Become a Member

Can you really “Collect a ‘Cash Rebate’ on Nearly EVERY Single Purchase Made in 2017?”

What's Oxford Club's $42.4 BILLION “Consumer Rebate Program?”

By Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe, November 28, 2017

Ed note: this article was first published in 2015, but the ad continues to run and readers continue to ask about it, so we’re re-posting this teaser solution for you today.

What follows has not been meaningfully updated or revised since it was originally published on March 14, 2015, though some minor updates have been made to keep up with the changes in the ad (they no longer claim that “April deadline,” for example, since that has long passed and they’ve moved on from talking up 2016 to 2017 for this ‘rebate’ on your taxes).. and the original comments from readers are still appended. The focus of the ad seems to be largely unchanged (the latest version being sent out now is still dated January 2017), though they’re now focusing on the “rebate” for your 2017 spending instead of 2015 or 2016 in previous versions…. perhaps it will keep popping back up, since it seems to be working to spark interest — which is, of course, the prime intent of any newsletter ad.

Are you really going to get a big ol’ check from the government?

Well, maybe. But it’s not so secret as the Oxford Club folks would like you to believe… and you don’t need them (or their $49 subscription) to learn about it.

You probably don’t need me for that, either, free or not, but quite a few readers have been asking this morning so I’ll try to quickly explain what they’re talking about.

The ad comes from George Rayburn at the Oxford Club…. here’s the basic idea from their ad that got everyone excited:

“119 Million Taxpaying Americans Can Now Get a Cash Rebate on Virtually EVERY SINGLE PURCHASE Made in 2017…

Bloomberg estimates it could put as much as $42.4 BILLION back in the pockets of the 119 million eligible taxpaying Americans.

“Others predict it could be even more.

“According to an article on Fox Business News, there is ‘no limit’ to the size of your ‘cash rebate.’

“If you have a huge spending year in 2017 (even on credit), in rare cases you could conceivably claim upward of $100,000.”

And then they make it sound even more fantastic…

“This is not a joke.

“I’m talking about an opportunity to collect a ‘cash rebate’ on virtually anything you pay for this year.

“A new pair of shoes…

“Your vacation hotel bill…

“Lunch with friends…

“A new leather sofa…

“Plane tickets…

“Christmas presents for the kids…

“Even big-ticket items like an engagement ring… a wedding… or a new car, boat or RV…

“The government is willing to send you cold hard cash for all of it.”

So what are they really talking about? Can you actually get a “cash rebate” from the government just for buying stuff?

Are you getting our free Daily Update
"reveal" emails? If not,
just click here...


freemoney2Well, sort of. What the Oxford Club is talking about here is the fairly recent opportunity to choose to deduct either state and local income taxes or state and local sales taxes when you file your return with the IRS…. but by “fairly recent” I mean, “passed into law a little over ten years ago.”

This isn’t new.

Wait, but they said Obama just signed it in December!

Yes, but what was signed in December (of 2015) was the “permanentization” of that tax break. For the past ten years, this has been an exception that Congress has voted in each year — but it wasn’t part of the “permanent” tax code, so Congress had to renew it each year.

Now, it’s a permanent part of the tax code.

Which doesn’t mean your tax calculation will be any different this year than it was last year or the year before… but it does mean that you should be able to have more confidence that the tax break will remain on the books.

(There’s a summary of this omnibus/extender tax bill here if you’re interested in more detail… it made a few deductions like this permanent, and extended others for a year or more, but there’s nothing big or new in the bill that I’m aware of beyond that.)

What does this “rebate” (sales tax deduction) really mean?

Well, this is mostly a way that Congress has tried to make Federal taxes more fair — those who itemize deductions on their Federal returns have always been able to deduct state and local income taxes and real estate taxes when calculating what we owe to the Feds (at least, for as long as I’ve been paying attention), but for many folks without state or local income taxes there wasn’t a Federal tax deduction to offset what they pay to keep their local government services running.

Every state has bills they have to pay, and, just as with the Federal government, that money overwhelmingly comes from individual taxpayers (except maybe for you, Delaware… and you, Alaska) — but states can mix up the way they collect taxes, whether they want to put a larger burden on sales, or on property, or on income, or some combination of the three. Florida, for example, can make itself attractive to retirees by not taxing income… and make up for a lot of that with a sales tax that is partially paid by their huge numbers of tourists (though they do have above-average property taxes as well).

