Do you file state taxes in addition to your federal tax return? Then today's Daily Tax Tip is for you. Your state provides a way for you to file your taxes for free.  Clip on map to go to Federation of Tax Administrators' interactive version. Seven states — Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming — don't tax wage income. Two states, New Hampshire and Tennessee, tax only dividend and interest income. In the states that do collect taxes each year on their residents' earnings, all offer either return filing directly with the state, similar to the free…

When the final week before Tax Day rolled around, so did concerns about taxpayer privacy. First came worries that the Internal Revenue Service might be spying on tax audit targets via social media. Infographic courtesy "Why Privacy is Overrated" It's unclear as to whether the tax agency has formalized such a strategy (more on this in a few paragraphs). But, as I noted last week at my other tax blog, it wouldn't be too much of a surprise for tax investigators to take advantage of all public resources. That means if you do insist on bragging about a high-dollar lifestyle…

Local television news programs used to rely on a particular video for their 11 p.m. (10 p.m. Central time) Tax Day broadcasts. You know the one, cars lining up so that the drivers can drop off their annual tax filings with a curbside U.S. Postal Service employee. The special service ensures that the envelopes addressed to the Internal Revenue Service get an April 15 postmark. That official cancellation is recognized by the IRS as proof that a tax return has been mailed by the annual filing deadline. But thanks to the growing popularity of e-filing, fewer folks are heading to…

The Internal Revenue Service says that roughly one in five Americans file their federal and state income returns in the final week before the April 15 deadline. That statistic is likely to be larger this filing season because so many 2012 federal tax law changes weren't enacted until Jan. 2 of this year. That pushed back the filing season for the IRS, which had to update forms and its computer systems, and taxpayers alike. The hubby and I are yet again among those getting six more months to work on our 1040 and associated forms. If you're part of our…

I know it's late on Friday. But it's also the Friday before April 15. Not to ruin your weekend, but you might need to do some extra tax work this Saturday and Sunday. The reason? April 15 isn't just for filing your annual federal tax return or, if you're a bit jammed up, sending the Internal Revenue Service File Form 4868 to get an automatic six-month extension to file. April 15, or the next business day when it falls on a weekend or federal holiday, also is the deadline for five other tax tasks. I know I mentioned them in…

Are we having fun yet as the April 15 tax-filing deadline looms? According to a recent survey, some of us are. Sure, a national poll conducted in early April by the Pew Research Center found that most Americans (56 percent to be exact) have a negative reaction to doing their income taxes. In fact, 26 percent use the "H" word: They hate filling out their 1040s. But about a third of us, 34 percent for those of you still in the tax-filing precise figure mode, say we either like (29 percent) or love (five percent) doing our federal taxes. No,…

Cafe Malta in here in Austin is offering a tax season happy hour special of $3 glasses of Tempranillo, Pinot Grigio and Rioja Rose through Monday, April 15.   If you're not in the Austin area, don't despair. Chances are that some business in your area also is using April 15 as a way to get people to pay attention to its product or service by offering freebies or discounts. Tax Day deals across the country: Last-minute Las Vegas taxpayers can enjoy free coffee, pastries and, if they're heading to the post office to snail mail their returns, stamps. The freebies…

If you’re still working on your tax return, chances are you owe Uncle Sam. Your payment deadline is Monday, April 15. That’s also the day you must send in either your completed Form 1040, 1040A or 1040EZ. Failure to do either (or both) will cost you more in penalties (although the IRS says it will cut some folks some penalty slack this screwy filing season) and interest. In general, though, the penalty for not filing or sending in a Form 4868 to get a six-month extension is larger than for not paying. But you’ll still be slapped with some extra…

If you've been glancing at the countdown clock there in the ol' blogs right column, you are well aware that you've only got just more than five days to get your 2012 taxes done. Since, as the old saying goes, haste makes waste, I thought you might want to take a breath and then take a look at Filing mistakes to avoid, Tax breaks you shouldn't overlook, and How to get more time to take proper care of your taxes. Don't make these tax filing mistakes Every year the Internal Revenue Service sees the same old tax errors on thousands…

Since the 2013 filing season started eight days later than planned, it's no surprise that fewer tax returns have been submitted and processed than last year. The delay also is affecting refunds. The Internal Revenue Service reports that as of the week ending March 29, it had received 88 million returns, almost 4 percent less than at the end of March 2012. In connection with the filings through March, 72.2 million refunds totalling $201.5 billion were issued. Those figures are down 4.1 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively. As for the refund amount, that's also less this year than in 2012.…

