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2016 IRS Mileage Rates

The IRS recently announce the standard rates for business mileage deductions, along with the rates for moving, medical travel and charitable travel. There were reductions in the primary categories, as you will see in the list below. This is reflective of the reduction in fuel costs over the past year, and is part of a study done annually to determine the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile. As of January 1, 2016, the following standard rates apply for operating a car, pickup, van, or panel truck, for the various categories: 54¢ per mile for business (was 57.5¢ per mile in 2015) 19¢ per mile for moving purposes (was 23¢ in 2015) 19¢ per mile for medical purposes (also was 23¢ in 2015) 14¢ per mile for charitable purposes (unchanged) The standard mileage rates are used by anyone who keeps a log of miles for the various categories to […]

Traveling for Charitable Purposes

Sometimes charitable work involves travel – such as for the Red Cross, for example. Did you know that your travel expenses for charitable work can be a tax deduction? Recently the IRS sent out a Summertime Tax Tip (2015-12) that outlines some valuable information about this deduction. Tips on Travel While Giving Your Services to Charity Do you plan to donate your services to charity this summer? Will you travel as part of the service? If so, some travel expenses may help lower your taxes when you file your tax return next year. Here are several tax tips that you should know if you travel while giving your services to charity: Qualified Charities.  In order to deduct your costs, your volunteer work must be for a qualified charity. Most groups must apply to the IRS to become qualified. Churches and governments are qualified, and do not need to apply to […]

File an Extension if You Don’t Have All Your Information

If you find yourself without all of the information to file your tax return on time, or if you just haven’t got the time to fill out the forms, you can always file for an extension of time to file.  This is an automatic extension of six months – to October 15 in most cases. This is only an extension of the time to file your return, not an extension of the time to pay any tax due.  You should send the tax due (your estimate of course) by April 15. In an earlier article, we covered the fact that you should file your tax return on time, even if you can’t pay. This applies here as well, but in general you should pay if you’ve calculated that you owe. Here are seven important things you need to know about filing an extension: File on time even if you can’t […]

Get your billion back, Americans – time’s running out

Oftentimes folks with low incomes don’t see the need to file a tax return. Much of the time this is the correct way to go – after all, why go through the hassle and expense of filing a tax return for no purpose? Unfortunately, many of these folks who didn’t file a tax return are actually due a refund of withheld tax, and possibly even tax credits that they weren’t aware of. The IRS has compiled a list of approximately 1 million taxpayers who didn’t file a tax return in 2011, and this group is due a total of approximately $1 billion in refunds. The problem is that in order to claim these refunds, the tax return for 2011 has to be filed by April 15, 2015 – 3 years after the original filing date. If you don’t file by then, the refund is lost to you forever. Recently the […]

IRS Gives 5 Good Reasons for Direct Deposit

Since we’re in the middle of income tax preparation season, I thought it was appropriate to share some of the tips that the IRS has put forth. Today’s tip is to take advantage of direct deposit for your tax refund. It can be very handy to have this option specified on your tax return, as you’ll see below. It’s faster, more secure, and much more convenient than the old paper check method. Below is the text of IRS’ Tax Tip 2015-23, which details some of the reasons that it makes sense to use direct deposit for your tax refund.  

IRS’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2015

The IRS produces a list each year of the “dirty dozen” tax scams that they and taxpayers deal with. I’ve kept track of these over the past several years, so I’ve included the changes to rankings from 2012 to this year for those items in the list that continue to be listed. Topping the list this year is phone scams, which was first listed in the dirty dozen in 2014, at #2.  

Exploring free tax filing

Tax filing season is upon us! As you consider all of your options for filing your return this year, you might consider some of the exploring free tax filing for your return. Recently the IRS published their IRS Tax Tip 2015-06, which details information about two of the options for free tax filing that you might be able to take advantage of. The actual text of the Tip is below:  

You’ve still got time to avoid tax surprises

Even though there are only a few more weeks left in the calendar year, there are a few things that you can do to avoid some serious and consequential tax surprises come April next year. The IRS recently published their Special Edition Tax Tip 2014-21 which details some of the steps you could take now to avoid these surprises. Still Time to Act to Avoid Surprises at Tax-Time Even though only a few months remain in 2014, you still have time to act so you aren’t surprised at tax-time next year. You should take steps to avoid owing more taxes or getting a larger refund than you expect. Here are some actions you can take to bring the taxes you pay in advance closer to what  you’ll owe when you file your tax return:

