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Here’s an informative slideshow that breaks down how your tax dollars are spent (spoiler alert: nearly half goes to the military). [CNBC]
IRS
Corruption: Mystery Shoppers Expose Refund Anticipation Loan Abuse
By 4.10.08
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.
Tax Cat: Help! I Owe The IRS Money And I Don't Have Any!
By 4.9.08
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.
H&R Block Says It Does Not Refuse Tax Returns For Same-Sex Civil Unions
By 4.7.08
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:
Avoid An IRS Audit
By 4.4.08
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:
What to Do If You Can't File Your Taxes on Time
By 4.3.08
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.
By 3.25.08
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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.
Economic Stimulus Reminder Notes Are Here!
By 3.22.08
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.
By 3.20.08
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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]
Check Out The IRS's Economic Stimulus Payment Calculator
By 3.18.08
The IRS has more information about the upcoming economic stimulus payments. Woohoo!
Don't File Taxes? You Gotta To Get A Stimulus Check
By 3.10.08
People who are not normally required to file taxes will have to do so this year if they want a piece of the 2008 economic stimulus rebate. This applies to low-income works, and Social Security, Veterans Affairs Recipients, and Railroad Retirement recipients. In partnership with the IRS, the following sites are offering free tax prep and electronic filing if the only reason you need to files is to receive a stimulus check:
Using A Free Tax Service To Prepare Your State Return? If You Don't Pay, They May Delete Your Work
By 3.7.08
Last week we wrote about the IRS’ free tax filing program and pointed you to a blog that reviewed all 19 services. Only two offer free state filing, but the blog, Flife, pointed out that you could always use your chosen service to prepare your state return—using it as a sort of worksheet—and then switch to one of the totally free services to do the actual filing. But be careful: a reader just wrote in to say free-tax-return.com completely deleted his state filing when he declined to pay the $13.50 fee.
IRS Reminds You To File Your Tax Return In Order To Receive Stimulus Payment
By 3.3.08
“These special letters remind people that they won’t need to do anything more than file a 2007 tax return in order to put the stimulus payment process in motion,” Acting IRS Commissioner Linda Stiff said.
19 Free Tax Services Tested And Rated
By 2.29.08
Still looking for an affordable e-filing solution for your taxes? The finance blog FiLife “tested every one of the free tax filing services available through the IRS’ Free File program, then posted the results in a detailed, easy-to-read comparison chart.
By 2.19.08
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Commenter Witeowl points out in another thread that if your adjusted gross income was $54,000 or less last year, the IRS can direct you to 19 different companies that will allow you to e-file your 2007 taxes for free. When this writer took advantage of it in the past, “free” meant jumping through a series of GoDaddy-like pages, but in the end it was free to use. [IRS]
Tax Tip: Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007
By 2.18.08
Tax Cat knows that it’s a hard subject, but if your home has been foreclosed there’s something you should know about changes to the tax laws.
By 2.15.08
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A roundup of places to find deals on TurboTax products. [ProBargainHunter]
By 2.14.08
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Finally it’s done, Bush signed the legislation and the tax rebates checks are go for launch! [AP via BloggingAwayDebt]