We're less than a week away from April 15, Tax Day. You know what that means. Families of tax accountants will not see their loved ones for the next six days. Funny Pictures If you do see your tax accountant, or other tax professional, during this filing season home stretch, be nice. Yes, you and your taxes are important, but you probably aren't your tax pro's only client. If you run across someone who seems to be a little flustered, consider that he or she might be a tax accountant and give those folks a break. Just in case you're…

Are you freaking out because you have one week — seven days — to do your federal (and, for many, state) taxes and you haven't even started the process? Don't. You can get a lot done in one week. And to help you get a handle on your impending tax task, check out my slide show on Bankrate breaking down a seven-day tax filing plan. Here's a preview: Gather data. Examine exemptions, adjustments to income. Decide on your deductions, deduction method. Find your forms. Count your credits. Fill out your forms. Sign, seal and deliver. Actually, I have a personal Day 8 step:…

I've been a big fan of Mario Batali for ages. His cooking advice regarding classic Italian eats is magnifico. And today I learned that Molto Mario also offers tax advice. OK, he actually provides a tip on what to drink at tax time. Batali told the New York Times Sunday Magazine: "I never feel that good about paying the triple hit of New York City, state and federal taxes. My accountant says these are great problems to have, but that is probably because he is going on vacation next week. My answer is tequila. Put a bottle of your favorite…

Tax Day is almost here and you've decided you need help filing your return. Even at this late date you might be able to get some assistance with your taxes. Even better, it could be free. Today's Daily Tax Tip looks at six ways you can prepare and e-file your taxes for free. 1. Free File: Start with Free File, the partnership between the Internal Revenue Service and members of the commercial tax preparation and filing companies. For more than a decade, eligible taxpayers have been able to go to the IRS website, click on Free File and use name-brand…

Wesley Snipes has been released from federal prison, just in time for Tax Day 2013. The entertainment website TMZ reports that Snipes was let out of Club Fed on April 2. The actor was convicted in February 2008 of three misdemeanor counts of not filing a federal tax return and started serving his three-year sentence in December 2010. Wesley Snipes signing autographs at Comic-Con 2010. He entered federal prison later that year to serve time for not filing three years' worth of tax returns. (Photo by Athene cunicularia via Wikipedia) Snipes spent most of that term in the McKean Federal…

The hubby's favorite tax season chant — and, yes, he does just that each year as I work on our return — is "Deduct! Deduct!" He even makes a few suggestions now and then. But as creative as the hubby is, he's never come close to some taxpayers' really wild and wacky tax deduction attempts. There's the nose job a wine connoisseur wanted to write off as a job expense. And then there's the profuse perspirer who was insistent that his air conditioning qualified as a medical deduction. But my favorite is the pie shop owner who wanted to claim…

No April Fools' Day joke here. It's April, the month of reckoning for millions of taxpayers. Do you see that light at the end of the tunnel? You've got just two weeks to figure out whether it's the daylight of a wonderful April 15 by which you've finished your tax filing duties or a tax train barreling straight for you. If it's daylight, congratulations. Just make sure you do a thorough once-over before you send in your 1040. A silly mistake could cost you tax money. And if it's the train, don't panic. Getting in a hurry will make you…

Things have been tough for the Internal Revenue Service recently. The tax agency has taken some hits from the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee chair (and the public) for two video tapes produced at the IRS' own studio in a Maryland suburb of D.C. Now an appellate court has refused the IRS' request that an injunction preventing testing of tax professionals be lifted. In January, a federal judge nullified IRS regulations that require preparers who aren't lawyers, CPAs or enrolled agents to pass a competency test and take annual continuing education courses. The registration component of the IRS proposal…

The future of marriage is now in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court. OK, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. Marriage has been around for ages and, despite what some folks say, the definition of this legal contract between two people has changed many, many times. But what the justices decide with regard to same-sex marriage could have dramatic effects on the lives of same-sex couples, both when it comes to their day-to-day lives and a variety of rights and benefits, including in the tax area. The country's highest court today heard arguments in Hollingsworth v. Perry, which…

