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Saving money and getting your finances on track is not always an easy thing to accomplish. One of the most helpful things to do to accomplish these goals is to create a budget. There are many different reasons why someone would want to create a budget including retiring early, paying off debt, stop living paycheck to paycheck, etc. 
Once you have decided to create a budget, a good place to start is by going over your spending during the past few months. By doing this it will help you assess how you are spending your money, and identify what areas of spending could be cut or reduced.
Separate your expenses into categories representing essential living expenses and discretionary expenses. The essential expenses include such items as rent, utilities, car payments, gas, insurance, and all other items that are necessary living expenses. The discretionary expenses include all other expenses that are not necessarily needed. To determine a limit for your discretionary expenses, take your monthly income, subtract all of your essential expenses, and the amount remaining is what would be available for the discretionary expenses.
To make your budget more effective allocate a portion of your income to savings. 
As a guideline, a good amount to save is between 10-20 percent of your monthly income. This will help for any future expenses, whether foreseen or unforeseen. It is important to set aside funds in case of an emergency. For example, you should have three to six months of living expenses set aside in an emergency fund.
Some things to consider that you may find helpful when you are trying to save money include cooking at home instead of eating out at restaurants, making coffee at home instead of the daily $5 latte, not waiting until your gas tank is running on empty so you have a choice at what gas station to stop at instead of the closest one to you, reducing the time you keep the air conditioner/heat on in your house, etc. There are many ways to cut your spending, even a small amount of savings here and there can add up.
It is important to create a budget that is both doable and realistic. If you are someone that has a discretionary expense that you are not willing to give up then make sure to factor it into your budget. If you don’t factor these expenses in your budget it will be impossible to stick to it, and will lead to overspending.
Large party automatic gratuities may be a thing of the past. These were originally implemented to ensure servers were being adequately compensated. However, as of January 1st, the IRS now considers these automatically calculated tips as service fees, and will treat them as regular wages, subject to payroll withholding tax.
Think back to your last experience at a restaurant when you were with a large group of people and your tip was calculated into the bill when you went to pay it. 
You probably knew beforehand that this would be the case since it was most likely printed somewhere that a certain percent gratuity would be added to the bill for tables with more than a certain number of people. Did you consider this a tip or a service charge?
The IRS uses the following factors to determine whether a payment is a tip or a service charge:
If even one of these conditions is not met, the payment is considered a service fee and not a tip.
This is a big change for employers and employees. The employer now has to treat this money as income and has to include it in that employee’s regular wages. This means it is subject to normal reporting and withholding requirements. Also, employees will not be able to take their money as they receive it, they will have to wait until the next pay day.
This ruling will probably deter a lot of restaurants from including an automatic tip into their customer’s bills. By removing this, it will likely reduce the amount of tips servers will receive. 
A good way for employers to help their servers get adequate tips is to include suggested tip amounts on the bills. Putting a suggested tip amount on the bill does not qualify the money as a service charge because the customer still has a choice in the decision.
The holiday season is here, and for many people that means it is time for Christmas shopping. Many people take advantage of the sales on “Black Friday” to kick off their holiday shopping. 
This year was no different with large crowds trying to find the best sales. People could even start earlier this year, as many of the stores opened on Thanksgiving Day to get a head start on the Black Friday competition. 
This year people not only took advantage of the in-store savings, but they also shopped heavily online on “Cyber Monday”. According to IBM, Cyber Monday sales increased 20.6% from 2012, which made it the biggest online shopping day in history. Many stores are offering extended sales to keep the online spending going including products, services, and deals that may not have been available to us otherwise.
However, online shopping can be risky so it is important to have good online shopping habits to protect yourself from online retail scams. Here is a list of tips for safe online shopping:
They will also have a small lock icon in the lower right corner of the screen.Use these tips when shopping online to keep your information secure this holiday season!
The government shutdown has affected many federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service. It is estimated that only about 10% of the IRS employees are currently working. This has caused some questions among taxpayers about whether or not their tax returns need to be filed by October 15th. The government shutdown and the decrease of IRS employees will not affect the upcoming tax deadline. 