There are only nine states that don’t have state income taxes, but some of them are big (or politically powerful), like Texas and Florida, and all of them except New Hampshire and Alaska have state sales taxes… so for residents of those states there is now a new (since 2004, at least) tax deduction: They can deduct their sales taxes just like most of the country deducts their state and local income taxes. It’s right there on your form 1040, Schedule A — question 5 that asks what you paid in state and local taxes, and you enter either (a) income taxes or (b) general sales and use taxes, whichever is higher.

And yes, as you can imagine, the recordkeeping obligation could easily be overwhelming if you were expected to keep all your receipts for stuff on which you paid sales taxes… 18 cents at CVS for that box of tissues, $11.83 for your dinner at the restaurant, etc. — but the IRS, thankfully, has made it quite a bit more simple than that. They have a website with a handy-dandy calculator that you can use to provide an estimated and “IRS approved” number for your state and local sales taxes, based on your income level and your zip code. You can even add on to that for a few specified large purchases — primarily vehicles or homes (ie, cars, boats, planes, RVs, new home or substantial addition or renovation if you pay normal sales tax on it… not all places tax homes and construction the same way). Or, of course, you can actually try to figure the real number on your own if you think your spending is well above average… but for that, you’d need to have documentation since you’re not going with the average estimates the IRS calculates for you.

It might even be worth looking into for folks who do pay state and local income taxes, since it’s possible that if your taxable income was relatively low but your purchases were relatively large the sales tax burden could have been larger than the income tax burden for any given year.

I am NOT NOT NOT a tax expert — I hire an accountant to do my taxes, and when my tax situation was simpler I used TurboTax. If you use any sort of assistance, either human or software, to do your taxes, then you’ll very likely have already had these numbers checked for you in past years and it will be part of your calculations for 2015. This is, I assume, a very basic consideration for almost anyone who itemizes their deductions, it’s not a secret or a surprise…. though I suppose some folks might have overlooked it.

My guess (again, NOT an expert) is that the biggest group who might have missed this tax break over the past decade are those who retired to Florida recently and who do their own taxes without any help or computer support and aren’t accustomed to the sales tax deduction… or those who have relatively low taxable income (like some retirees, for example) but who made a large purchase, like a retired couple who lives in Massachusetts and pays state income tax but has relatively low income because their investments didn’t do well and they withdrew the minimum from their retirement accounts. If they use some of their nest egg to buy a $100,000 RV, they could have higher sales taxes than income taxes for that given year and perhaps skipped over that “did you buy anything big this year” question from their preparer at H&R Block because they didn’t think it was important (assumptions: a couple with $55,000 in income would pay about $2,500 in income tax in MA and only about $500 in calculated sales taxes… but the $6,000 sales tax on a $100,000 RV would push them to the sales tax deduction for that year). Both those hypothetical examples are well within the core marketing demographic for the Oxford Club, which, like all investment newsletters, doubtless finds its most fertile hunting ground among the relatively affluent Americans who are retired or near-retirement.

You do have to itemize your deductions to get this tax deduction — just as you do with the existing real estate or income tax deductions. Most Americans with low-to-medium income levels don’t itemize deductions on their taxes (only about 30% of households itemize, on average) — and in some cases might overpay just because they’re unaware of existing breaks that could push some of them over the standard deduction, or simply don’t have the time or acumen to follow TurboTax (or other) instructions for a couple hours to see if there’s something they’re missing. It’s really not until you get to incomes of close to $100K that everyone (or 95%+, at least) takes full advantage of itemizing. The sales tax deduction is probably not likely to be enough to push you over the line from “standard deduction” to “itemizing” all by itself if you’re “average,” though it might help push you over the line if you also do have a mortgage or other substantial deductions (medical costs, theft, property damage by natural disaster, etc.)

