A plain English guide to gift tazes.

When several people own a home or business property together, things can get confusing at tax time. The IRS lets you deduct the amount of mortgage interest you pay on your taxes, and co-owners all want to make sure they get their piece of this potentially lucrative pie. The law is clear, however, in that you can only deduct the amount of mortgage interest you actually paid. Co-owners must look at their financial records to determine who paid what over the course of the year and act accordingly.

If you've recently married, divorced or changed your name for another reason, it's important that you make sure the IRS knows what happened. Without an IRS name change, your name and Social Security number won't match. As a result, the IRS will refuse to accept an electronically filed tax return, and they may delay or deny the processing of a paper return. Businesses also must make sure to change their name with the IRS after a merger or other name-changing event. Changing your name with the IR

When you file your taxes as single, the IRS assumes you are a single person taking care of yourself. You may have children or live with other people, but you must generally file under the single heading if someone else substantially helps you to support them or they largely support themselves. If, however, you are single but pay the majority of the household expenses for your children, parents or other dependents, you can claim the head of household filing status rather than single. As the head

When you file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the court will devise a repayment plan for you and appoint a trustee to oversee it. If, however, you fall behind on your payments, you may find yourself dealing with a trustee motion to dismiss Chapter 13. If the court agrees to dismiss your bankruptcy case, your bankruptcy protection ends and your creditors may once again pursue collections against you. The bank may also resume any pending property foreclosures that the bankruptcy action stopped. Fortunate

United States Treasury bonds earn interest for up to 30 years. Because you keep them so long, it's likely that your name may change through marriage before you cash them. Fortunately, cashing bonds issued in your maiden name is as simple as showing identification along with your birth certificate and marriage license. If you go to a bank where they know you well, you may not even need identification. The U.S. Treasury Department allows banks to cash bonds without photo identification if they kn