All taxpayers who requested a six month extension by April 15 will still have to file their tax returns by October 15th.
Having a decrease in employees due to the shutdown will affect other areas of tax filing. It is recommended that you file your tax return electronically because most of these will be processed automatically. If you paper file, nothing will be done with your return until the shutdown ends, but it still needs to be postmarked by the October 15th or it will be considered late. If you do paper file, it is good idea to send your return using Certified Mail to have proof that you sent your return in by October 15th.
The government shutdown has caused much frustration for taxpayers. This is mostly true for taxpayers expecting a refund. Even if your tax return is filed on time, no refunds will be issued until the government shutdown ends and operations return to normal. However, if you owe money it still needs to be paid when you file. The “IRS Where’s My Refund?” function will not be available to anyone who filed their tax return after the start of the government shutdown until the shutdown ends.
Also there is not much happening in regards to tax assistance from the IRS. 
There is no one working the telephone customer service lines and the IRS’s walk-in taxpayer assistance centers are closed. However, the automated assistance line is still open.
So get your tax return filed by October 15th, and hopefully for everyone waiting on a refund or trying to resolve an issue with the IRS, the government shutdown ends soon.
The October 15th tax extension deadline is quickly approaching, which means it’s time to finish up that tax return you have been avoiding all summer. There are many benefits to filing an extension if your tax return is not quite ready in April, but there are no additional extensions available for the upcoming October 15th deadline. When you filed your extension in April, it did not extend the amount of time to pay, it just gave you an extra 6 months to finalize and file your tax return. 
You still had to pay the amount of tax you owed or the best estimate of it by April 15th. This might have people questioning why they need to get their returns in by October 15th if they already paid in April. The reason is to avoid possible penalties.
Depending on whether you owe money or are due a refund from the IRS will determine the consequences of not filing on time.
For individuals that will receive a refund, you will not be assessed any penalties. This is because the penalties are based on a percentage of the amount owed to the government. If you owe $0, any percentage of zero is still zero. However, the sooner you file, the sooner you’ll get your tax refund so it’s not a bad idea to get your tax return filed as soon as possible.
If you are one of the unlucky individuals that do owe, you could be subject to penalties. The IRS imposes two types of penalties; the failure-to-file penalty and the failure-to-pay penalty. The failure-to-file penalty is 5% per month on any unpaid taxes and the failure-to-pay penalty is .05% per month on any unpaid taxes. If you filed an extension in April the failure-to-file penalty is deferred until October 15th. However, if you do not file by October 15th the failure-to-file penalty begins that day and will be assessed until you file your return. 
If you did not file an extension in April, the failure-to-file penalty started April 15th and will continue until your return is filed and the amount you owe is paid. In general, the maximum penalty is 25% of the amount you owe. You will also have to pay interest on the amount of tax unpaid by April 15th.
In order to avoid these penalties be sure to file your tax return by April 15th or if you filed an extension, by October 15th, and pay the total amount you owe when you file your extension in April.
In a few days, Reno will host the 2013 Triple-A All-Star Week at the Reno Aces stadium. This is an opportunity you won’t want to miss. Triple-A teams from across the country bid to host this event, and the Reno Aces Baseball Club was the one chosen. Hundreds of former Triple-A All-Stars have gone on to the Major League, and many have even played their way to the Major League All-Star Game.
Triple-A All-Star week will begin with the All-Star FanFest held on Saturday, July 13 and Sunday, July 14. Fans will have the chance to test their batting and base-running skills, get autographs from MLB alumni, JT Snow, Robb Nen, and Jack Clark, and much more.
The 2013 IGT Triple-A Home Run Derby will be held on Monday, July 15, and is set to begin at 7:05, but the entertainment will start at 6. 
The Home Run Derby will showcase six of the top hitters in Minor League Baseball, and one top hitter from a local high school. Prices range from $10-$30.
