The Internal Revenue Service is offering a reprieve to more than 200,000 small charities that missed a tax filing deadline and are now in danger of losing their tax-exempt status.

A 2006 law required nonprofit organizations with receipts of less than $25,000 to file tax returns for the first time in 2007. If charities fail to file for three years, they lose their tax-exempt status. The law excludes churches.

Monday was the 2010 filing deadline, but IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said his agency will issue guidance soon on how charities that missed the deadline can keep their tax-exempt status.

"The guidance will offer relief to these small organizations and provide them with the opportunity to keep their critical tax-exempt status intact," Shulman said in a statement Tuesday. "Filing a tax return for the small organizations is easier than you'd think. [Read the full article]

A Senate budget panel voted Wednesday to suspend more than $25 million in income tax credits as lawmakers search for ways to plug an estimated $1.2 billion hole in the state budget.

The bill approved by the Senate General Conference Committee on Appropriations targets 31 separate tax credits, including certain job creating investments that cost the state an estimated $14.2 million annually.

Three separate tax credits for aerospace employers total more than $3.5 million. Other tax credits were for the purchase and production of coal, investments in agricultural processing facilities and the construction of energy-efficient homes.

Rather than eliminate the tax credits entirely, the bill proposes a moratorium from July 2010 through June 2012.

The proposal still must pass a similar House committee before it can proceed to the floor of the House and Senate for a vote. [Read the full article]

Dear Dr. Don,I lost a lot of money in the crash. I have half of my money in munis and the other half in CDs I laddered out from 18 months to seven years. Unfortunately, the due dates are approaching and I don't know what to do with the money. This is all I have and I have to focus on the safety of principal. I would appreciate some help.-- Lois Ladders

Dear Lois,When you build a CD ladder, the answer to what you should do when a CD matures is easy. Presuming you don't need the money, you use the proceeds to buy another CD at the longest maturity of your ladder -- seven years, in this case.

It's a little confusing why you split money between municipal bonds and CDs. The interest income from municipal bonds is free of federal income taxation and may be free of state and local income taxes as well, depending on your state of residence and the location of the bond issuer. CD interest is not tax-free income. [Read the full article]

Arizona voters have overwhelmingly approved a temporary sales tax increase, rejecting the alternative of deeper budget cuts to education and other services provided by the financially struggled state.

The 1-cent, three-year tax increase was approved by roughly two-thirds of the more than 1 million voters who participated Tuesday in the state's first special election in nearly 30 years. Proposition 100 trailed in only one county -- Mohave.

It was put on the ballot by the Republican-led Legislature only begrudgingly after 11 months of pressure by Republican Gov. Jan Brewer.

Voters, Brewer said Tuesday evening, "understand that we had a really huge financial crisis in Arizona and by doing it, we are going to make the state better. But it's not a cure-all."

A Proposition 100 opponent, Farrell Quinlan, said the measure's passage will embolden those supporters who want permanent tax increases to prop up spending. [Read the full article]