huge jump in sales and new customers who cited the Tiktok. Those people are still coming in, says Maruska. They didnt stop. Part of the appeal of creative reuse centers is their sheer practicalitywhy trash perfectly good materials, when teachers and artists are both famously cash-strapped? Theyre handy for businesses with leftover materials, or individuals who want somewhere to take emotionally complicated donationspeople who dont knit, for example, want their beloved great aunts yarn stash to go to somebody wholl appreciate it. [Photo: Anna Droddy/courtesy Materials for The Arts] In general, being creative is getting very expensive, says Evans. Creative reuse centers are a way to try something new without a huge financial commitment, and even seasoned crafters are keen for more affordable options. But theres a broader, less concrete appeal, too. Its an easy way to get involved in grassroots causes, says Blakely. Its an approachable step into a more sustainable life, and thats by design. We attract people to the idea of creative reuse by offering them low-cost art and craft and school supplies, says Evans. But then once they come to us, we want to open a conversation with them about the environmental aspects of what theyre doing and to celebrate the fact that theyre shopping secondhand. In an era of fast fashion and haul videos, creative reuse centers offer a particularly charming glimpse at another path. Creative reuse centers serve as community hubs, too. Centers generally offer programming beyond the materials. The Wasteshed and Austin Creative Reuse have both hosted trash fashion shows, for example, where competitors have to use provided materials in a kind of creative reuse-themed Project Runway. We create communities around us, says Maruska. Were taking in donations from local community members, businesses, were having educational programming, were partnering with other local nonprofits or libraries or schools. Most of these centers are nonprofits; theres little chance of a financial jackpot, and its a mission-driven labor of love that tends to attract passionate people. It really feels good to be part of something that everybody seems to benefit from, says Korein. All those aspects combine to create the quality I personally love best about Retake/Remake, which is that it allows me to imagine art as a practice for its own sake. I dont have to produce anything gallery-worthy; I dont have to justify it as a potential side-hustle. It doesnt even have to be particularly good. It can just be for meart as part of a straightforward human impulse to create.
Category:
E-Commerce
Workplace stress reached an all-time high in 2022, according to a Gallup report. And a 2022 Work and Well-Being Survey from the American Psychological Association found that workers appreciate and seek mental health support in the workplace. Thats why its important for employees to learn and practice techniques that will help them lower their stress during moments when stress levels are high. One way to do this is by creating positive experiences during highly stressful situations, such as recalling times when we were confident, calm, and in control. These serve as emotional anchors that we can trigger at will. In my book, Emotional Intelligence Game Changers: 101 Simple Ways to Win at Work + Life, I share tips on how to increase our confidence. Here are several techniques for bringing ourselves into that state. 1. Identify the state we want to experience Take a moment to think of a time when you were in charge of the situation, relaxed and confident with the way things were working out. Remember the feeling that came to you. Think back to that time and try to replay the feelings and sensations in your body when that was happening. Focus on feelings such as confidence, calm, and joy you experienced. Ask yourself, what details can you remember that will bring you back to that place? 2. Find something that will trigger that state, time, and place Work on finding a physical action that will cause you to automatically think of the situation that brings you into a positive state. This could be a physical gesture, such as tapping yourself on a part of your body. Practice this gesture while bringing yourself into a positive state. And make sure you keep this gesture specific to this purpose, and try to avoid using it for anything else. 3. Check out the anchor in less stressful situations Instead of waiting to use it in a highly stressful situation, test out the anchor in moments when you aren’t feeling stressful. If it works effectively, then it should be able to work when stress is more prevalent. If the anchor isnt working as youd expect or want it to, revisit the anchor technique by intensifying the emotion around the event, and modify your trigger accordingly. 4. Keep practicing and strengthening the anchor Look for situations throughout the day when you can practice using your anchor. Any situation that increases your stress, even in small levels, is an opportunity to use and solidify the effects of the anchor. Youll find that if you practice this technique over time, it will become easier to access when you most need it. Youll no longer need to think of the anchor because it’ll become your natural response in stressful situations. 5. Put your body into it Another way of strengthening the anchor is to align our physical state with the feelings of confidence. When you straighten your body, put out your chest, and pull back your shoulders, you encourage your body to amplify readiness, strength, and confidence. Add this posture to your anchor. 6. Add an inner mantra Repeating a mantra over time can also add strength to the anchor. Personalize it to make it more uniquely yours. You’ll want to use words that are powerful, that deeply resonate with you, and that are true of how you felt during the time when youre experiencing the feelings. 7. Think of situations where the anchor will be helpful The best way to strengthen the anchor is to anticipate situations where you know it can be useful, then practice using it during these times. Any place, time, or circumstance that brings you out of your comfort zones is a great time to practice. As you begin to experience the benefits of using this in various situations, youll find it more and more natural to practice these anchors, and youll also embed it in your habits and memories.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||