The IRS recently announced that electronic filing of amended tax returns will be available later this summer!
tax return
Tax Bill Too High? Try This Trick
Some individuals get the nice surprise of a big tax refund every tax year (if this is you, don’t be too happy – you’ve been lending Uncle Sam money interest free). Other folks get the unpleasant surprise of having to write a big check to Uncle Sam. For the latter individuals, there may be a way to lower their tax bill and save more for retirement. Let’s look at an example. Assume an individual has a tax bill of $4,000 and they want to reduce this. Naturally, there are other deductions they may qualify for, but in this case, they’ve exhausted all other options except this one: saving to their 401k. Let’s also assume this individual’s marginal tax rate is 25%. The individual can take their tax rate and divide it into their tax liability for the year – in this case $4,000 divided by 25%. This comes to $16,000. […]
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Tax Time To-Do List
Now that tax time is around the corner I thought I’d put together a handy guide in case you find yourself in need of delegating your tax prep and return to our firm. As a reminder, both Jim and I are enrolled agents with the IRS and in addition to federal taxes we are capable of preparing and filing your state (nationwide) tax return as well. Here are some items to gather and consider. Organize your W2s. Gather all of your tax information from your respective employer(s). This also includes any 1099-MISC income if you operated as an independent contractor. Organize your other tax forms. This include other 1099 forms such as 1099-DIV, INT, as well as 1098 forms for student loan and home mortgage interest. Don’t worry, most of these forms are in the process of being mailed or emailed to you if hold such accounts. Organize your receipts. […]
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Taxes and Your Child
When a child has unearned income from investments in his or her own name, taxes can be a bit tricky. Depending on how much the unearned income is, part of it may be taxed at the child’s parent’s tax rate, for example. Recently the IRS published their Tax Tip 2016-52, which details What You Should Know about Children with Investment Income. The text of the Tip is below: What You Should Know about Children with Investment Income Special tax rules may apply to some children who receive investment income. The rules may affect the amount of tax and how to report the income. Here are five important points to keep in mind if your child has investment income: Investment Income. Investment income generally includes interest, dividends and capital gains. It also includes other unearned income, such as from a trust. Parent’s Tax Rate. If your child’s total investment income is […]
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IRS Reports 9 Common Tax Prep Errors
Unless you’ve been under a rock for the past several years, you know that this time of year is tax season. If you haven’t already filed your 2015 income tax return, of course you’ve got some work ahead of you. Unfortunately filing your tax return often results in errors – and these can be quite costly in terms of delays in processing as well as potential penalties and interest if your error results in underpayment of tax. In addition, an error on your return could result in missing out on refunds or credits that you are entitled to. Recently the IRS issued Tax Tip 2016-42, which lists out 9 common filing errors that they see, and tips to avoid the errors. The actual text of the Tip follows: Avoid Errors; File an Accurate Return The IRS encourages you to file an accurate tax return. Take extra time if you need […]
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Qualified Charitable Distributions for 2016
Individuals needing to take their required minimum distributions (RMD) for 2016 may consider having all or part of their RMD distributed as a Qualified Charitable Contribution (QCD). In order to qualify, the following rules must be met. The individual taking the QCD must be age 70 ½. The maximum allowed QCD is $100,000 per individual, annually. The QCD must come from an IRA. QCDs from 401(k)s, 403(b)s, 457(b)s, SEPs, SIMPLEs are not permitted. An individual may roll over an amount to their IRA and then made the QCD. The QCD is counted toward the individual’s RMD for the tax year. If the RMD was already taken, the QCD cannot be retroactively made. The QCD must be made directly to the charitable organization. Generally, the charity must be a public charity. The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015 made allowing QCDs from IRAs permanent. The tax benefit from […]
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5 Tax Credits You Don’t Want to Miss
