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taxes
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taxes
taxes
Where's My Stimulus Payment?
The IRS has a tool that lets you find out when your Stimulus Payment will arrive. Just punch in your social, filing status, and number of exemptions on your 2007 taxes. Its usefulness is limited, though, as it can't tell you when your payment arrive until about a week before they send out the check.
Where's My Stimulus Payment? [IRS] (Thanks to Josh!)
(Photo: Getty)
ask the consumerists
I Underpaid My Taxes, Will I Still Get A Stimulus Rebate Check?
Reader Adam is wondering if he'll get a rebate check, considering the fact that he underpaid his taxes for 2007: More »
tax cat
Help! My Tax Stimulus Rebate Was Direct Deposited Into My IRA! Noooo!
Silly tax payer! You're not supposed to deposit your tax rebate into your IRA. You're supposed to spend it on blu-ray players and expensive diet pills and GPS systems! No more maps for you! Sadly, if you asked the IRS to deposit your tax refund into your IRA, they're going to deposit your rebate there too. More »
rebates
What Will You Do With Your Economic Stimulus Check?
The first of the economic stimulus rebate checks were planned to be distributed this week and it seems as if it's created a bit of a feeding frenzy. Retailers such as Kroger and Sears are offering financial bonuses while Wal-mart is offering free check cashing and a few price breaks on food items. Of course you could take advantage of offers like these, but what should you do with your rebate? Well, luckily, there's plenty of advice to give you food for thought. Newsweek suggests the following: More »
rebate checks
Rebate Checks Start Arriving Monday!
Monday is your lucky day, taxpayer, that's when rebate checks start arriving, ahead of schedule. That's right, the rebates were originally slated for May 2nd, but thanks to "a new computer program that updates records daily - faster than an older program that updates weekly," Americans will start getting their free beer money on April 28th. Wow, IRS and efficiency together in the same sentence?
Tax rebates to start arriving Monday [CNN Money] (Thanks to Caren!)
(Photo: MBru)
tax cat
5 Myths About The Upcoming Tax Rebate Stimulus Check
There are a lot of myths and rumors going around out there about the upcoming stimulus check. Tax Cat is in full debunk mode this morning. Careful of the claws, ladies and gentlemen. He gets touchy when tax season ends and he has to retire the glasses for another year and go back to ruining things in Chad's apartment. More »
id theft
Scammers Want Your Stimulus Check And Tax Refund
Phoung Cat Le from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that a colleague of hers is the victim of income tax ID theft. A scammer filed her income taxes before she did, hoping to get a hold of her refund and stimulus check. More »
tax cat
Tax Tip For Lazy People: How To Get An Extension On Your Income Taxes
Your taxes are due. You haven't done them. Let's face it. You're not going to do them on time.You need an extension. More »
Here's an informative slideshow that breaks down how your tax dollars are spent (spoiler alert: nearly half goes to the military). [CNBC]
taxes
Corruption: Mystery Shoppers Expose Refund Anticipation Loan Abuse
As an educated consumer you may wonder why people would choose to use a Refund Anticipation Loan when they can e-file and receive their refund in only a few days. More »
tax tip
Tax Cat: Help! I Owe The IRS Money And I Don't Have Any!
The IRS knows you owe them money and they realize that you may not actually have any to give them. Don't worry, they're not going to come in the night and steal all your Nerf footballs and catnip. More »
followups
H&R Block Says It Does Not Refuse Tax Returns For Same-Sex Civil Unions
H&R Block recently got into trouble because when a Connecticut same-sex couple tried to file their taxes through H&R Block's website, the system spat back, ""We don't support Connecticut Civil Union returns." One of our readers wrote H&R Block about our post and their VP of Marketing actually wrote back to him to describe what she felt was media sensationalization of the story. She says that the problem happens because the Federal government doesn't recognize same-sex civil unions. The information for state tax returns gets inputted based on the federal, so in this specific case, it's not "flowing" correctly. It sounds like they're working on fixing that, though. Here's her email in full: More »
how to
Avoid An IRS Audit
How can you avoid an IRS audit? There's a .58% chance if you make 20-50k that you'll be audited by the IRS, but that still adds up to 259,794 unlucky people. Here's some strategies on how you can avoid becoming one of them:
More »
taxes
What to Do If You Can't File Your Taxes on Time
The clock is ticking. In less than two weeks, US federal income taxes are due. For those procrastinators out there, the deadline is quickly approaching. Time to get to business — and fast.
But what if you're more than a lazy daisy? Perhaps there's a good reason for your tax delay and even with the time you've taken, you still can't file on time? Fortunately, CNN Money has some worthwhile information for you:
Good news: You can have a six-month extension. Bad news: You still have to pay your taxes by April 15.More »
File Form 4868 (download a copy from irs.gov or your tax prep program will provide one), and use last year's return to estimate what you owe or let your tax software do it for you. It's better to overestimate and get a refund later; if you're under by more than 10%, you'll owe interest of 7% on the amount you underpaid by, plus a penalty of up to 25% of the underpayment.
If you're on SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) and used Taxcut Online from H&R Block to file for your stimulus payment, it may have told you to print out the wrong form. The right form is 1040A, not 1040EZ.
you've got mail
We recently received our "Economic Stimulus Payment Notice," and it seems worth far less than the $41.8 million the Treasury spent on printing and mailing. The letter contained no surprises, but did extend the tantalizing possibility that we would receive "a notice and additional information shortly before the payment is made." Check out the full letter and a handy eligibility chart, after the jump.
More »
Economic Stimulus Reminder Notes Are Here!
We recently received our "Economic Stimulus Payment Notice," and it seems worth far less than the $41.8 million the Treasury spent on printing and mailing. The letter contained no surprises, but did extend the tantalizing possibility that we would receive "a notice and additional information shortly before the payment is made." Check out the full letter and a handy eligibility chart, after the jump.
More »
The IRS is holding $1.2 billion in unclaimed refunds for 1.3 million people who still haven't filed a 2004 tax return. [IRS]