Attention Minnesota TurboTax users. Your state's revenue department has put that and other Intuit tax products back on the the approved vendor list. Earlier this month, Minnesota tax officials told its taxpayers "not to use Intuit (TurboTax, Lacerte, Intuit online, ProSeries) to file your Minnesota taxes electronically or on paper. Intuit has discovered multiple issues with their products." But the Minnesota Department of Revenue now has announced, "Based on information currently available, Intuit has fixed the reported errors and taxpayers can continue to use Intuit products." The tax preparation software leader also says it will provide all Minnesota customers affected…

It's been, and still is, a screwy tax filing season for everyone — taxpayers, the Internal Revenue Service, tax preparers. The main problem is that — and I apologize for repeating this yet again, but… — Congress didn't do its job properly. By putting off critical 2012 tax legislation all of last year and then finally rolling it into the fiscal cliff bill, formally known as the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA), in early January, Representatives and Senators placed huge roadblocks in this year's filing season and system. (Be sure to let your members of Congress know what you think…

Most taxpayers claim the standard deduction instead of itemizing. But if you're part of this filing majority, you're not necessarily shortchanged when it comes to tax write-offs. Form 1040 contains a variety of adjustments to income, also known as above-the-line deductions because they appear just before the last line of that tax return's first page. These claims will get your gross, or total, income down to a lower adjusted gross income, or AGI, amount, which is what goes on that last line of page 1 of Form 1040. You don't have to fill out Schedule A or worry about meeting…

When you're an independent contractor, you sometimes appreciate the adage that "it's better to be lucky than good." While I believe that being good is what will keep your business in business for the long haul, luck in getting a job or two is always welcome. But you shouldn't rely on luck when it comes to paying taxes on your independent contracting income. So today's Daily Tax Tip on this St. Patrick's Day combines an Irish symbol of luck, the four-leaf clover, and with some tax advice — OK, four tax tidbits in keeping with the number of the auspicious…

The problematic 2013 tax filing season is extending to state returns. At least that's the case for some filers in New Jersey. That's right Garden State residents. You're already dealing with tax issues connected to Hurricane (or Superstorm, you pick the title you prefer) Sandy, both on federal and state filings. While these special disaster tax considerations could help you get more refund money to use toward your storm damage repairs, around 13,000 New Jerseryites will have to wait up to three months for their tax cash. The delay is the result of an effort by the state's Treasury Department…

Need some extra spending money? Who doesn't? Then your Uncle Sam might be able to help. Federal tax refunds totaling just more than $917 million are sitting in the U.S. Treasury, just waiting for an estimated 984,400 taxpayers who did not file a federal income tax return for 2009 to claim the money. There's just one catch. To collect the money, you have to file that old tax return you didn't send to the Internal Revenue Service three years ago. And you must file the paperwork by this coming April 15. In announcing the unclaimed refunds, the IRS noted that…

Every year, the Internal Revenue Service discovers tax refunds that aren't claimed by eligible taxpayers. The agency hangs onto the money for three years, but if it gets no takers by then, Uncle Sam gets to keep the cash. This year, the IRS has refunds totaling $917 million that are awaiting claims from more than 984,400 individuals who didn't file a federal income tax return for the 2009 tax year. If you're one of them, you've got until April 15, 2013, to get your 2009 tax paperwork to the IRS and collect your money. The median possible tax refund from…

Roseanne Roseannadanna might have been talking about every tax filing season when she proclaimed "It just goes to show you, it's always something. If it ain't one thing, it's another." That's certainly the case for the 2013 tax season, which started late and has been rolled out in stages depending upon what forms you need to file. And just when we thought things were finally on track with the Internal Revenue Service's final document updates, the craziness that is this year continues with problems for some TurboTax and H&R Block customers. NOTE: UPDATES are included in the specific company issues below.…

Tax filing season 2013 is finally fully under way. As promised, the Internal Revenue Service completed its updating and computer testing of the last batch of forms (29 of them) over the weekend and now is accepting all 2012 tax filings for individuals and businesses. Have fun! As every forced-to-wait taxpayer already knows, the IRS had to accept 2012 returns in phases because Congress took way too long to complete action on tax legislation that affected filings. The season didn't start at all until Jan. 30, eight days later than planned. Even then, the agency couldn't take all returns. More…

