CFPs will tell you (and we’d agree) that not all financial advice is the same. We talk with the chair of the CFP Board about what she’s doing to preserve her organization’s brand and extend its reach. Also, the right way to file your tax returns for free.
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David Muhlbaum: At Kiplinger, we talk to a lot of Certified Financial Planners. They give us guidance on the best practices they’re using for their clients, and other insights into personal finance. But today, we’re going to talk to the woman who is, in a way, in charge of all of them, and how she’s working to make CFPs a more diverse group. Also, ways to file your taxes for free, all on this episode of Your Money’s Worth . Stick around.
David Muhlbaum: Welcome to Your Money’s Worth . I’m kiplinger.com senior editor David Muhlbaum, joined by my cohost, senior editor Sandy Block. How are you doing, Sandy?
Sandy Block: I’m doing great. I’m feeling flush. I just opened a letter from someone who says they’re willing to buy our house as is. And I’m not going to say how much they’re offering, but it was well more than I thought our house was worth, especially given all of the dog hair that is within.
David Muhlbaum: Good for you. But it was an actual someone, like an individual, or an investment fund. Can you tell?
Sandy Block: No, I can’t tell. Actually, it read like a letter from a guy, like a guy named Tom or something. But who knows? Maybe Tom is representing an investment firm. It’s hard to tell who the source is.
David Muhlbaum: That’s interesting for sure. I mean, I get plenty of refi offers, but generally the kind of mail like that, or what you’re talking about, too, it goes right to the recycling bin. So if I got something like that, I probably missed it. But we should get back to this when we talk with contributing writer Daniel Bortz, about home sales, which we’ll do in a couple of weeks. But not right now, because we’re like a month from the April tax filing deadline, so this is probably our last chance to take a swing at taxes. And last year, we did an entire episode on how to file your taxes for free . Good for us. We don’t necessarily have to do that all again, but let’s touch on this question from a 2022 point of view because a few things have changed. Right?
Sandy Block: Right. And the main thing, or one thing, because we really like to encourage people to check out IRS Free File because you really can file for free, your federal taxes, and in some cases, your state taxes too. And this year, in order to use IRS Free File, you need an adjusted gross income of $73,000. That’s up from $72,000 in 2021. David Muhlbaum: Okay. Well, that’s not exactly keeping up with inflation.
Sandy Block: No. And really, what is? But keep in mind, it’s the adjusted gross income, so it doesn’t mean that you made $73,000 last year, with salary and side hustle or whatever. It’s those things minus things like contributions to an IRA, student loan interest, what we call above the line deductions. But it covers a lot of people.
David Muhlbaum: Okay. I’m going to keep pushing. It’s $73,000 whether you’re single or filing jointly.
Sandy Block: Yes, as far as free file is concerned, the marriage penalty is still in place.
David Muhlbaum: Okay. So it’s $73,000 either way. Okay. Well, all right, and I noticed you were good about the mantra, “IRS Free File” because: those words in that order. I mean, we’re going to link to the IRS Free File site . But Sandy, explain again why say, a conventional web search for filing my taxes for free or something like that, why that’s fraught, what the risks are.
Sandy Block: It’s very fraught because there are a lot of so-called free programs out there from some big names like TurboTax and H&R Block, but they have all these caveats. Even if you think your filing is really simple, just something as simple as making a contribution to a health savings account would bump you up into a paid program. And what really catches people is they’ll start typing in all their […]
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