IRS provides advice for avoiding phone scams

There has been a rash of phone scams going on this year – scammers posing as IRS agents that is. I haven’t personally received any of the calls, but I’ve had calls from several clients who have gotten these calls. They can be very disconcerting, to say the least. In the typical phone scam, the caller contacts you out of the blue, and seems to have information about your home address, or bank, or other somewhat personal information. They then tell you that you owe a pile of taxes and you have to pay up now or the local police will be on the way to see you. They will readily take your credit or debit card information right now, over the phone. The flip side is that they’ll say you have a refund coming and will ask for your bank account information so that they can transfer it to […]

Retrieving a Prior-Year Tax Return Copy

Sometimes you need access to a previous year tax return copy, and dadgummit you just pitched the box of tax copies from 2011, thinking you couldn’t possibly need it again!  There are ways to get this information – some easier than others. First of all, if you prepared and filed your own return using one of the commercial programs, and you’ve maintained your access to the program over the years, you should be able to go back and re-print a copy of the return from that year.  This is the quick and simple method. If you had a tax professional prepare and file the return for you, she should have a copy of your return – if not the fileable copy, then at least a client’s or preparer’s copy, which should be adequate for fulfilling most requirements.  Many preparers retain these copies, with supporting documentation, for many years for just […]

The Dog Ate My Tax Receipts Bill

Now here’s some legislation that I could get behind! Recently, House Representative Steve Stockman (R-TX) introduced a bill in response to the IRS’ lame excuse of a “computer glitch” that purportedly erased all of the incriminating evidence from the agency’s computers.  This was part of the testimony offered by former IRS Exempt Organizations Division director Lois Lerner in response to the accusation that her division targeted organizations critical of the current administration. Stockman’s bill provides that if the IRS can use lame, flimsy excuses to avoid prosecution, taxpayers should be allowed to use similar excuses.  The actual text of the bill follows below: 

Avoiding Mistakes on Your Tax Return

When filing your tax return you want to make sure that you don’t make mistakes.  Mistakes can be costly in terms of additional tax and penalties, as well as the extra time and grief they can cause you.  Most of the time using e-filing software can help you to avoid these mistakes, but you should check over the return anyhow to make certain you haven’t fat-fingered something or if something didn’t go wrong with the software. The IRS recently issued their Tax Tip 2014-46, which lists out 8 common mistakes that folks make on their tax return, and how to avoid them where possible.  The actual text of the Tip follows below: Eight Common Tax Mistakes to Avoid We all make mistakes.  But if you make a mistake on your tax return, the IRS may need to contact you to correct it.  That will delay your refund. You can avoid […]

Simplified Home-Office Deduction Available

Beginning with your 2013 tax return you have a new option available for calculating the Home-Office deduction – based solely on the square footage of the dedicated space used for the home office. Instead of having to maintain records that are directly and indirectly associated with your home office, you can use the simplified method, which applies a flat $5 rate per square foot to the home office space, up to a maximum of $1,500. The record-keeping and tax preparation simplification is very beneficial: Form 8829 (the usual home-office deduction form) can cause a lot of headaches to prepare, especially if you have more than one home office and you itemize your home mortgage interest and real estate taxes.  For a single home office your tax preparation software will do much of the work for you, but complications like a second home office (not that uncommon in these days of […]

Further Guidance on the One-Rollover-Per-Year Rule for IRAs

As a follow-up to the recent post on this blog The One-Rollover-Per-Year Rule: Revised, the IRS has recently released some additional guidance on the subject, via Announcement 2014-15. As previously mentioned, the IRS has determined to begin using the one-rollover-per-year rule applied to ALL IRAs that the taxpayer owns, rather than only the affected IRAs that have been involved in a rollover. According to the Announcement, the IRS fully acknowledges that the previous understanding of the rule was that it applied on an IRA-by-IRA basis.  In fact, there was a Proposed Regulation § 1.408-4(b)(4)(ii) on the books that was to further define the rule as applied only to the involved IRAs.  Ever since the Tax Court decided otherwise in the case Bobrow v. Commissioner (TC Memo 2014-21), the rule has been changed. According to the recent announcement though, this will not take affect across the board until January 1, 2015.  […]

