by steve | Jul 4, 2010 | IRS Tax Advice, Tax News
If you own or have authority over a foreign financial account, including a bank account, brokerage account, mutual fund or other type of financial account, you may be required to report the account yearly to the Department of the Treasury.
Under the Bank Secrecy Act, each U.S. person must file a Form TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), if
* The person has a financial interest in, or signature authority (or other authority that is comparable to signature authority) over one or more accounts in a foreign country, and
* The aggregate value of all foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any time during the calendar year.
A United States person is not prohibited from owning foreign accounts but civil and criminal penalties may apply for failures to properly file FBARs when required. The information reported on an FBAR may be used for governmental purposes, including law enforcement and tax compliance purposes.
Due June 30
The annual due date for filing Form TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), is June 30. The FBAR must be received by the IRS on or before June 30. Unlike tax returns, the FBAR is considered filed on the day it is received by the IRS. Postmarks are not considered evidence of timely filing.
For Assistance for Fresh Start Tax call 1-866-700-1040
Help in completing Form TD F 90-22.1 is available at (800) 800-2877, option 2. The form is available on this Web site or by telephone at (800) 829-3676. Questions regarding the FBAR can be sent to FBARquestions@irs.gov.
Call Fresh Start Tax should you have any questions 1-866-700-1040
by steve | Jul 2, 2010 | Tax News
Florida’s Tax Amnesty Program – Call us at Fresh Start Tax to apply 1-866-700-1040 – Reduce your Bill today!
Who is eligible?
You and your business are eligible if your liability for tax, penalty, or interest was due before July 1, 2010 and:
- You complete a Tax Amnesty Agreement.
- Your liability is not already covered by a settlement or payment agreement.
- You are not under criminal investigation, indictment, information, or prosecution regarding a Florida revenue law.
- You are not under a pretrial intervention or diversion program, probation, community control, or in a work camp, jail, state prison, or another correctional system regarding a Florida revenue law.
What taxes are eligible?
All taxes administered by the Department of Revenue are eligible, except unemployment tax and Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Fees. See a list of all eligible taxes.
List of eligible taxes
- Communications services
- Corporate income and emergency excise tax
- Documentary stamp
- Estate
- Fuel taxes (including local option taxes)
- Governmental leasehold intangible personal property tax
- Gross receipts tax on utility services
- Insurance premium taxes, surcharges, and fees
- Local option tourist development taxes administered by DOR and counties that self-administer tourist development taxes that have opted into the amnesty program
- Motor vehicle warranty fee (“lemon law”)
- Nonrecurring intangible personal property tax
- Pollutants taxes
- Sales and use tax (including discretionary sales surtaxes)
- Severance taxes (gas and sulfur, oil production, solid minerals)
- Solid waste and surcharge fees (rental car surcharge, tire and battery fees, gross receipts tax on dry cleaning)
You must submit a Tax Amnesty Agreement (online or paper form) by September 30, 2010. (Agreement will be available July 1.)
The fastest and easiest way to apply for amnesty is to do it online. You will receive an amnesty agreement number once you have submitted all the required information. If you do not complete the agreement online, be sure to fill out a paper Tax Amnesty Agreement (Form DR-100000) and mail it to:
Tax Amnesty
Florida Department of Revenue
Post Office Box 5138
Tallahassee FL 32314-5138
You must complete a Tax Amnesty Agreement to participate!
Call us at Fresh Start Tax and we can help you through this program 1-866-700-1040
by steve | Jul 2, 2010 | Tax News
Florida’s Tax Amnesty Program – Call us at Fresh Start Tax to apply 1-866-700-1040 – Reduce your Bill today!
Who is eligible?
You and your business are eligible if your liability for tax, penalty, or interest was due before July 1, 2010 and:
- You complete a Tax Amnesty Agreement.
- Your liability is not already covered by a settlement or payment agreement.
- You are not under criminal investigation, indictment, information, or prosecution regarding a Florida revenue law.
- You are not under a pretrial intervention or diversion program, probation, community control, or in a work camp, jail, state prison, or another correctional system regarding a Florida revenue law.
