Tag Archives: Internal Revenue Service

Top Tax Scams To Avoid With Turbo Tax

Top Tax Scams To Avoid With Turbo Tax 2013

Using Turbo Tax 2013 is a good way to avoid tax scams in the first place, seeing as how you can e-file your paperwork with confidence that it will go directly to the IRS. However, there are people who will try to catch you in a scam this year, so you need to know what to watch out for. You should use www.TurboTax.com to gather information about filing your taxes correctly, in a safe manner, so these scams do not affect you.

Paying taxes is required for both citizens and...

Paying taxes is required for both citizens and non-citizens. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

  1. Email Scams
    Even if you have already used Turbo Tax 2013 and www.TurboTax.com to file your taxes, you could get an email saying that you are going to be given a second tax return. The email will look official, even down to the IRS logo, and it will state that you just need to resubmit your information to get the extra money. Do not respond to this email, because the information will really be used for identify theft.
  2. Tax Preparers
    If you decide not to use Turbo Tax 2013 and www.TurboTax.com, you might have to hire a tax preparer to file your taxes for you. Be very careful about what papers you sign. Some preparers will have you sign over your entire return so that they get to keep it instead of you, and, since you signed the documents, this is totally legal.
  3. Fake Charities
    You can claim all of the money that you give to charity as a tax write-off when you file with Turbo Tax 2013. However, make sure that you are not donating to a fake charity, which will simply steal your money as you attempt to save on your taxes.
  4. Grant Scams
    After you file with Turbo Tax 2013, you might get a call from a fake IRS agent, telling you that you need to provide you bank account into to get a grant. This is a scam to steal money directly from the bank.

Protect yourself this year. Learn all that you can about scams, and then use www.TurboTax.com to avoid them. With a little research, you can protect your identity and your money.

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What do you do when there is an invalid charged-off debt?

What do you do when there is an invalid charged-off debt?

It’s nothing new to hear or see a dispute between the tax payers and the IRS. Of course, there are quite a few reasons behind the disputes, but most commonly these disputes involve examination and/or collection issues and also the different interpretations of tax law. The IRS reporting a charged-off account on the credit report also proves to be a great hassle for more reasons than one. Now, if you happen to be one of those whose credit report shows charged-off tax accounts and that too having been reported by the IRS, then it’s definitely worth disputing. In fact, if you sit on it without taking heed, then this’ll definitely have a negative impact on your credit rating and that can be far worse than not having accrued debt, yet souring your credit.

What’s a charge-off debt actually?

Before you get into surmises about what exactly charged-off debt is all about, it’s important for you to understand the concept behind a charged-off debt in the first place. A charge-off debt actually happens to be that debt which has been determined uncollectible by the original creditor and that’s usually done after the debtor is seriously delinquent. Now, it’s only after 6 months that charge-offs are known to occur. Moreover, creditors still have the right to collect on the charge-offs because the debt still remains valid. Charge-offs are also known to appear on your credit report at least for 7 years since the debt appears.

Hence, it’s obvious that you’d like to validate your debts before coming to any conclusion about whether or not you should dispute the charge-offs. Debt validation is necessary like you do when going for the programs aimed to solve your financial problems. In this case too, debt validation programs serve the purpose of telling you for sure whether or not you can dispute the charged-off account with the IRS.

How’ll you dispute a charged-off debt with the IRS?

As a taxpayer who’s looking to dispute a charged-off debt, it’s rather important that you evaluate all possible options before taking any conclusive steps. Have a look at the steps discussed below and you should know how you can dispute a charged-off debt with the IRS.

  1. Write out a formal protest: The very first thing you should do is write out a formal protest and request a review with the IRS Appeals Office. If an issue arises, then the IRS is bound to issue a Notice of Proposed Adjustment (NOPA), Form 5701 which details the position of the IRS regarding particular financial matters. You might as well reply to this by citing tax laws and other substantial evidences to support your position.

  1. Review alternative dispute methods: You should also try and review alternative dispute methods that might be available. Generally there are 4 alternate dispute resolution tools available at the IRS Appeals Office – early referral to appeals, fast track settlement, post appeals mediation and delegation orders. You can request the tax office for early referral to the Appeals Office.

  1. Look for the best method: It’s always advisable that you peruse for the best method when it comes to your particular case of disputing charged-off accounts. Advisably since it’s a dispute, hence you might as well take the assistance of a tax professional. The ultimate option of course remains litigation in a tax court or federal district court.

Keep in mind the above instances and steps when looking to dispute your charged-off debts with the IRS for unless you’re sure about what you’re doing, things can get even messier ultimately. Take heed now and conclude things smoothly.

How Your Kids Can Boost Your IRS Refund

Law School

Law School (Photo credit: Tulane Public Relations)

IRS Refund

A considerable amount of tax can greatly help with your tax return upon declaring your legal dependent. Not only will it boost your own exemption but it can also make you eligible for other tax benefits. You can certainly avail of the child tax credit once you have claimed a legal dependent. Keep in mind that the IRS has restrictions or standard qualifications as to whom you can claim as a legal dependent. Never presume that any person or anybody living in your house directly qualifies as a legal dependent.

What is a Legal Dependent?

In general, a dependent is a person who relies on you for more than 50% of his or her finances. He may have an income from a source or totally depending from the help you are giving. But for the IRS, a legal dependent can be your child or anybody that you are providing aid financially.

A child or your spouse living in your home is the most common type of dependents that mostly everyone claims. Your elderly parents and if you have a child in college, they can still be considered as dependent. To claim a brother, sister, stepsister or any of your family relative as a dependent, he or she should only produce an income less than the standard personal exemption rate for that particular year. The IRS has provided 5 attributes to identify legal exemption of a claimed dependent. These are the following: support, citizenship, relationship, gross income and joint return. With regards to citizenship criteria, it requires that a dependent is a U.S. citizen, a legally adopted foreign child currently residing in the U.S., a local of the U.S. or resident of Mexico or Canada within the year.