Use Direct Deposit for Your Tax Refund

When filing your tax returns this year, consider using direct deposit for your refund.  By doing this, you don’t have to worry about the mail “making the trip”, and also you won’t have to make a visit to the bank to cash or deposit the refund. On top of that, direct deposit refunds usually are deposited more quickly than a check is delivered by mail, getting you the money faster.  Among the many alternatives for the places you can have the money deposited to are virtually any bank account, as long as you have the routing and account information, as well as transferring your funds to your TreasuryDirect account to purchase US Treasury marketable securities and savings bonds.  You can also split your refund to be deposited in two or three different accounts – the account(s) need to be title in your name, your spouse’s name, or both, not someone […]

Get Your Kids to Help You With Your Taxes

Sometimes as parents we get overwhelmed with the costs of raising kids.  What with the high cost of soccer camp, video games, and lessons on the clarinet, it can be woefully expensive raising kids. Sometimes though, there are surprising ways that kids can help out with costs – and your income taxes is one of those places where having kids does help.  The IRS recently published their Tax Tip 2014-11 which lists eight ways that having children can help to lower your taxes. The actual text of Tax Tip 2014-11 follows: Eight Tax Savers for Parents Your children may help you qualify for valuable tax benefits.  Here are eight tax benefits parents should look out for when filing their federal tax returns this year. Dependents. In most cases, you can claim your child as a dependent.  This applies even if your child was born any time in 2013.  for more […]

Where to get IRS Forms and Publications

When you are preparing your taxes, inevitably you run across a form or publication that you need in order to complete your filing.  But where can you find all these forms and publications? The IRS recently published their Tax Tip 2014-06, which details information about where you can find these forms and publications.  The actual text of the Tip follows below. Four Ways to Get IRS Forms and Publications The IRS offers free tax forms and publications on many topics.  Here are four easy ways to get the tax products you need from the IRS: On the Internet.  Get everything you need 24 hours a day 7 days a week on www.IRS.gov. To view and download tax products, click on the ‘Forms and Pubs’ tab.  Many products appear online before they’re available on paper. Order by phone.  Call 1-800-TAX-FORM (1-800-829-3676) Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time.  […]

Updates to IRS Fees for Installment Agreements and OIC

Just like pretty much everything else in the world, the cost of doing business with the IRS has gone up.  The good news is that some fees did not increase for calendar year 2014, but some fees have gone up by significant rates. Installment Agreement This is where you have a balance due to the IRS for unpaid taxes, penalties and interest, and you’re unable to pay the amount at the present time in a lump sum.  So you set up an installment agreement with the IRS – where you agree to pay a set amount on a monthly basis until your balance is paid off. If you set up a direct-debit payment plan – where the payment is pulled directly from you bank account – the fee to set this up remains unchanged from 2013 at $52.  This is the preferred method to set up such a plan, for […]

Watch out for scams at tax time

You’ve probably seen news reports about how identity theft is rampant around the time tax returns are being filed.  All sorts of nefarious schemes are out there, via the phone or email. The IRS recently published their Special Edition Tax Tip 2014-02, which details the warnings from the IRS about scams.  The full text of the Tip is below. IRS Warns of Tax-time Scams It’s true: tax scams proliferate during the income tax filing season.  This year’s season opens on Jan. 31.  The IRS provides the following scam warnings so you can protect yourself and avoid becoming a victim of these crimes: Be vigilant of any unexpected communication purportedly from the IRS at the start of tax season. Don’t fall for phone and phishing email scams tha use the IRS as a lure.  Thieves often pose as the IRS using a bogus refund scheme or warnings to pay past-due taxes. […]

Penalty for Having No Health Insurance

Note: this provision has been repealed beginning with tax year 2019. As you may already be aware, individuals are required to carry health insurance on themselves and their dependents, as of January 1, 2014.  This is the mandate set forth in the Affordable Care Act – and of course it’s an important part of making the whole Act work.  Small businesses (less than 50 employees) have a similar mandate to provide coverage for employees beginning in 2015, or face penalties themselves. Without mandating insurance coverage for everyone, the system can’t sustain the lower-cost options for folks who desperately need the medical coverage. This includes folks who are not covered by any other means (employer, Medicare, Medicaid or individually-purchased policies) and who have medical problems that require costly care.  With the mandate, healthier individuals will also have to pony up and purchase health insurance, so that the overall cost is spread […]