I just did the IRS sales tax calculations for myself — and, as expected, the IRS calculates that I pay far more in state income taxes than I do in sales taxes… and I haven’t made any massive purchases to erase the difference (no Ferrari, no RV, etc.), so no surprises: I still deduct my state income taxes. (I live in Massachusetts, state sales tax is about 6.25% and income tax 5.15% — you don’t need to know that for the calculator, the IRS knows your state tax rates).

And you’ll be pleased to know that this is one case where the calculating is pretty easy — just go to the IRS Calculator here and follow the steps. They say it will take five to 20 minutes, but you’d have to read pretty slowly or look up all the numbers from your files to have it take more than five minutes — getting a rough estimate will take you no time at all.

So there you have it — I expect lots of you were already fully aware of this, or blissfully unaware because it will never impact on your lives or your tax obligations, but it is real and it has certainly made a difference for folks in no-income-tax states and a few other folks in non-typical circumstances. And it’s also been the law of the land for about ten years, and has recently been made permanent so you won’t have to be on pins and needles each Winter as you watch to see if Congress extends the break another year.

To reiterate: I am not a tax expert, I don’t even do my own taxes… but this particular one is fairly simple. And no, it is not a “rebate to 119 million Americans”… but for at least the 24 million or so households in “no income tax” states (or the ~8 million of them who itemize deductions, anyway) it could certainly make (and in all cases where they’ve been paying attention since 2004, probably already has made) a difference on their tax returns.

So there’s your quick answer for the day — yes, there are newly permanent tax deductions out there that you can call “cash rebates” if you want to do some exaggerating… and no, it’s probably not anything new for you (but it will only take five minutes to double check).

And that is, of course, not the only “special secret” the Oxford Club folks are peddling — they’ve come up with a few dozen things that seem, on the face of it, to be exaggerated variations on things that any financial planner or retirement advisor would tell you…

401(k) Secret #4: How to Keep the Government From Taking a 20% Cut of Your 401(k)” is presumably the quite common advice, “don’t cash out your 401(k) instead of rolling it over, because it will cost you 20%.” I hope most folks know that, but I know plenty of folks who left jobs when they were young and let their employer send a check to them for their small 401(k) balance instead of rolling it over into an IRA, and they missed out on more retirement savings and did pay a tax penalty.

401(k) Secret #2: How to Add $155,000 to Your Account Total” is indeed a tease for anyone nearing retirement — that’s basically their way of saying “read the fee disclosures on your 401(k), because you’re probably getting ripped off by high fees”… which is particularly important for younger workers or those thinking about leaving their 401(k) with an old employer’s plan instead of rolling it over — but if you’ve been paying into a 401(k) for thirty years, you’re not getting those fees back. Here’s a quick piece about that.

401(k) Secret #1: How to Become a 401(k) Millionaire on a $35,000-per-Year Salary” is just a reminder of the common-sense rule: Save more, and regularly, and you can end up with a lot even if your salary isn’t huge. The story that most folks quote about this was in Smart Money four or five years ago, you can see it here… here’s a quote from that article to let you know what that “secret” is:

“Though many savers may be scarred by the past decade of lousy returns, getting to $1 million over the course of a 40-year career should be a manageable goal — even for some lower-income employees, says Greg Burrows, vice president of Principal Financial. Someone who earns $35,000, saves 12 to 13%, including a company match, gets an annual raise of 3.5%, and annual returns of 7% would save a million dollars.”

And there are lots of other hinted-at “free money” kinds of programs, the kind of stuff they used to hawk in late night infommercials as ways to legally steal from Uncle Sam… like this:

Easy Money Secret #4: Get up to $7,500 to Fix Up Your House if You’re Over 62

“If you’re over 62 and planning any sort of specific upgrades to your house… the government might actually GIVE you up to $7,500 to get it done.”

Which, of course, is kinda true — as long as you’re too poor to repay a loan for that kind of work to modernize or renovate your home. That’s the Section 504 Home Loan (and grant) program described here.

And there’s this one: “Easy Money Secret #1: How to Get up to $401,982 in ‘Unclaimed Money’ From the State Treasury” …

… which is just about the unclaimed funds that are often listed in the newspaper or can be searched through state-controlled websites (and some commercial sites that charge fees, so be careful). The Feds have a website linking to various sources here… but the key, of course, is that it has to be YOUR unclaimed money. The example they give for that $401,982 is a butcher outside of DC who got a surprise life insurance settlement and was featured on Inside Edition, though presumably that’s not normal (his father had passed away a decade ago and had a life insurance policy that was never claimed).

