Orange County Accountant

Is the IRS all bad? The IRS is not all about seizing assets, bank accounts, and wages. The IRS does provide ways to reduce your actual taxes through Tax Credits. What makes a credit different from a deduction? A credit lowers your actual amount of taxes. A deduction lowers your actual taxable income.

Help for those who need it…So what kinds of tax credits are there, and how can I get them?

Most tax credits are dependent on your income. The majority of them do require that you be in a lower income bracket, so check with the IRS at irs.gov to see if you can qualify.

Some of the tax credits that you may qualify for are listed below. This is not a complete list, but it should give you an idea of what’s okay and what isn’t:

Child tax credit: You can receive a $1,000 tax credit for each child that is eligible as dependents. Be careful with this one, as claiming a child incorrectly can cause you to be in debt to the IRS.

Education credit: This is available to full and part time students. So whether you’re a twenty-something going full time or if you’re a returning student looking to improve your career options you can claim your schooling. You can claim up to $1,650 as a credit for your schooling for the year. Usually your school will send you a tax statement.

Home Energy Efficiency Credit: If you’ve made changes to your home to make it more energy efficient you can claim up to $500 as a credit. Keep your receipts so you can prove you made the improvements. Not only do you save on utility bills, but you get back money for the government.

Be certain…Tax credits can provide you with a much needed shot in the arm as they can greatly increase your income tax return. But beware, and make sure you know and follow the guidelines set by the IRS before you claim anything as a credit.

These same credits can backfire on you as the IRS frequently audits larger tax returns. You could find yourself owing the IRS if you incorrectly claimed a tax credit, or claimed something you shouldn’t have.

If you’re not sure about a tax credit feel free to drop your friendly former IRS-Hitman an e-mail.

Now you have the smoking gun…Use it!

Welcome to yet another tax season.

With a matter of days remaining until the April 15 IRS income tax deadline, the stress level of Americans is on the rise. Prepare yourself for more angry drivers on the freeways, impatient customers in the lines of local coffee shops and grocery stores, and friends who don’t quite treat you like the friends they were only weeks ago.

Looking for a way to cut down on the April tax time blues? There’s a little known secret called an IRS tax extension (the technical term is an IRS Form 4868 – Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return), and a company called FileLater who can help. Of 130M United States federal income tax filers, about 10M filed for automated extensions last year, so you won’t be alone. And the IRS doesn’t ask (or care) why you file for an extension.

Almost every tax-paying American is automatically eligible to file an IRS tax extension, and it can be easy to do. In about 5 minutes, you can go to File Later’s website, answer a handful of relatively simple questions, and have your tax extension e-filed to the IRS for you. In a couple of days, you’ll get an email with IRS confirmation that your new tax deadline is October 15.

To file a tax extension online you’ll need to provide some basic personal information, and an estimate of your tax liability. Don’t have a clue if you owe or if you’ll be getting a refund? Don’t worry, the better tax extension filing services like FileLater will provide you with a simple calculator to make determining your tax liability easy.

If you’re in the minority of tax filers who will owe money to the IRS (rather than getting a refund) the IRS will still want their money by April 15 or you could be hit with a late payment penalty. Filing a tax extension will give you the extra 6 months to file your tax return, but it doesn’t give you extra time to pay the IRS. That means you either have to mail a check postmarked by April 15 to the IRS or provide bank information online for an automatic withdrawal. If you expect to get a refund, then there’s nothing to consider.

The deadline for filing your income tax extension is April 15. A simple 5 minutes with File Later can give you an additional 6 months to file your taxes, and your stressed out CPA or tax professional will love you for it.

What happened? You’ve filed your taxes and you’re in trouble. Maybe you filed yourself or you went to one of those companies that file your taxes for your. After finishing everything you find out you owe money! You recheck your math and deductions once, twice, three times and…you really are in debt to the IRS! It’s understandable that you’re mad as hell or you want to start crying, but the IRS-Hitman has some advice.

Don’t panic…don’t ignore the debt, and do file the return. You can try to put off the debt by requesting an extension; October 15th is the latest you can put it off. This could give you a chance to come up with the money that you owe by then. But you do have to file, and the longer you wait the harder the debt will be to deal with.

Depending on how much you owe, you can try to deal with the IRS on your own, or you can seek professional tax help. The first thing you need to do however is to jump on the problem immediately! Do not wait.

Can I bury my head in the sand? I recommend against this. What happens if you wait? First of all the IRS starts sending you letters telling you how much you owe, and asks that you contact them to setup arrangements. If you don’t respond to the IRS then…well, things can get real bad real fast for you. The IRS can seize your wages, seize you bank account, or any other accounts you have. They can also put a levy on your home. That’s why taking immediate action is so important.

But wait… There are options available to you. You want to take action, but you have no way to pay the debt in full. Most people can’t pay their IRS debt in full, and usually it’s over $1,000. Not too many people have that kind of money lying around.

• Setup a payment plan with the IRS.

• Apply for an Offer in Compromise. This can reduce your debt to pennies on the dollar. Beware however, this is very difficult to get, and the IRS frequently denies applicants.

• Apply for Currently Not Collectible status. Again this is very difficult as you have to prove to the IRS that you are living at the bare minimum.