What taxes are eligible?
All taxes administered by the Department of Revenue are eligible, except unemployment tax and Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Fees. See a list of all eligible taxes.
List of eligible taxes
- Communications services
- Corporate income and emergency excise tax
- Documentary stamp
- Estate
- Fuel taxes (including local option taxes)
- Governmental leasehold intangible personal property tax
- Gross receipts tax on utility services
- Insurance premium taxes, surcharges, and fees
- Local option tourist development taxes administered by DOR and counties that self-administer tourist development taxes that have opted into the amnesty program
- Motor vehicle warranty fee (“lemon law”)
- Nonrecurring intangible personal property tax
- Pollutants taxes
- Sales and use tax (including discretionary sales surtaxes)
- Severance taxes (gas and sulfur, oil production, solid minerals)
- Solid waste and surcharge fees (rental car surcharge, tire and battery fees, gross receipts tax on dry cleaning)
You must submit a Tax Amnesty Agreement (online or paper form) by September 30, 2010. (Agreement will be available July 1.)
The fastest and easiest way to apply for amnesty is to do it online. You will receive an amnesty agreement number once you have submitted all the required information. If you do not complete the agreement online, be sure to fill out a paper Tax Amnesty Agreement (Form DR-100000) and mail it to:
Tax Amnesty
Florida Department of Revenue
Post Office Box 5138
Tallahassee FL 32314-5138
You must complete a Tax Amnesty Agreement to participate!
Call us at Fresh Start Tax and we can help you through this program 1-866-700-1040
by steve | Jul 1, 2010 | Tax News
IRS Provides Tax Help, Guidance to Gulf Oil Spill Victims; Special Assistance Day Planned for July 17
The Internal Revenue Service wasted no time and kudos to them and they have provided guidance to individuals and businesses affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and announced a number of new efforts to help affected taxpayers, including a special Gulf Coast Assistance Day on July 17.
This is a very difficult time for many people affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. As residents of the region cope with the evolving situation, I want to assure them that the IRS will be doing everything it can to provide tax help to those who need it,? IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said. We encourage anyone who has an issue with the IRS to contact us and explain their hardship, and we will work with them to find a solution. We?ll do everything we can under current law to help taxpayers.?
The guidance released today is based on current law, and it explains how recipients of payments from BP should treat the payments for tax purposes. According to the current law, BP payments for lost income are taxable in the same way that the wages or business income these payments are replacing would have been. The law treats compensation for lost wages or income differently for tax purposes than compensation for physical injuries or property loss, which generally are nontaxable.
Every person can have unique financial circumstances, so the IRS encourages taxpayers to review their tax situation or talk with their tax preparers about the implications of payments or compensation from the oil spill.
The new information is available in a question-and-answer format on a special section of the IRS website, IRS.gov. The IRS is closely monitoring the situation in the Gulf, and additional information will be added to IRS.gov as it becomes available.
To help people in the Gulf Coast area dealing with tax issues, the IRS also announced a special assistance day on July 17 in seven cities. Taxpayers and tax preparers will be able to work directly with IRS employees to resolve tax issues, including specific topics related to the oil spill. The IRS will hold the Gulf Coast Assistance Day in four states:
* Alabama: Mobile.
* Florida: Panama City and Pensacola.
* Louisiana: New Orleans, Houma and Baton Rouge.
* Mississippi: Gulfport.
Times and specific locations will soon be announced and will be available on IRS.gov.
In addition, taxpayers with problems related to the Gulf spill will soon be able to reach IRS personnel through an IRS toll-free telephone line. Specially trained IRS personnel will be available to help people with tax questions related to the oil spill. More information will be available soon about this telephone line.
The IRS encourages taxpayers in the Gulf struggling with payment or collection issues to contact the agency. The IRS continues to have a number of ways to help taxpayers dealing with oil spill issues or other economic hardship issues, including:
* Assistance of the Taxpayer Advocate Service for those taxpayers experiencing particular hardship navigating the IRS.