We had an unclaimed funds “windfall” a couple years ago as well, which amounted to about an hour of paperwork and something like $50 from some old account that had been forgotten… so there is money out there, but it has to actually be yours and you have to do a little work to search for it and claim it, and oftentimes the amount of money is relatively small (which, perhaps, is why you or your relatives forgot about it at the time). I don’t know what the odds might be of huge amounts of money, but presumably life insurance payments and old retirement accounts would be among the larger sources of the big “surprise” unclaimed funds — so while you’re at it, check out the Insurance Institute’s best practices for updating your own policy, telling your beneficiaries about it, and telling your insurer where to find those beneficiaries.

I didn’t look into all of the “secrets,” but presumably they’re similar in nature — and heck, if you’ve got a favorite “free money” secret, feel free to share it with a comment below.

I can’t imagine you want to discuss taxes, and I can’t provide any great insight, but our friendly little comment box is available below for that, too, if you’re interested in using it… enjoy!

Irregulars Quick Take

Paid members get a quick summary of the stocks teased and our thoughts here. Join as a Stock Gumshoe Irregular today (already a member? Log in)
guest

12345

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

271 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Stephen Steinfeldt
Irregular
Stephen Steinfeldt
March 14, 2016 3:08 pm

Nice summary, and quick. Once again, if sounds to good to be true, it usually isn’t.

Jeff Coalson
Guest
Jeff Coalson
March 30, 2016 12:41 pm

Agreed. Thank you for the brief but detailed explanation. I have been looking all over the internet for a summary of this and you seem to be the only offering insight.

Sherry Young
Guest
Sherry Young
May 1, 2016 1:01 pm

I did notice one thing from that Oxford guy, back in 2001 Turbo Tax had a tutorial, if you put $2000 in an IRA before April 15 you get an extra $600 back on your refund ( I did his taxes) it was a way to encourage people to save. My brother who never saved a dime did follow through on this, unfortunately he also passed away a few months later at the age of only 46.
Stephen good synopsis but I did watch the WHOLE 46 minute presentation. Did you?

Ellen
Guest
Ellen
June 10, 2016 3:22 pm

Thanks for this article. I search the IRS Pub 17 and internet and could find nothing about Consumer Rebate Programs until I find your website. I use to belong to Oxford Club but cancelled also as I found in was high rollers not common folks trying to save a buck or keep what we have. Thanks for the insight.

Add a Topic
366
John Broughton
Member
John Broughton
March 14, 2016 3:51 pm

I do taxes for other people, as a volunteer in the AARP Foundation’s Tax-Aide program. Congratulations on a well-written piece – all the tax-related information looks accurate to me, and the piece is (as usual) quite helpful.

And, for readers, a tip: You can save $250, $350, or even $450 by doing getting your taxes done for FREE. One option is via irs.gov (free tax software, limited to income under $61,000). Another is the VITA program (evenings and weekends, typically), run by the United Way and other organizations (income limit, $54,000). And finally, there is the Tax-Aide program (aarp.org/taxaide) – no income limit, but some scope limitations. For readers, the most relevant scope limitations are probably (a) no rental income; (b) no Schedule K-1s for partnerships; and (c) no Schedule C’s with over $25,000 in expenses, or with home office deductions, or self-employed adjustments on lines 28 or 29 of the Form 1040. [In general, someone who feels they need a CPA or enrolled agent to do their tax return isn’t likely to find that their return is within the program’s scope.]

Add a Topic
996
Add a Topic
5916
Add a Topic
996
👍 21718
Donna Parsons
Guest
Donna Parsons
April 12, 2016 12:21 am

haven’t they done away with the income limit for the free irs.gov tax software? at least my hub does ours that way and we’re over that limit

Add a Topic
996
John Broughton
Member
John Broughton
April 12, 2016 8:51 pm
Reply to  Donna Parsons

No, there is still an income limit on free tax filing software, and there always will be. That’s because the software is provided by companies like Intuit (TurboTax), not by the government. If there was no limit on income, then the companies would essentially be putting themselves out of business by giving away their software to anyone and everyone.

