Ever since his wifes death, Eric Stanford has faced difficult personal and financial circumstances. His job provides him with a fairly good income but keeps him away from his daughters, ages 8 and 10, nearly 20 days a month. This requires him to use in-home child care services that consume a major portion of his income. Since the Stanfords live in a small apartment, this arrangement has been very inconvenient.

Due to the costs of caring for his children, Eric has only a minimal amount withheld from his salary for federal income taxes. Thus, more money is available during the year, but for the last few years, he has had to make a payment in Aprilanother financial burden.

Although Eric has created an investment fund for his daughters college education and for his retirement, he has not sought investments that offer tax benefits. Overall, he needs to look at several aspects of his tax planning activities to find strategies that will best serve his current and future financial needs.

Eric has assembled the following information for the current tax year:

Earnings from wages, $114,241

Interest earned on savings, $65

IRA deduction, $6,500

Checking account interest, $45

Current standard deduction for filing status, $18,350

Amount withheld for federal income tax, $8,825

Tax credit for child care, $1,200

Child tax credit, $4,000

Filing status: head of household

1. What are Erics major financial concerns in his current situation?

2. In what ways might Eric improve his tax planning efforts?

3. Calculate the following: What is Erics taxable income?

   What is his total tax liability? What is his average tax rate? Based on his withholding, will Eric receive a refund or owe additional tax? What is the amount?