* Postponement of collection actions in certain hardship cases.
* Added flexibility for missed payments on installment agreements and offers in compromise for previously compliant individuals having difficulty paying.
* IRS employees will be permitted to consider a taxpayers current income and potential for future income when negotiating an offer in compromise.
* Accelerated levy releases for taxpayers facing economic hardship.
Fresh Start Tax says, way to step up IRS
by steve | Jun 30, 2010 | Tax News
Consumer Alert to all taxpayers from Fresh Start Tax and the IRS
The IRS does not send taxpayers unsolicited e-mails about their tax accounts, tax situations or personal tax issues. If you receive such an e-mail, most likely it’s a scam.
IRS impersonation schemes flourish during filing season. These schemes may take place via phone, fax, Internet sites, social networking sites and particularly e-mail.
Many impersonations are identity theft scams that try to trick victims into revealing personal and financial information that can be used to access their financial accounts. Some e-mail scams contain attachments or links that, when clicked, download malicious code (virus) that infects your computer or direct you to a bogus form or site posing as a genuine IRS form or Web site.
Some impersonations may be commercial Internet sites that consumers unknowingly visit, thinking they’re accessing the genuine IRS Web site, IRS.gov. However, such sites have no connection to the IRS.
For more information on scams and what to do if you’re subject to one, see Online Scams that Impersonate the IRS, Suspicious e-Mails and Identity Theft and How to Report and Identify Phishing, E-mail Scams and Bogus IRS Web Sites.
It is in the very best interest to all of us to report all scams, for everyone’s sake. thank You to all our followers, if there are any topics you would like to hear about, kindly send us an email.
by steve | Jun 29, 2010 | IRS Tax Advice, Tax News
How to get a copy of your Federal Income Tax Return
If you need an exact copy of a previously filed and processed tax return and all attachments (including Form W-2), you should complete Form 4506 (PDF), Request for Copy of Tax Return, and mail it to the address listed in the instructions, along with a $57.00 fee for each tax year requested. The check or money order for the fee should be made payable to the “United States Treasury”. Copies are generally available for returns filed in the current and past six years. Copies of jointly filed tax returns may be requested by either spouse and only one signature is required. Allow 60 calendar days to receive your copies.
Most needs for tax return information can be met with a computer print-out of your return information called a “transcript”. A transcript may be an acceptable substitute for an exact copy of a return by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and lending agencies for student loans and mortgages. A “tax return transcript” will show most line items contained on the return as it was originally filed. If you need a statement of your tax account which shows changes that you or the IRS made after the original return was filed, however, you must request a “tax account transcript”. Both transcripts are generally available for the current and past three years and are provided free of charge. The period in which you will receive the transcript varies from within ten to thirty business days from the time the IRS receives your request for the tax return or tax account transcript.
You can obtain a free transcript by calling 800-829-1040 and following the prompts in the recorded message or by completing and mailing a request for a transcript to the address listed in the instructions.
The IRS has created a new Form 4506T-EZ, Short Form Request for Individual Tax Return Transcript, to order a transcript of a Form 1040 series return. The IRS created this streamlined form to help those taxpayers trying to obtain, modify or refinance a home mortgage. Transcripts may also be mailed to a third party, such as a mortgage institution, if specified on the form. You must sign and date the form giving your consent for the disclosure. Businesses, partnerships or individuals who need transcript information from other forms, such as Form W-2 or Form 1099, can use Form 4506-T (PDF), Request for Transcript of Tax Return, to obtain the information. These transcripts may also be mailed to a third party if there is consent for the disclosure.
Forms can be downloaded by using the following links or ordered by calling 800-829-3676. If you are a taxpayer impacted by a federally declared disaster, the IRS will waive the usual fees and expedite requests for copies of tax returns for people who need them to apply for benefits or to file amended returns claiming disaster-related losses. For additional information, refer to Topic 107, Tax Relief Disaster Situations, or call the IRS Disaster Assistance Hot-line at 866-562-5227.
Should you need additional help, call us at Fresh Start Tax 1-866-700-1040