Add a Topic
996
Add a Topic
996
Jill
March 15, 2016 6:31 pm

Here’s some free money to save — use a coupon at the store and put the coupon’s worth in your piggy bank. It adds up quickly.

Louis blanda
Member
Louis blanda
March 17, 2016 7:13 pm

I signed up for Motley Fool, and it’s named appropriately, because after the first advice you get from them everything else comes with a long e-mail and then a request for more money to get the recommendation or answer! So you (me) are Fools for joining!

Add a Topic
329
michael
Guest
September 2, 2016 1:04 pm
Reply to  Louis blanda

Yep, same here. Sent them a couple of thousand dollars for services. When I got the info, I could tell it was not for me. I cancelled and they were prompt with the refund.

I did get many emails afterward from them pushing new & improved subscriptions for various types of investments. Finally had to do the “unsubscribe” thing. It worked.

James Young
Guest
James Young
March 18, 2016 4:00 pm

I sent them an email and told them that anyone dumb enough to give them $49.00 deserves to have it taken. Those people floor me, I have been reading their pitches for a long time and mostly in fact all of them are useless, to me it nothing less than bait and switch. The newest one is this “fake oil” that “Boeing” “The Pentagon” and others are “ramping up to use”. And of course there are astronomical amounts of money to be made. That’s always the upside, that’s the tactic that they use, money and their ads always end up the same, for $49.00 and this is the “only” place that you will find this out, but for $49.00 we will tell you. But wait there’s more, we will include these free gifts, blah blah blah. As I said it’s basically bait and switch.

Add a Topic
359
Add a Topic
4381
Add a Topic
1278
Thead
Guest
Thead
March 19, 2016 11:29 am

Thanks for the info inwhich The Oxford Club could’ve done the same instead of read this now pay this amount again Thanks a dollar save

Add a Topic
366
Add a Topic
372
Anthony Costello
Anthony Costello
March 21, 2016 12:47 pm

THANK YOU,Travis for REALLY GOOD and USEFUL information!!!!!!!!!!!! This is why I seem to consult GUMSHOE anytime a “tease” is catching my interest. I applaud all of your work!

Peg Whitten
Member
Peg Whitten
March 21, 2016 11:00 pm

I also do taxes as a volunteer in the AARP Foundation’s Tax-Aide program. Note that if a taxpayer itemizes their deductions, the sales tax deduction is for both state AND local taxes. In Florida, we always check the taxpayers zipcode, as an extra 0.5 to 1.0 % sales tax, depending on the county of residence, can add a few extra dollars of tax relief.

bernard
Member
bernard
March 23, 2016 10:46 am

Being a a member of the Oxford club who will soon be an x-member, I would like to thank you for sobering up what was once a very drunken mind.( I bought into the get rich pitch) Fortunaltely , I didn’t lose my shirt, just my gloves and hat.
Thanks once again, for reminding me that not all that glitters is gold.

Add a Topic
366
Add a Topic
210
👍 21718
Ronald E. Baker
Irregular
Ronald E. Baker
March 23, 2016 4:03 pm

I once subscribed to an Oxford Club newsletter, sold by a hyped-up pitch. I lacked time to cross check their arguments with Stock Gumshoe and Travis. Soon after I got all their stuff, read it over and checked it out, I requested and got a full refund of my credit card charge; so nothing substantial was lost, except time and faith that seemingly sincere “advisors” like George Rayburn had something of value to offer. George is part of a team of particularly slick, innuendo specialists, whose stock-in-trade seems to be propagating unbridled greed, or stirring up fear of Government rip-offs and the pending collapse of the dollar, economy, and even the USA. Leaders of the Pack include Porter Stansberry and his mentor, Doug Casey; the high priest of “Totally Incorrect” economic thought. Casey, who Stansberry warmly endorses, believes Warren Buffett, Bill and Melinda Gates charities make them all “idiot savants” whose charity, based upon compassion and empathy to help less fortunate, suffering humanity, is “Morally speaking, … not a virtue, it’s a vice”. By Casey’s logic, children who were saved from suffering from polio, are “perpetual losers” and “welfare bums”, who have had the “incentive” and “urgency to improve” themselves taken away by the charity of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Doug Casey’s rants make “The Donald’s” tirades sound like the gossamer tones of the archangel Michael, by comparison. Nice people behind these Oxford Club epistles! I shall studiously avoid them in future.