The 2013 Dolan Auto Group Triple-A All-Star Game will be held Wednesday, July 17 at 6:05 p.m. The best players from the Pacific Coast League and International League will compete for the win. 
The Pacific Coast team will be managed by Brett Butler, the Reno Aces manager, and will include three Reno Aces players. Prices range from $12-$36.
Not only are these great events to attend, it is also a great benefit to our local economy. According to the RGJ’s article, “Betting on Reno: All-Star game’s economic impact will be measured by national exposure”, the event is estimated to bring in approximately $1 million from traveling baseball executives and staff members. This amount does not include family, friends, and fans travelling to see the event. The 2014 host of the event, Durham, N.C, expects to receive an estimated $3.3 million in visitor spending. This event will be nationally televised on the MLB Network and will be great exposure for Reno and all of Northern Nevada. The MLB Network broadcasts to millions of households, and will allow Reno to not only showcase the Reno Aces, but also show all that Northern Nevada has to offer.
Tickets are still available for all of these events, so don’t miss your chance to support our community and see these major league prospects in action!
While reading the newspaper this morning, I came across a fundraising event that allows you to make a big difference and will fit right into your busy schedule. 
This event is called “Dining Out For Life” and it’s happening TODAY, April 25, 2013.
All you have to do to help is go have a great meal at one of the many participating restaurants! Restaurants located all across Reno are giving a portion of their sales to Northern Nevada HOPES, Reno’s local community health center, to help individuals in our community affected by HIV & Aids. HOPES is a non-profit health center which offers a wide range of health care services. This is the 3rd annual Dining Out For Life fundraiser held by Northern Nevada HOPES, but the event has been held for many years in cities all over the nation.
Depending on the restaurant you choose, the amount donated by each restaurant will range from 10-100% of the total proceeds. To see a full list of the participating restaurants and the amount that they will be donating go to Dining Out for Life 2013. 
Remember, this event is only happening today, but if you do miss it you can still donate to Northern Nevada HOPES by going to their website.
There are many opportunities to get involved and help out our community. Many of them are as easy as going to get dinner at a local restaurant, so keep your eyes open for the next opportunity to get involved!
Are you planning on saving a portion of your tax refund this year? You should know about an option the IRS offers to make it easier for you to save. This can be done by including IRS Form 8888, Allocation of Refund, when you file your tax return. 
Using this form, you can split your refund between three options; direct deposit into a bank account, Series l Savings Bonds, or payment by check.
Many people take advantage of the ability to directly deposit their tax refund right into their checking account. But what they don’t know is they have the option to direct deposit funds in up to three different accounts. These bank accounts can be a checking account, savings account, Individual Retirement account (IRA), Health Savings Account (HSA), Archer MSA, Coverdell Education Savings Account (ESA), or TreasuryDirect online account. All of these provide many options to help you save.
The only time you can get a Series l Savings Bond in paper form is by getting it with your tax refund. On January 1, 2012, financial institutions stopped issuing U.S Series l Savings Bonds in paper form, meaning you cannot walk into a bank to purchase one. You have to purchase them electronically through a TreasuryDirect account.
By using the tax refund option, you can get up to $5,000 worth of Series l savings bonds in paper form. These must be issued in multiples of $50 and can be allocated between three different savings bond registrations, meaning you can give these savings bonds as gifts or get them for yourself.
The Allocation of Refund form can help greatly with saving because you can choose how you want to receive your refund. For example, you can deposit part your refund in a savings account, get $150 of savings bonds, and have the additional amount sent to you by check. Everyone knows it’s hard to save your refund when you get that check, but by using this tool you can put aside a portion of your refund before you even have the chance to spend it.
With the year-end quickly approaching, it’s a good time to start planning your charitable donations. Donating not only allows you the opportunity to help others in need, it can also provide you with tax benefits.
The following are guidelines to help you maximize your tax benefits:
Donations of $250 or less require either a bank record, written receipt, or letter from the qualified organization.
Donations of $250 or more require a bank record or written receipt, AND an acknowledgement from the organization stating the amount of cash contributed, if any benefits were received, and a description of these benefits.