Choose wisely…However you choose to deal with your IRS tax debt is up to you. The key is to make a choice, and not to bury your head in the sand. Just because you don’t see an IRS-Hitman doesn’t mean he doesn’t have you in his sights.

Now you have the smoking gun…Use it!

Double your pleasure?Owing the IRS money is a hard thing to deal with. There can?t be anything much worse?right? Well you could owe the IRS money and have un-filed tax returns. How can it be worse you ask? Aren?t the un-filed returns included in the debt? You have to be compliant. When you?re in debt to the IRS you do have some options to deal with that debt. Whether you want to setup a monthly payment plan, or try to settle your debt with an Offer in Compromise. Un-filed tax years put a big red stop sign in front of any negotiation efforts. Why? You?re not in compliance with the IRS. Compliance means you have to be up to date with all of your filings. If you are not in compliance the IRS won?t work with you. Collector?s paradise?Don?t get me wrong the IRS will work to get your money, but they?ll do so through bank levies, wage garnishment, and asset seizures. Not all bad?Of course the IRS is perfectly willing to get you in compliance. In fact they?ll even do it for you. This is called a Substitute Filing Return, and if the IRS does this your existing debt will multiply before your eyes. Here?s the secret?So you want to settle your debt without the IRS taking your stuff. You don?t want the IRS to file your returns for you and cause you to owe even more money. The question is: what can you do?

You can file those returns is what you can do! Depending on how far back those returns go you may not have all of the financial records from the time. You can get your basic information from the IRS in the form of a wage and income transcript. If you have any information for deductions or credits available great! If you don?t you?ll just have to settle for what is available.

If the IRS has Substitute Filed your returns you have to provide complete proof that their return was wrong. If you don?t have the proof, you?ll have to accept their return for you.

Once you?re in compliance however you can begin working on your tax debt. You can put yourself into a position to at least discuss payment options with the IRS, or even settle your debt. Now you have the Smoking gun?Use it!

With not much time remaining until the April 15 IRS income tax deadline, many Americans are scrambling to finalize their income tax returns. This year, a growing percentage of taxpayers will choose to file an IRS income tax extension, which will postpone their tax deadline to October 15.

If you?re considering filing an income tax extension, you?re not alone. The IRS recently estimated that 10.2 million of the 140 million tax filers will file for a tax extension this year. What?s more, approximately 2 million of those extensions will be electronically filed online.File Later tax extension service – a popular website where taxpayers can file their income tax extension – compiled the following list of reasons why taxpayers should consider joining the growing trend of taxpayers filing a tax ex tension rather than stress about getting their returns completed by April 15.

Although the IRS doesn?t care (or ask) why millions of taxpaying Americans file for extensions every year, you may find these valuable: 1. Accountants and tax professionals are much busier in April than they are in October. Getting the proper amount of time with an accountant gets harder and harder the longer you wait leading up to April 15. Extending your income tax deadline to October 15 will give your accountant or tax pro that extra time to focus on your tax return, which may mean extra tax savings in your pocket.2. Filing an income tax extension may reduce your chance of audit. IRS auditors have quotas they need to meet every year on the number of returns audited. Returns are sorted for auditors by filing date, and most auditors will have met their quotas before they get to extended returns.3. Getting paperwork together to complete your taxes isn?t easy. Organizing that shoebox of W2s, 1099s, mortgage interest statements, and receipts can take longer than you expect. Giving yourself the extra time needed will ensure you?re taxes are done right, and extending will give you extra time to track down any additional deductions so you?re getting the biggest tax return possible.4. For business owners, funding retirement plans such as Simplified Employee Pensions (SEPs) or SIMPLE IRA?s can be expensive. Filing for an income tax extension will also extend your deadline to fund these types of retirement plans.5. It?s easy. Your income tax extension can be filed in less than 10 minutes using an online provider like File Later. The process is completely paper-free, and your extension will be e-filed, meaning you?ll get an email confirming the IRS has approved your extension, and you?ll have 6 more months to finalize your tax return.

And remember, even though you may be interested in the reasons to extend your income tax return, the IRS doesn?t care or ask. As long as your application is filed correctly, your extension will be granted by the IRS and your new tax deadline will be October 15.

I am a self-employed consultant as of this year, so I am responsible for both income and self-employment taxes. If I cover all income taxes due with estimated taxes during the year, but do not include funds to cover SE taxes until I file in 2009, will it appear on my filing next April that I have under-paid, incurring penalties and interest?

He lives on a retirement Social Security check only. How much can IRS garnish his check (around $1100.00) per month pay) He is already paying $185 a month to IRS out of his check, now they claim they made a mistake on his 2004 taxes and want more payment per month.
Just how much can they take out of this check?

2008 Income Taxes–How to negate the damaging effects of deductions that will be taken away from the IRS effective 2009.
Found out that doing energy-saving write-offs for your IRS taxes will no longer be deductible in 2009.

If you have more tax withhelf, you get a refund during income tax season. If you get more money on your paycheck you end up paying taxes. I don’t want that to happen to me so on my VA tax forms, what do I claim?

A lien was recently [July, 2007] placed by the IRS against a piece of Real Estate in New York that is owned by an Estate that I am the Executor of.
How long do I have from the time the lien was placed by the IRS to the time that the IRS forces the property for sale or auction? If the property is forced for sale or auction by the IRS is there some type of redemption period that I have?
The Estate does not want me to sell the Real Estate.