Add a Topic
366
Add a Topic
5971
Add a Topic
5114
Tony
Member
Tony
April 4, 2016 8:02 pm

I agree with your assessment of Doug Casey and don’t for the life of me understand why Porter adores him. See comments below on Oxford Club.

Add a Topic
2756
Add a Topic
753
Add a Topic
366
P J JONES
Guest
P J JONES
April 12, 2016 10:45 am

YOU OBVIOUSLY DO NOT HAVE A CLUE WHEN IT COMES TO THE GATES
FOUNDATION—-YES THEY HAVE DONE MANY GREAT THINGS—BUT VACCINES
ARE ANOTHER STORY—-ESPECIALLY THESE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS—
EDUCATE YOURSELF—READ AGENDA 21— AND THE TONS OF LITERATURE OUT
THERE AND YOU WILL REALIZE THE DANGERS ETC YOU WILL CHANGE YOUR VIEW
SENT IN LOVE –PJ

FRANK ELLISOR
Guest
FRANK ELLISOR
March 25, 2016 4:32 pm

TRAVIS, YOU DID IT AGAIN. SINCE JOINING GUMSHOE I HAVE SAVED HUNDRED OF DOLLARS ON THESE “GET RICH” ADS THE OXFORD CLUB IS ONE THAT TOOK ME IN THE PAST. I OWE YOU A LOT. I AM WITH YOU FOR LIFE. THANK YOU.

Add a Topic
366
L. B. says
Guest
L. B. says
March 26, 2016 11:24 am

Thanks for this wonderful information. I found it online about 30 mins., before I paid the $49. Is there anyway though, that you can elaborate about the four magic words in reference to credit cards debt?

👍 21718
m.j.
Guest
m.j.
August 31, 2016 11:46 am

oxford is saying that there are 4 magic words that wipe out credit card debt – not refinance….. we’d all love to know those words…..

Lenny
Guest
Lenny
March 27, 2016 11:56 am

I bit for $49 but was charged $79. Took a month to get a refund and cancellation.

Tony
Member
Tony
April 4, 2016 8:08 pm
Reply to  Lenny

Frank, I have been an Oxford Club member for a long time and I never felt them pushing getting rich and don’t see ANYTHING in their promo materials that says you will “get rich”.
Maybe you are projecting your personal feelings of looking for a “get rich” scheme. See my comments below for The Oxford Club.

Add a Topic
366
Add a Topic
366
Tony
Member
Tony
April 4, 2016 8:12 pm
Reply to  Lenny

Lenny, IMHO, you made a huge mistake.
The $49 is a promo rate for 1st time subscribers, so this must have been at least the 2nd time you ordered. Obviously, you never followed their advice or you would have never cancelled the 1st time, let alone the 2nd time.

Susan
Guest
Susan
April 5, 2016 3:25 pm
Reply to  Lenny

OMG

Tony
Member
Tony
April 6, 2016 7:42 am
Reply to  Susan

I see you put a lot of thought behind your enlightening comment. NOT!

Ron
Guest
Ron
September 2, 2016 11:28 pm
Reply to  Lenny

I bit for their offer too and debit card was charged

$79 will cancel on 9/6 wil see how long it takes to get my money back.

Alex
Guest
March 29, 2016 5:32 pm

Thanks for a very helpful article. Saved me a few bucks.

Magdalena Ross
Guest
Magdalena Ross
March 30, 2016 11:30 am

Where can I find the website detailing the list of purchases which will be honored for ‘rebate?
Also, we purchased a car last year, but have not completed paying it off. How would this fit into rebate?

What is your website and contact info??

Thank you for your (to some of us) life-saving info. 🙂

Oh, my autistic 7 yr. old grand baby lives with us and on an expensive glutten-free/casein/free board-certified, prescribed diet … would receipts of these purchases qualify?

Also, what if my tax person does not know about this … how can I file myself?

