by steve | Sep 30, 2011 | Tax News
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FOR A 2:30pm MATINEE
AT PALACE 30 CINEMARK THEATRE IN BOCA RATON, FL,
TO WATCH THE PREMIERE WEEKEND OF ‘COURAGEOUS’
WITH GRACE FM STAFF!!
WIN FREE ADMISSION TICKETS TODAY ON AIR BETWEEN 4-6:30PM ON ‘ROAD SHOW’ ON GRACE FM!!!
CATCH WRITER/PRODUCER STEPHEN KENDRICK LIVE TODAY AT 4:30pm on ROAD SHOW with Carl Foster.
Find Boca Theatre or other showing locations for Courageous
Special thanks to Mike Sullivan and Steve Jacob of Fresh Start Tax
and Bert Oliver from True Financial Group for being Courageous and helping GraceFM bless our listeners with tickets!!
Fresh Start Tax at your service!
by steve | Sep 25, 2011 | Tax News
IRS has a brand new program out to help employers reclassify their worker as employees for future tax periods.
Voluntary Classification Settlement Program
The Voluntary Classification Settlement Program (VCSP) is a new optional program that provides taxpayers with an opportunity to reclassify their workers as employees for future tax periods for employment tax purposes with partial relief from federal employment taxes for eligible taxpayers that agree to prospectively treat their workers (or a class or group of workers) as employees.
To participate in this new voluntary program, the taxpayer must meet certain eligibility requirements, apply to participate in the VCSP by filing Form 8952, Application for Voluntary Classification Settlement Program, and enter into a closing agreement with the IRS.
Call us for more details.
by steve | Sep 22, 2011 | Tax News
The Treasury Inspector General has found a problem with the waiting call time to IRS.
Any tax professional can telling you IRS has a MAJOR PROBLEM. This problem will probably never be addressed because of budget cuts.
The call times reported below is for the general phone number to IRS . Try to call IRS Collections ? You may die waiting for them to answers.
The Inspectors General Report.
More taxpayers are calling the IRS’s toll-free telephone lines every year. During the 2011 Filing Season, the IRS received approximately 80 million attempts to call the toll-free telephone lines, up from 54 million (48 percent), during the 2007 Filing Season—the last filing season with a Level of Service more than 80 percent. Taxpayers waited on average 10 minutes to speak to an assistor, a 137 percent increase since the 2007 Filing Season.
The IRS exceeded its key 2011 Filing Season toll?free telephone assistance performance goals. The IRS planned to achieve a 71 percent Level of Service and a 680-second Average Speed of Answer. Instead, it achieved a 74.6 percent Level of Service and a 596?second Average Speed of Answer.
During Fiscal Year 2008, the IRS implemented the Estimated Wait Time Message Pilot on six toll-free telephone applications. The message provides a real?time message that informs taxpayers of their expected wait time to reach an assistor. This allows taxpayers to make more informed decisions on whether to wait for an assistor or hang up and call at another time. Currently, the Estimated Wait Time Message is on 74 percent of the IRS’s assistor-staffed applications.
TIGTA evaluated a sample of 33 calls made to the toll?free 1-800-829-1040 telephone number that individual taxpayers call to ask tax account or tax law questions. The IRS provided an Estimated Wait Time Message and an assistor answered on 30 calls. The other three calls were disconnected prior to reaching an assistor or an Estimated Wait Time was not given.
The Estimated Wait Time was accurate for 24 (80 percent) of 30 calls.
by steve | Sep 15, 2011 | Tax Help, Tax News
We are asked this question many, many , many times.
Are Social Security Benefits Taxable?
If you retired last year, and started receiving social security payments. Do I have to pay taxes on my social security benefits?
Social Security benefits include monthly retirement, survivor, and disability benefits.
They do not include supplemental security income (SSI) payments, which are not taxable.
The amount of social security benefits that must be included on your income tax return and used to calculate your income tax liability depends on the total amount of your income and benefits for the taxable year.
To find out whether any of your benefits may be taxable, compare the base amount for your filing status with the total of:
One-half of your benefits.
All of your other income, including tax-exempt interest.
The base amount for your filing status is shown next:
$25,000 if you are single, head of household, qualifying widow(er) or married filing separately living apart from your spouse at any time during the tax year.
$32,000 if you are married filing jointly.
$-0- if you are married filing separately living with your spouse at any time during the tax year.
The taxable amount of the benefits can be figured on a worksheet in the Form 1040 Instructions or Form 1040A Instructions , or in Publication 915, Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits.
by steve | Sep 14, 2011 | IRS Tax Advice, Tax News
Do you need to change your address for the Internal Revenue Service?
This is how it should take place:
If you move, you need to notify the IRS of your new address. We can change our records so that any tax refunds due to you or any other IRS communications will reach you in a timely manner.
If you filed a joint return, you should provide the same information and signatures for both spouses.
If you filed a joint return and you and/or your spouse have since established separate residences, you both should notify the IRS of your new addresses.
There are several ways to notify the IRS of an address change.
1. Mail a signed written statement to an appropriate Service address informing the Service that you wish that the address of record changed to a new address. In addition to the new address, this notification must contain the taxpayer’s full name and old address as well as the taxpayer’s social security number, individual taxpayer identification number, or employer identification number.
2.Submit Form 8822, Change of Address, to request an address change.
3.Provide an oral notification in person or directly via telephone to a Service employee who has access to the Service Master File informing the Service employee of the address change. In addition to the new address, you must provide the taxpayer’s full name and old address as well as the taxpayer’s social security number, individual
by steve | Sep 13, 2011 | IRS Tax Advice, Tax News
With the still struggling economy, more Americans fell below the poverty level last year. Sad but true.
The nation’s poverty rate rose to 15.1 percent in 2010, its highest level since 1993.
About 46.2 million people are considered in need.
As for middle-class American families, income fell in 2010.
The median household income was $49,445, down slightly from $49,777 the year before.
Median income has changed very little compared to rising consumer prices over the last 30 years.
Adjusted for inflation, the middle-income family only earns 11 percent more than they did in 1980, while consumer prices have risen roughly 155 percent.
The figures weren’t very surprising, given the unemployment rate remained above 9 percent in 2010 and the number of Americans who have been unemployed for six months or more surged to an all-time high during the year.
Amid a still struggling economy, more Americans fell below the poverty line last year, according to new census data released Tuesday.
The government defines the poverty line as income of $22,314 a year for a family of four and $11,139 for an individual. CNN report.