Are YOU a Dependent?

Before you can claim a dependent, be sure that you are not claimed as a dependent by another person. Each qualified dependent can only be claimed by one taxpayer in that same year. To ensure that only one person has filed the person a dependent, no other relative should claim the child as a dependent. To fully qualify the kid, he should also be residing with the claimant for more than 6 months of the same year. Make sure that you support your claim with documents and keep those important files for future use.

After you have identified that the person is your qualified dependent, you should, at this time, be keeping significant receipts. It would be in your best interest to take note of any medical, daycare or even itemized expenses that was used or occurred for your dependent. It may seem complicated but the rules determined by the IRS are just very easy to follow.

Sean Harris is a tax blogger from Miami Florida. You can check out his blog irs-easy.com for more extensive information on doing your taxs yourself .

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The Benefits Of Filing Your Taxes With TurboTax Or TaxBrain

Filing Your Taxes With TurboTax 2013 Or TaxBrain

If you have previously filed your taxes by going to a CPA, you really need to look into online software like TurboTax 2013 or TaxBrain. You will find that there are a number of advantages to using a software program that a CPA cannot provide. In fact, in the modern day, more and more Canadians are starting to use preparation software because it gives them the experience that they desire.

TurboTax

TurboTax (Photo credit: MrGuilt)

No CPA Fees
To start with, TurboTax 2013 and TaxBrain are not going to charge you fees just to do your taxes. Even software that is not free is often less expensive than hiring someone to do it for you, and free software is the best deal of all. If you are tired of the cost of a CPA meaning that your return is not as big as you wanted it to be, these programs are the ideal solution.

Simple Layouts
Both TurboTax 2013 and TaxBrain are better than getting the paperwork yourself because they are much easier to understand. They were created with very basic structures. Instead of having to figure out what to input, you are generally asked a series of questions. As long as you answer them, your information will then be copied over to the forms for the government. You do not need to have any experience, and you certainly do not need a degree in tax law.

Saving as You Go
Another benefit of TurboTax 2013 or TaxBrain is that you can save your progress as you go. If you want to start your taxes tonight, you do not have to finish them tonight. You can simply save what you have done to your account. The next time that you log on, all of your information will still be intact. You could even work on the taxes for just fifteen minutes a day, breaking the whole process up so that it is not nearly so overwhelming. Furthermore, this protects all of the time that you have put in if your computer crashes, as long as you save periodically while you work.

Filing for Free
Finally, the major benefit of a program like TurboTax 2013 or TaxBrain is that you can electronically file all of your paperwork with the government. In many cases, this is entirely free. It does not even cost you the postage that it would take to mail the documents in if you had printed them off and filled them out. Furthermore, electronic filing is incredibly fast, so you can get your return as soon as possible. This is one of the most secure ways to send in the paperwork, and you never have to worry about all of the documents getting lost in transit.

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Tips to Settle Your Tax Debt on Your Own

Tips to Settle Your Tax Debt on Your Own

Want to settle your tax debt on your own? Here are few tips for you.

Wipe our Debt

Wipe our Debt (Photo credit: Images_of_Money)

Very first tip is to keep very clear communication; always keep IRS well informed about your current situation. Give them a clear picture of things that you have in hand. This could help them in getting things in place for you.

Next is, get a professional to hold the IRS, once that you have informed about your situation, you need to start collecting resources. There are legal ways to settle on your tax debt; however it is not easy to get the IRS to categorize you as uncollectable. This is reason why it’s essential that you give time in investing in an appropriate tax specialist, who will be able to file all the necessary forms. Probability of your success will improve greatly by hiring a specialist, so if you are thinking of pursuing this by yourself, it’s definitely not a good idea.  If you are wandering for where to find this specialist, here is tip number 3 for you.

Use the Internet to find a specialist for you, looking for a good tax professional who will help you settle your tax debt is easier if you search them online. Here you will have a bigger pool of experts to choose from, and the competition between them means you can save lot in the fee amount. Also the online tax professionals are cheaper than that of offline specialists. One more reason for not hiring offline specialists is the excessive fee amount that they charge; usually it is effort to cover up the high costs they incur in running their own businesses.

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Taxbrain- Estimate Tax Refund Easily

Taxbrain- Estimate Tax Refund Easily

The Taxbrain is one of the online preparation software programs that help you prepare your income tax return for a very modest fee. It usually starts at a cost of $14.95 and reach maximum of $69.95. If you want to file a state income tax return, usually the fee is around $29.95, regardless of the state.

Brains Not Taxes

Brains Not Taxes (Photo credit: charlesfettinger)

The Taxbrain is different than many other popular software programs in a way that they collect the data. There are data screens to be filled out. Due to this, it is taken as one of the fastest and easiest tax filing which does not involve many deductions. The only complaint from previous users about this style is that every page that opens up in this form should be completed before any corrections are made on any earlier filled out page.

The programmer’s approach was to make filling up the forms easier. This was achieved, but then checks are not as systematic as various other tax software programs, and also there isn’t any kind tax assistance provided with this package. For computer users who do not wish to download the software to their system, this one is for you. This one is completely a web based process. You are simply required to register to set up your account.

For an additional fee of $19.95, Taxbrain sends you a hard copy of the tax return. The company also keeps the return on file electronically for about 5 years, for additional fee of $9.95. You can have audit assistance as well for $34.95. The Taxbrain software service can help you finish your return and send it across in minimum of 15 minutes, while the average time is of 40 minutes.

Before finalizing or making any legal or tax related decisions, it is important that you consult tax accountant or a professional lawyer.

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