Add a Topic
5198
👍 21718
Kathy
Guest
Kathy
March 30, 2016 7:47 pm

So what is the website to claim this cash rebate that they say you can still get even if you’ve already done your taxes? Deadline is April 18th! I did the calculations and appears I should receive a small rebate, so anything would help!!

Add a Topic
5205
👍 21718
Sally G
Guest
Sally G
April 4, 2016 6:26 pm
Reply to  Kathy

If you have not submitted your tax form yet, there should be mention in the instructions for the 1040. If you have, I once filed an amended return and it was not difficult. If you use a tax preparer, check with them—if not, you could probably walk into one of the chains (H&R Block, etc.) and get it done for a small fee. Or check out the free services someone mentioned above if you qualify. If all else fails, call the IRS directly and ask about the sales-tax deduction.

amdeist1
Member
amdeist1
March 30, 2016 7:51 pm

It would be nice if instead of penalizing Social Security recipients by taxing the income that they paid into a system to recieve, the President would sign a bill that would eliminate the tax on Social Security income. It would also be nice if they changed the law to allow putting unearned income like retirement and Social Security into a ROTH IRA.

Add a Topic
979
Add a Topic
996
Add a Topic
979
👍 45
Thanks so much for this info. At seventy four I'm always looking for ways to acquire some extra income. I knew when I was reading the Oxford Club that it sounded to good to be true but I bit anyway. Thankfully, one of the comments on your sites discussed
Guest
Thanks so much for this info. At seventy four I'm always looking for ways to acquire some extra income. I knew when I was reading the Oxford Club that it sounded to good to be true but I bit anyway. Thankfully, one of the comments on your sites discussed
April 3, 2016 4:37 am

Phyllis Wagner

Marc
Guest
Marc
April 4, 2016 5:19 pm

Thank you, Travis for your insightful explanation. I made the mistake of paying for Porter Stansberry’s publication because some things he wrote interested me, but after being a paying customer for several months, I have realized their prime directive is self perpetuation. I’m disgusted with the high number of attempts to get me to sign up some new program or associate’s publication. I will soon be an ex-subscriber. I’m still evaluating the Stock Gumshoe, but so far have been impressed.

Add a Topic
5971
rac4plt
Member
rac4plt
April 11, 2016 2:00 am
Reply to  Marc

It really should not take more than five minutes to see the incredible value of Stock Gumshoe, (which in my humble opinion and abundant ignorance,) is far greater than it’s cost. Thank you, to all the good folks at Stock Gumshoe.

Add a Topic
5971
Add a Topic
5971
👍 4
Tony
Member
Tony
April 4, 2016 7:48 pm

As a long time member of the Oxford Club, I would like to say that the investment advice given by Alexander Green is second to none. I know the promotional material at times can be a little over the top. Since I haven’t itemized on my income taxes in 16 years and my tax software didn’t lead me to the sales tax deduction, I did save more than this year’s charge for the newsletter. So, the advice was solid information to me.
I remember reading research that said that 95% of people that subscribe to newsletters, never buy any of the recommendations given. After reading all the comments from those that did subscribe, I now believe that to be true. The 4 Pillars of Wealth advice is worth hundreds of times the cost to subscribe. The two biggest mistakes investors make are found in the 4 Pillars, positon sizing & not cutting losses early.
The gone fishin & All Star portfolios are awesome also for those that don’t want to spend more than 15 minutes a year on investing. Those of you that asked for refunds, now have all that info for free. Go back and READ it this time. The trading portfolio has been ranked by Mark Hubert over various time frames in the top five of all the newsletters Mark follows according to risk adjusted return. All this for $49 and you want to complain about the marketing? Do you complain to the grocery store manager when you go to buy milk & bread and they try to entice you to buy potato chips? I bet not, you just keep walking. I understand that Oxford & Stansberry are in the business of selling newsletters, so I am not angry when they try to upsell me. I just ignore it like I do in the grocery store, since The Oxford Communique is all I need.

Add a Topic
366
Add a Topic
586
Add a Topic
996
1 2 3 7

We use cookies on this site to enhance your user experience. By clicking any link on this page you are giving your consent for us to set cookies.

More Info  
34
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x