March madness has arrived and I'm not talking college hoops. It's March tax madness, that that crazed time of the year when millions have filed their tax returns and are anxiously awaiting refunds and millions are still working on their 1040s. The Internal Revenue Service also has been doing extra work this year, revising forms to match up with law changes made in the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA) passed earlier this year. But it's almost done. The agency says it will finish updating all the forms next week. So how's filing season going for you? If you're just now…

Sequestration 2013 arrives today, but if things go as the Internal Revenue Service plans, most taxpayers shouldn't notice. This filing season already has been crazy, delayed for weeks because of late passage of fiscal cliff tax laws that required the updating of IRS forms and its computer system. Then came sequester, $85 billion in broad automatic spending cuts scheduled to take effect at 11:59 p.m. today, March 1. To meet the mandated reductions, which cover the last seven months of the 2013 fiscal year, most federal agencies, including the IRS, will have to make do for a while with fewer…

Can the 2013 tax-filing season get any more messed up? Apparently so. It started late (on Jan. 30) because Congress couldn’t do its fiscal cliff job in a timely manner. That meant delays as the Internal Revenue Service had to scramble to update more than two dozen 2012 tax forms and upgrade its computer system to handle them. Then a form that was OK to file, the Child Tax Credit’s Form 8812, caused some confusion among taxpayers, producing delays for the returns to which it was attached. And now a form for which thousands had to wait until mid-February to…

Uncle Sam's all about going paperless and that includes electronic payment of tax bills, too. But one noncash method of paying federal taxes is not getting much love this filing season, according to a new survey. Of the poll participants who expect to owe additional taxes when they file their 2012 returns, only a handful said they will use a credit card to pay the U.S. Treasury, reports credit card comparison website CreditDonkey.com. Fee, fi, fo, bummer: Why? Probably because of the added cost to pay taxes with plastic. Companies that process the transaction get their cut regardless of who's…

While individual taxpayers have until April 15 this year to file their returns or get an extension, many business filers are on a different schedule. Sure, a lot of self-employed taxpayers (including me) will send in a Schedule C detailing business income, expenses and deductions as part of Form 1040 by the April deadline. But incorporated businesses and partnerships have to get their forms to the Internal Revenue Service a month earlier. That March 15 deadline is just one of the many tax differences with which millions of business tax filers must deal. It's also today's Daily Tax Tip. Dates…

Most taxpayers get refunds from the Internal Revenue Service. Then there are those of us who have to hand over some more money with our tax returns. The U.S. Treasury will gladly take checks, money orders, credit and debit cards and even direct payments from your bank account. These are all handy when you have a one-time tax bill to settle. But if you regularly send the IRS money, be it every April with your Form 1040 or estimated tax payments four times a year, Today's Tax Tip looks at an option you might want to consider, the Electronic Federal…

When I heard earlier today that the Internal Revenue Service was experiencing an inordinately large number of visitors to its online tax refund tracking tool, I shared the news via Twitter and Facebook. And in my usual smart-alecky way, I just had to quip that, "I'm sure the rush on the IRS' Where's My Refund? page is directly tied to my Bankrate tax tip earlier this week. ;-D" Then along comes Mary. No, not the one popularized by The Association (enjoy the video below). It was Mary O'Keeffe. Mary, who teaches public finance at Union College, loves math and blogs…

It’s Valentine’s Day so the thoughts of lovers — young, old and in-between — naturally turn to taxes. Oh wait, that’s just me and the ever-patient hubby. We did, after all, push our wedding day into 1982 because that tax year meant we could claim the dual earners’ above-the-line tax deduction. That’s part of the Form 1040 instructions on the new tax break shown below. We (OK, me) did want to get our new life together off to a good tax-saving start. That income adjustment law change was an effort to reduce the marriage tax penalty that many jointly filing…

Yet another tax paperwork hurdle has popped up in this year's filing season path. No, it's not one of the dozens of forms that the Internal Revenue Service is still working to update. It's an oldie but goody document that was updated back in December, the Schedule 8812. Schedule 8812 was used in prior tax years to compute and claim the additional tax credit. Here's how it looked for the 2011 tax year. Click image to see full form. New for the 2012 tax year, this document now is also used in some cases by taxpayers claiming the plain old…

Now this is a problem that a lot of would like to have. Adi Ignatius, Editor in Chief of Harvard Business Review, announced to readers last week that The IRS Just Sent Me $160,000. Can I Keep It? The short answer is probably not. But the amount is this week's By the Numbers figure. As Ignatius notes in his article, rough calculations indicate that to have received a refund of that magnitude, he'd have to have earned more than $3 million. "I'm an editor, with an editor's salary," wrote Ignatius. "So when I say I'm 'almost certain' that I'm not…

