by steve | Jan 26, 2010 | Tax Help, Uncategorized
Federal Income Tax Withheld. If you are not required to file, you should file to get money back if Federal Income Tax was withheld from your pay, you made estimated tax payments, or had a prior year overpayment applied to this year’s tax.
Making Work Pay Credit. You may be able to take this credit if you have earned income from work. The maximum credit for a married couple filing a joint return is $800 and $400 for other taxpayers.
Government Retiree Credit. You may be eligible for this credit if you received a government pension or annuity payment in 2009. However, the amount of this credit reduces any making work pay credit you receive.
Earned Income Tax Credit. You may qualify for EITC if you worked, but did not earn a lot of money. EITC is a refundable tax credit; which means you could qualify for a tax refund.
Additional Child Tax Credit. This credit may be available to you if you have at least one qualifying child and you did not get the full amount of the Child Tax Credit.
Refundable American Opportunity Credit. This education tax credit is available for 2009 and 2010. The maximum credit per student is $2,500 and the first four years of post secondary education qualify.
First-Time Home buyer Credit. This credit is a maximum of $8,000 or $4,000 if your filing status is married filing separately. The credit applies to homes bought anytime in 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010. However, you have until on or before June 30, 2010, if you entered into a written binding contract before May 1, 2010. If you bought a home after November 6, 2009, you may be able to qualify and claim the credit even if you already owned a home. In this case, the maximum credit for long-time residents is $6,500, or $3,250 if your filing status is married filing separately.
Health Coverage Tax Credit. Certain individuals, who are receiving Trade Adjustment Assistance, Reemployment Trade Adjustment Assistance, or pension benefit payments from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, may be eligible for a Health Coverage Tax Credit worth 80 percent of monthly health insurance premiums when you file your 2009 tax return.
Fresh Start Tax will post any news directly from the IRS NEWS WIRE site upon receipt to get the information out to our public ASAP.
by steve | Jan 26, 2010 | Tax Help, Uncategorized
IRS NEWS WIRE RELEASE
If you are donating to charities providing earthquake relief in Haiti, you may be able to claim those donations on your 2009 tax return. Here are 10 important facts the Internal Revenue Service wants you to know about this special provision.
A new law allows you to claim donations for Haitian relief on your 2009 tax return, which you will be filing this year.
The contributions must be made specifically for the relief of victims in areas affected by the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti.
To be eligible for a deduction on the 2009 tax return, donations must be made after Jan. 11, 2010 and before March 1, 2010.
In order to be deductible, contributions must be made to qualified charities and cannot be designated for the benefit of specific individuals or families.
The new law applies only to cash contributions.
Cash contributions made by text message, check, credit card or debit card may be claimed on your federal tax return.
You must itemize your deductions in order to claim these donations on your tax return.
You have the option of deducting these contributions on either your 2009 or 2010 tax return, but not both.
Contributions made to foreign organizations generally are not deductible. You can find out more about organizations helping Haitian earthquake victims from agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Federal law requires that you keep a record of any deductible donations you make. For donations by text message, a telephone bill will meet the record-keeping requirement if it shows the name of the organization receiving your donation, the date of the contribution, and the amount given. For cash contributions made by other means, be sure to keep a bank record, such as a canceled check or a receipt from the charity. Receipts should show the name of the charity, the date and amount of the contribution.
All the information on this Blog is posted directly from the IRS sight.
PLEASE do all you can to help these suffering people of God. See the site listed below for more details.
http://www.usaid.gov/
by steve | Jan 25, 2010 | Tax Help, Uncategorized
Everyone Can Use Free File
The IRS Free File service provides free federal income tax return preparation and electronic filing for all taxpayers. All you need is access to a computer and the Internet and you can prepare and e-file your federal tax return for free.
Free File is offered through a partnership between the IRS and the Free File Alliance, a group of private-sector tax software companies. Since Free File?s debut in 2003, more than 27 million returns have been prepared and e-filed through this program.
Free File offers two options. The first is Traditional Free File, which includes approximately 20 tax preparation software products from which to choose. Taxpayers with 2009 incomes of $57,000 or less are eligible for this service. The second option is Free File Fill-able Forms, which is an electronic version of IRS paper forms. All taxpayers can use Free File Fill-able Forms to prepare and file tax forms electronically.
This has just come in off the news wire service from the IRS. If you can do this, get started today and do not wait. How cheap is free?
by steve | Jan 22, 2010 | Tax Help, Uncategorized
The IRS has a wonderful feature called TaxWise TV. It is an Audit Technique guide that no one should be without. What most taxpayers do not know is that the IRS has set up Market Specialization Programs that are unique for every industry. What that means.
TaxWise TV features the IRS Audit Technique Guide and Navigating IRS.gov
to help the IRS agents conduct examinations of returns more efficiently and require less of the taxpayers time, the IRS produces Audit Technique Guides, which focus on developing highly trained examiners for a particular market segment. These publicly available guides contain examination techniques, common and unique industry issues, business practices, industry terminology and other information to assist examiners in performing examinations.
by steve | Jan 21, 2010 | Tax Help, Uncategorized
Ordinary Business Care and Prudence
- Ordinary business care and prudence includes making provisions for business obligations to be met when reasonably foreseeable events occur. A taxpayer may establish reasonable cause by providing facts and circumstances showing that they exercised ordinary business care and prudence (taking that degree of care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise), but nevertheless were unable to comply with the law.
- In determining if the taxpayer exercised ordinary business care and prudence, review available information including the following:
- Taxpayer’s Reason. The taxpayers reason should address the penalty imposed. To show reasonable cause, the dates and explanations should clearly correspond with events on which the penalties are based. If the dates and explanations do not correspond to the events on which the penalties are based, request additional information from the taxpayer that may clarify the explanation
- Compliance History. Check the preceding tax years (at least three) for payment patterns and the taxpayers overall compliance history. The same penalty, previously assessed or abated, may indicate that the taxpayer is not exercising ordinary business care. If this is the taxpayers first incident of noncompliant behavior, weigh this factor with other reasons the taxpayer gives for reasonable cause, since a first- time failure to comply does not by itself establish reasonable cause.
- Length of Time. Consider the length of time between the event cited as a reason for the noncompliance and subsequent compliance. Consider: (1) when the act was required by law, (2) the period of time during which the taxpayer was unable to comply with the law due to circumstances beyond the taxpayers control, and (3) when the taxpayer complied with the law.
- Circumstances Beyond the Taxpayer’s Control. Consider whether or not the taxpayer could have anticipated the event that caused the noncompliance. Reasonable cause is generally established when the taxpayer exercises ordinary business care and prudence, but, due to circumstances beyond the taxpayers control, the taxpayer was unable to timely meet the tax obligation. The taxpayers obligation to meet the tax law requirements is ongoing. Ordinary business care and prudence requires that the taxpayer continue to attempt to meet the requirements, even though late.