As individuals begin to file their tax returns for 2015 here are some tax credits that some individuals may qualify for to help reduce, if not eliminate their tax liability. Child Tax Credit. This credit may be worth up to $1,000 per child, depending on income. The child must be under age 17 at the end of 2015, as well as be a dependent and a US citizen. Additional information can be found in Publication 972. The American Opportunity Tax Credit. This tax credit for education expenses is allowed for parents for up to the first four years of post-secondary (college) education. The benefit of this credit is that it is a “per student” credit. This means the credit can be taken for multiple children in college. The maximum credit per student is $2,500. Additional information can be found here. The Lifetime Learning Credit. Like the AOTC, this credit can […]
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Tips for Tax Time
Given that it the start of tax season and individuals will be gathering and preparing their 2015 tax return information, I’d thought I’d put together some basic tax tips. Individuals may consider thinking about these items in order to have a smooth and (hopefully) stress-free 2015 tax season. Additionally, I’ve included a link to our 2015 Tax organizer. Please feel free to use it at your convenience to get your “tax ducks in a row”. Furthermore, please let us know if you’d like us to prepare and file your taxes for you. Many current clients have found Blankenship Financial to be cost effective and efficient compared to other big-named tax preparation services. As Enrolled Agents both Jim and I are well qualified to handle most tax matters and returns. And now with the tax tips… Beware the non-tax man cometh! Each year we field calls from clients and prospective clients […]
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What to Do if You’re a Victim of Tax Fraud
Hopefully this will never happen to you but in the unfortunate event you become of victim of tax fraud there are some steps that you can take to help alleviate the concern that someone has stolen your identity to file a fraudulent tax return in order to receive the refund. Generally, the first sign of fraud appears when you try to file our return electronically. Most e-file providers receive acknowledgements from the IRS that the return was successfully e-filed. If a return is rejected, a code will return with the rejection indicating what the issue is. For example, a sign of fraud will indicate that the Social Security numbers used to file your return were previously used in the same tax year for another return. If you know you didn’t previously file, then fraud is likely. If you feel you’re the victim of fraud, here’s what you can do: Contact […]
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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 […]
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5 Tips to Lower Your Tax for 2015
With 2014 over and 2015 well on its way you may be finding yourself gathering all of your 2014 tax information and getting ready to file your income taxes. Some folks will be expecting refunds while others will woefully dread writing out a check to the IRS. If you find yourself in the group of folks that will be writing a check to Uncle Sam, here are some tips to reduce your tax burden for 2015.
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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:
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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 […]
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A Quick Trick to Reduce Your Tax Liability
Now that most folks are recovering from tax time there may be some individuals that paid an excessive amount of tax to Uncle Sam and are looking for ways to reduce their tax liability for next year. This post will be short and sweet, but hopefully it will drive a few points home. The best way to explain this is through an example. Let’s say that Mary and her husband Paul both work and file their taxes jointly. Their tax liability for 2013 was $4,000 – meaning that’s the amount of the check they wrote to the IRS. Needless to say, they are both looking for a potential way to reduce that liability – at least in the here and now. In this case, their marginal tax rate is 25%. The quick trick in this example is to take their tax rate which is 25% and divide it into their […]
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Tax Time is Over. Maybe.
For most folks tomorrow marks the one week anniversary of filing their 2014 tax return. Not much needs to be done after they’ve filed except for deciding to have more withheld in 2014 for those folks who had to write a check to Uncle Sam or deciding what to do with the refund (hint: put it in an IRA) for those folks who got a refund. What happens when the return may have been submitted with mistakes or perhaps costly errors? Generally, if the error is minor the IRS will correct errors or accept returns without certain forms or schedules attached. For those returns that have a change in filing status, income, deductions, and credits then filing an amended return will most likely be appropriate. For those folks needing to file an amended return they are allowed to file using form 1040X. Form 1040X will allowing corrections to earlier filed […]
Sterling Raskie, MSFS, CFP®, ChFC®
The latest in our Owner’s Manual series, A 401(k) Owner’s Manual, was published in January 2020 and is available on 
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