Stress can damage any relationship. And one of the most stressful times of the year is tax season. That means that tax professional and tax client relationships definitely can become strained. Taxpayers are always anxious to get their returns done because they need their refund money. They're especially ticked this year because the start of filing season was pushed back to Jan. 30, slowing the processing and issuance of the tax cash. Some folks will even have to wait until March as the Internal Revenue Service plays catch-up in the updating of nearly 30 forms and its computer system. All…

First, for you wisea… uh, acres (yeah, wiseacres; let's use that term) popping off about the headline, no I'm not about to list 2,012 tax breaks. These tips (coming up after a few more prefatory words) total 10 and are for tax year 2012, that return you're working on right now. Second, once again life, work and taxes have conspired to make sure that I don't get around to posting the Daily Tax Tip as quickly each day as I had hoped. OK, busted. Some days I don't get to posting the day's tip at all. But I eventually get…

The Internal Revenue Service has a Valentine present for folks claiming an education tax credit. The agency has announced that on Thursday, Feb. 14, it will start processing 2012 returns that contain Form 8863, Education Credits. This form is used to claim two higher education credits, the American Opportunity tax credit and the Lifetime Learning tax credit. The American Opportunity credit, you might recall, was set to expire at the end of 2012. But it was given new life as part of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, aka ATRA or the fiscal cliff bill. This education credit, which…

A Tennessee man seems bedeviled by the number 666. For the third time in two years on the job as a maintenance worker at Contech Casting in Clarkesville, Tenn., Walter Slonopas has seen this disturbing numerical trio show up on work-related material. This latest appearance was on his W-2 form. No, it wasn't an earnings amount on the annual income statement. It was stamped on the outside of the document. The company that handles Contech's payroll said the number simply indicated the order in which the tax forms were mailed to employees. But that didn't ease Slonopas' mind about the…

Did you, like the Baltimore Ravens, come up a winner yesterday thanks to some bets you made on the National Football League’s big game? Super Bowl XLVII medallion photo by Au Kirk via Twitter Uncle Sam thanks you. Gambling winnings, whether thousands of dollars on a sports championship or a few bucks from a lottery scratch-off ticket, are taxable income. Some of the taxable winnings come via the hundreds of prop, short for proposition, bets that are connected with major sporting events. Among the goofiest prop bets on the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco Forty-niners game were whether the coin…

So how's tax filing season going for you? Despite Internal Revenue Service arguments that this tax filing season would be more messed up that it already is thanks to late Congressional action, things seem to be going along as well as can be expected. That probably factored into a federal judge's rejection of the IRS request that he lift an injunction against its oversight efforts aimed at unlicensed paid tax preparers. Plus, no one I talked to really expected U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of Washington, D.C.,to reverse himself. Just two weeks ago, Boasberg sided with three tax preparers…

The chair of the Congressional panel charged with keeping an eye on the IRS has added to the tax agency's already long filing season to-do list. Rep. Charles Boustany, Jr. (R-La.) is concerned that the Internal Revenue Service's website hasn't been updated to reflect the Jan. 18 federal court ruling that, for now, has invalidated the paid tax preparer registration and competency testing program. In fact, says the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight, the IRS is sending tax professionals and taxpayers mixed messages. Boustany elaborates in a letter he sent Thursday, Jan. 31, to…

I admit it. I watch TV commercials even when I'm viewing a taped program. Some ads are better than the so-called entertainment programs. And sometimes I need the break to take care of other things, like getting a snack. And I always look forward to tax season to see how today's Mad Men position tax-filing services. H&R Block has been paying attention, too, and thinks the television spots of one its competitors was a slap at its employees. Unfortunately for Block, a federal judge disagrees. U.S. District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan, Jr. of the Western District of Missouri has denied…

Just ran across this tax tidbit as part of research I'm doing for a larger tax project and just had to share it on this first day of the 2013 tax filing season. According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, collecting income taxes has always been a struggle: "Taxing income (as opposed to real estate, personal property or other tangible assets) was begun by the Puritans in Massachusetts in 1643. It didn't work. In fact, all 16 states that tried to tax incomes from 1643 to 1911 failed to raise significant amounts of revenue. The principal reasons that income taxes didn't…

