By Karin Price Mueller | NJMoneyHelp.com for NJ.com Q. If you elect to take the standard deduction for the 2020 tax year, can you still also deduct financial contributions and losses for selling stocks? — Learning A. Determining taxable Income is a three-step process. The first step is to calculate gross income, said Bernie Kiely, a certified financial planner and certified public accountant with Kiely Capital Management in Morristown. Gross income is the total of salaries, w

By Karin Price Mueller | NJMoneyHelp.com for NJ.com Q. I took a 401(k) distribution in April 2020 due to being laid off. At the time the CARES Act didn’t exist and I was charged a 10% early withdrawal penalty. How do I get that money back? Do I ask the custodian or wait until I file my taxes? — Unemployed A. We’re sorry to hear you have lost your job. So many people have turned to their retirement accounts to get themselves through this difficult times. Your 401(k) custodian

By Karin Price Mueller | NJMoneyHelp.com for NJ.com Q. This past November I celebrated my 91st birthday. I take yearly IRA withdrawals. In what calendar year must my IRA account move to zero? — Going strong A. Happy 91st birthday! Let’s start with a review of IRA rules. There are requirements for when you have to take funds from an IRA. These are called Required Minimum Distributions, or RMDs. Prior to the year 2020, you had to take RMDs when you turned 70, said Bernie Kiely,

By Karin Price Mueller | NJMoneyHelp.com for NJ.com Q. My wife and I are in our mid-80s. We live on a modest pension and social security and do not spend our entire income. Our home is mortgage-free and we have what we thought would be a nest egg sufficient to see us comfortably to the end of our lives. We have one daughter. We put some marital assets including bank savings, equities, and our home in an irrevocable living trust with our daughter as trustee and beneficiary in

By Karin Price Mueller | NJMoneyHelp.com for NJ.com Earlier this fall, Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law the millionaires tax, which raises the state’s gross income tax rate on income between $1 million and $5 million from 8.97% to 10.75%. People with income over $5 million already pay that top marginal tax rate. But a provision of the law that instructs employers to withhold state tax at a rate of 21.3% from salaries, wages and other payments, such as commissions and bonuses,

By Karin Price Mueller | NJMoneyHelp.com for NJ.com Q. We moved to California in 2012 and rented out our New Jersey home so we don’t qualify for the capital gains tax exemption. We are finally selling the home for $480,000, but we bought it for $549,999 in 2007. What should we expect taxwise? — Ready to sell A. It’s important to understand the rule differences between the sale of a primary home and the sale of a rental property. If you lose money on your principal residence y