State Farm(R) this week unveiled a new financial education website that provides fun ways for K-12 students to learn basic principles of financial responsibility and money management.With only a handful of states requiring students to complete a personal finance course before graduating high school(1), the State Farm "Common Cents"(TM) online program can help parents and educators give children the real-life skills they need to become smart consumers, sensible savers and responsible investors. Located in the "Kid Stuff" section of State Farm's website at

Almost everything you own and use for personal purposes, pleasure or investment is a capital asset. The IRS says that when you sell a capital asset, such as stocks, the difference between the amount you sell it for and your basis, which is usually what you paid for it, is a capital gain or a capital loss. While you must report all capital gains, you may deduct only your capital losses on investment property, not personal property.A "paper loss" – a drop in an investment's value below its purchase price – does not qualify for the deduction.

When the end of matrimony leads to the start of alimony, how does it affect your taxes? The answer is, alimony payments you receive are taxable to you in the year received.The amount of alimony received is reported on line 11 of Form 1040. You cannot use Form 1040A or Form 1040EZ. The person making the payment may claim a deduction on Form 1040 in the year paid.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) last week adopted a definition for cash-benefit pension plans, giving companies new rules for measuring these controversial retirement vehicles.As reported in the Wall Street Journal, the definition says, "A cash-balance pension plan is a defined-benefit pension plan that defines the promised employee benefit by reference to a notional account balance.

Unclaimed refunds totaling more than $2.5 billion are awaiting nearly 2 million people who failed to file a 2000 income tax return, the IRS announced this week. In order to collect the money, however, a return must be filed with an IRS office no later than April 15, 2004.The IRS estimates that half of those who could claim refunds would receive more than $529. In some cases, individuals had taxes withheld from their wages, or made payments against their taxes out of self-employed earnings, but had too little income to require filing a tax return.

Taxpayers who plan to claim the Child Tax Credit on their federal income tax return should not claim the full $1,000 per child if they received an advance Child Tax Credit payment check in 2003. The payments were actually an advance on the credit’s 2003 amount, when the maximum for each child rose from $600 to $1,000.Taxpayers who received an advance payment should subtract the amount of the payment they already received from their $1,000-per-child total and then figure the remaining amount of credit, if any, to claim on their tax return.

Tax clients often worry that their preparers may have missed something, or that they’re not getting the full refund they deserve.Capitalizing on those worries are two Colorado Springs, Colo. businessmen who are building a booming business by specializing in filing amended tax returns. Entrepreneur Brace Barber and Darren Oliver, a former securities and insurance broker, claim they are recovering up to $700,000 a month for their clients, who are mainly small to mid-sized businesses.

The Securities and Exchange Commission may require that the New York Stock Exchange revise the rule that forces markets to get investors the best price, even if it means they have to go to a competing market to get it, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Movaris, a provider of corporate compliance management software recently announced the results of a nationwide poll measuring individual investors' attitudes to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as well as the level of penalty they would like the law to apply. The poll found that the majority of stockholders want to see punishment for those who violate the law, proving that investors are looking for good corporate governance and adherence to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The poll was conducted by Harris Interactive(R) and surveyed a total of 1,022 adults residing across the United States.