Have you filed your 2012 tax return yet? Millions already have filed today. Like racers in the starting blocks, these taxpayers have been poised to send their returns to the Internal Revenue Service for weeks, but had to wait. Because Congress waiting until Jan. 1 to approve the American Tax Relief Act, which includes many provisions affecting 2012 tax returns, the IRS needed time this month to get forms and instructions updated and its computers reprogrammed. The IRS is ready to take returns from most (but not all) taxpayers today. It's now accepting returns that are filed the old-fashioned way,…

Tax filing season 2013 finally begins tomorrow, Jan. 30, for most people. But if you want to claim an education tax credit, you’ll have to wait a bit longer to send your tax paperwork to the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS says its computers won’t be able to accept Form 8863, which is required to claim the American Opportunity or Lifetime Learning tax credits, until mid-February. And the wait gets longer for other forms. The IRS says in the notice on its tax forms and publications Web page (and pictured below) that it’s working as “quickly as possible” to update…

What do you pay your tax preparer to complete and file your tax return? The national average to prepare an itemized Form 1040 with a Schedule A and a state tax return is $246. That's what the National Society of Accountants (NSA) discovered in a recent survey. It's also the latest featured By the Numbers figure. If you have a simple tax situation, $246 probably sounds like a lot more than you want to spend to get your taxes done. That's cool. You have lots of tax preparation and filing options, so find the one that works best for you.…

You've probably seen the commercial where the tax preparer mentions a client who hadn't filed returns for eight years. It happens. There are lots of excuses reasons for not filing taxes. There also is a big reason for taking care of your delinquent tax duties: Penalties. That was a recurring theme when I asked tax professionals via Facebook and Twitter what advice they give folks who've neglected to file returns. "I make sure they understand the potential seriousness, i.e., criminal penalties, and emphasize the need to deal with it ASAP since it only gets worse," says Diane L. Gilabert, aka…

Next week is a big one for taxpayers. The 2013 federal tax filing season begins, finally, on Jan. 30. And the very next day is a deadline for several tax situations. Jan. 31 is the day that employers are required to send out the prior year's W-2 forms. If you employed household help last year, this deadline also applies to you. Yes, the so-called nanny tax applies to regular folks, too, not just political appointees. Find out more in January Daily Tax Tip #17. The last day of this month also is the mailing deadline for all those wonderful 1099s.…

Well, we have yet another turn in the winding road that is the 2013 tax filing season. Friday (Jan. 18) afternoon, a federal judge barred the Internal Revenue Service from imposing a series of new regulations, including a competency exam, on hundreds of thousands of tax preparers. Elmer Kilian of Eagle, Wisc., one of three tax preparers who filed suit against IRS tax preparer licensing regulations, is featured on the Institute for Justice website following the federal court ruling against the plan. The Registered Tax Return Preparer (RTRP) program, a pet project of former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, was the…

In addition to the tax statements that are arriving this month, you'll need some other information to file your return. Today's Daily Tax Tip offers a checklist of what to round up, for either yourself if you plan to file on your own or for your tax professional. General information and documents that will be useful include: Social Security numbers for yourself, your spouse and all dependents. Last year's federal return. If you live in a state that collects taxes, dig out that old return, too. They can serve as guides to this year's filing. Records of estimated tax payments you made last…

While we're waiting for the Internal Revenue Service to finish updating its forms, we filers can go ahead and get the other documents we need to file in order. Yep, I'm talking about gathering up all those tax-related statements that have been filtering into your snail mail or email boxes. Information on these exciting pieces of necessary filing paper is today's Daily Tax Tip. You'll need that documentation to fill out your Form 1040. Employers, clients, vendors and anyone else with whom you had a taxable transaction last year has until Jan. 31 to get the forms in the mail…

Yeah, I'm feeling a bit like a tax geeky Paula Revere here, but the official update of Form 1040 is good news. We're all waiting for the Internal Revenue Service to get ready for us 140 million or so taxpayers to send in our 2012 returns. They're aiming to open their doors, both real and digital, on Jan. 30. The biggest tax task is, of course, transferring all the American Taxpayer Relief Act data into Uncle Sam's computers. But the IRS also has to do basic stuff, like getting the tax returns updated. If you've spent any time browsing the…

