Personal Finance Daily: Time to get ready: Tax season is coming

Personal Finance Daily JANUARY 09, 2012 Time to get ready: Tax season is coming By MarketWatch Don't miss these top stories: 12 tax tips for January How to get a mortgage if you're self-employed Got money offshore? IRS starts new amnesty program How to make your 401(k) work harder Why stocks will beat bonds over next 20 years It's only January, but it's not too soon to start thinking about getting ready to do your taxes. Read Eva Rosenberg's piece today for 12 tips on how to prepare now for the upcoming tax-return deadline. Plus, read about how the IRS today unveiled its third iteration of the offshore-account amnesty program, and on the investing front, find out why stocks will beat bonds over the next 20 years. — Andrea Coombes , Personal Finance editor TAXES 12 tax tips for January Tax season is upon us. Get going on these 12 tax to-do's to make sure you're on track to file on time, writes Eva Rosenberg. Read more: 12 tax tips for January. Got money offshore? IRS starts new amnesty program If you've got money stashed in overseas accounts that you've failed to report to the Internal Revenue Service, the tax agency wants to give you another chance to come forward. The IRS said Monday that it's launching a third voluntary disclosure program — and this one has no deadline. Read more: Got money offshore? IRS starts new amnesty program. The road ahead for taxes It is a new year, but taxpayers already are feeling déjà vu. A slew of major tax cuts is set to expire at year's end—as was the case in 2010. Now, as then, Washington faces the choice of letting income, capital-gains, estate and other tax rates rise as scheduled, or coming up with an alternative. Read more: The road ahead for taxes. RETIREMENT How to make your 401(k) work harder Chances are you have a 401(k) plan at work. And the chances are you're not making nearly enough of it. A new year means a new leaf: This is as good a time as any to start turning that around. Read more: How to make your 401(k) work harder. REAL ESTATE How to get a mortgage if you're self-employed It's tougher for just about all mortgage borrowers to get a loan for a home purchase or refinance these days, but many self-employed business owners are really feeling the pinch. Read more: How to get a mortgage if you're self-employed. CAR REVIEW 2012 Hyundai Accent SE Thinking about the Hyundai Accent brought back memories of my first new car, my much-loved '69 Volkswagen Bug with skinny whitewalls and little else. Even heat. Read more: 2012 Hyundai Accent SE. INVESTING How to play the next American oil boom Energy profits are booming and Big Oil shares look inexpensive. But investors with an appetite for risk might want to drill deeper into the sector to find smaller companies sitting on U.S. oil-shale riches—which make tempting takeover targets, analysts say. Read more: How to play the next American oil boom. New tools may help small shareholders topple giants Goliath hasn't been hit hard yet, but David is getting new slingshots. The unending struggle between the managers who control America's corporations and the investors who own them is about to become more interesting. It might even become a fairer fight. Read more: New tools may help small shareholders topple giants. When to give your fund manager the axe Poor 2011 results from stock-fund managers is enough to convince many fund investors to "Throw the bums out." But that knee-jerk reaction to raw numbers can create problems. Read more: When to give your fund manager the axe. Why stocks will beat bonds over the next 20 years With so much volatility in stocks, many investors have increasingly favored the relative security of bonds and bond mutual funds. That may be a mistake. Read more: Why stocks will beat bonds over the next 20 years. INTERNATIONAL NEWS Merkel, Sarkozy call for growth in euro zone German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy vow to press ahead on calls for tougher budget rules in the euro zone, while calling for stronger growth and job creation. Read more: Merkel, Sarkozy call for growth in euro zone. French elections could make April a cruel month The French elections in spring 2012 could provide a particularly inflammable trigger point for Europe. Read more: French elections could make April a cruel month. Get the latest news on our mobile site: http://www.marketwatch.com/m MarketWatch has sent you this newsletter because you signed up to receive it. To ensure you receive this newsletter in the future, please add marketwatchmail.com to your list of approved senders. Sent to: kumaresan.selva.blogger@gmail.com Unsubscribe | Subscribe Copyright 2012 MarketWatch, Inc. All rights reserved. MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, and BigCharts are registered trademarks of MarketWatch, Inc. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy (updated 6/26/07). MarketWatch - Attn: Customer Service, 201 California St., San Francisco, CA 94111