Did you get so caught up in the fiscal cliff fight and the subsequent tax rate changes for 2013 that you almost forgot that our first tax deadline of the new year is almost here? Me, too. But tax time marched on and tomorrow, Jan. 15, is the due date for the final estimated tax payment of 2012. Dealing with estimated taxes also is today's Daily Tax Tip. The good news is that when it comes to 1040-ES forms and payments, either by check or money order payable to the U.S. Treasury, the Internal Revenue Service uses the same "timely…

The continuing chaos and complexity of the tax code finally convinced you that this is the year you'll get some professional tax help. You investigated the types of tax pros and have determined which one best fits your needs. Now it's time to get specific and check out the guy or gal you want to hire to do your taxes. Today's Daily Tax Tip offers some suggestions on how to do just that. Make sure the pro is registered: Individuals who prepare 1040s for pay now must meet Internal Revenue Service requirements for federal tax return preparers. Once they pass the…

If you're a higher income earner, take a good long look at your 2012 return. It will be the last one for a while — at least until 2017 and only then if a Republican moves into the White House — where your top ordinary income tax rate will be 35 percent. This time next year, you'll face a top income tax rate of 39.6 percent. To acknowledge the changing tax rates, today's Daily Tax Tip presents the 2012 and 2013 income tax rates and income brackets. The table below shows the rates and income ranges that will be used to…

How long does it take you to file your tax return? The Form 1040 instructions book estimates that a taxpayer needs on average around 18 hours to complete a tax return. An analysis of IRS data by the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate extrapolates those figures even further. It found that it takes all U.S. taxpayers more than 6.1 billion hours to complete their annual tax filing tasks. The reason? The same one that National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson has cited year after year after year: our convoluted tax code. Tax complexity is again atop Olson's list of the…

Yesterday I asked when will the Internal Revenue Service be ready for our tax returns? The qualified answer is Monday, Jan. 30. Good job, IRS, good job. The tax agency didn't get the final word on 2012 tax year changes that are part of fiscal cliff tax bill (American Taxpayer Relief Act, or ATRA) until New Year's Day. And it expects to incorporate most of that info and be ready to handle taxpayer filings only eight days later than the originally planned tax season 2013 opening day of Jan. 22. The Jan. 30 date will apply to folks who might be…

Taxpayers are once again paying the price for Congressional procrastination. By putting off the fiscal cliff bill until Jan. 1, our Senators and Representatives have probably forced us taxpayers to wait to file our 2012 returns. That measure, the American Taxpayer Relief Act, included provisions, notably the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) and numerous extenders, that affect 2012 tax returns. And although Representatives and Senators were warned repeatedly that their bad work habits would create problems for the Internal Revenue Service and taxpayers, they apparently didn't care. So now the IRS is working, feverishly we hope, to update tax forms, worksheets,…

The 2013 tax season certainly will be a bit more challenging since Congress took so long to finalize the 2012 tax laws. But not to worry. To help make your tax tasks easier, you'll find a Daily Tax Tip over there in the ol' blog's right column each day, weekends and federal holidays included, through the April 15 filing deadline. And if you miss a day, check out the full 2013 daily tips list.

Unless you're a couple of tax professionals, the Internal Revenue Code probably had very little to do with your courtship. But the truth is, taxes can be a big part of every relationship. For most of us (and soon maybe more of us after the Supreme Court hears an estate-tax related same-sex marriage case), our tax laws have an effect on us once our relationships move to the "I do" phase. That's why Santa's romantically-named reindeer Cupid reminds us that our marital status on Dec. 31 determines our filing status for the whole tax year. These wise words are Reindeer…

Welcome back to reindeer year-end tax tip games 2012. Today's holiday themed tax tip (number two of nine) is coming to us from Dancer, who knows that most of us do some pretty fancy footwork when it comes to meeting our annual tax obligations. And as one of Santa's long-time employees, Dancer also knows that you've got tons of stuff to do right now. But our antlered friend says you need to add another task to your December list: Fill out a mock 2012 tax return. Wait! Come back! Dancer and I promise this isn't as tedious as it sounds.…

It's starting to look like any fiscal cliff deal will include higher taxes next year on wealthier taxpayers. The question remains, however, just what form will the tax increase take? Obama still wants to bump up the top two ordinary income tax rates. Republicans are holding out instead for some sort of limit on itemized deductions. And among the deductions that could be affected is the itemized claim for mortgage interest. It's unlikely that the deduction will be totally eliminated. The housing industry lobby is still quite strong in Washington, D.C. But the overall itemized deductions, of which the residential…

Every day we become more reliant on technology. Americans spent nearly $1.47 billion on Cyber Monday, a 17 percent increase over last year's Monday after Thanksgiving shopping spree. It also was the biggest online spending day in history, according to research by ComScore Inc. It looks like more states collecting online sales taxes was no match for the ease of electronic purchasing. Increasing online taxes, too: More of us each year also are turning to our computers to file our taxes, both with the Internal Revenue Service and state tax departments. But recent theft of state tax information by computer…

Today's politicians have learned their storm lessons well. As Hurricane Sandy was just beginning her trek up the east coast, pre-emptive disaster declarations were issued by governors of the states that expected to take a hit from the so-called Frankenstorm. This is a map of the winds at 11:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, Oct. 29, as Hurricane Sandy made landfall in southern New Jersey. Her eye is clearly visible. Click on the image for a larger view and go to Wind Map to see what's blowing around the country right now. And today President Obama announced what are likely to be just…

Welcome back to Tax Day 2012. As procrastinators know, this is the drop-dead, absolutely final deadline to finish and file tax returns that you just couldn't get to in April … or May or June or … No judging here. I've been in your position before. So let's not waste any more valuable time. First, take a quick look at the earlier Countdown to Oct. 15 tax tips. You also might want to breeze through this year's Weekly and Daily tax tips for a few more filing ideas and reminders. This handy tax preparation checklist also makes a good filing…

You've gathered all your tax statements and you've discovered that you actually made more money than the Internal Revenue Service knows. Woo-hoo! Tax free income! Wrong. Sure, your neighbor paid you $400 for the weekend you spent making him a bookcase for his office. And you got $300 for the article you wrote about the project. Since both jobs paid less than $600, neither your neighbor nor the magazine had to issue you a 1099-MISC. That means the IRS didn't get a copy either. But technically, even if you don't get a tax statement the income is still taxable. This…

The hubby and I have an SUV. I remember when we first got it, I felt like I was 10 feet above the road. And for the first time, I started paying attention to clearance signs. Highway bridges obviously are not an issue. But when we park in garages, especially some older ones, I get a little nervous. Will we be able to squeeze in without scraping the roof? The hubby always says it's not a problem, but I still worry until we're safely parked. A similar consideration of tax clearance warnings is necessary in order to navigate several tax…

Do you sometimes feel left out when folks talk about tax breaks. Schedule A gets so much attention and you've never filed it. Don't despair. You are actually in the majority. Internal Revenue Service data reveals that around two-thirds of tax returns claim the standard deduction amount each year. And the tax code has something for all y'all standard deduction filers. They're known officially as adjustments to income. But they're popularly called above-the-line deductions because you claim them in the "Adjusted gross income" section found at the bottom of the first page of both Form 1040 and Form 1040A, just…

Disasters happen every day. And in many instances, people's tax filings are affected. But here's one unforeseen circumstance that taxpayers can't prepare for: Your tax returns are burned in a mail truck fire. On Sept. 11, a delivery truck carrying mail addressed to the New Jersey Division of Taxation was involved in an accident on the New Jersey Turnpike. The truck caught fire and, according to New Jersey's Treasury Department, most of the correspondence in the vehicle burned. "The contents of the truck were destroyed beyond recognition, with the exception of a small number of certified mail pieces, some of…

If you believe the adage that art reflects life, then today's television programs are giving us a much more wide-ranging view of the American family. OK, maybe equating art and television is not exactly accurate, especially when we're talking about the families represented by Dance Moms and Honey Boo Boo and Duck Dynasty. Then we have the truly fictional families portrayed in Sons of Anarchy, The Middle, Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother (Lily, Marshall and Marvin), Don and Betty "Worst Mother Ever" Draper of Mad Men and my favorites, back soon via Netflix, the Bluths of Arrested Development.…

I do our taxes and the hubby cheers me on, usually by chanting "Deduct! Deduct!" After all these years I've finally convinced him that tax credits are better than tax deductions because they reduce your actual tax liability dollar for dollar. But he reminds me that it's still more fun to yell "deduct" than "claim a credit." So I humor and welcome his tax-time support and then round up tax-saving deductions and credits under the umbrella term of tax breaks. Over the years, I've run into some that folks tend to miss. Today's Countdown to Oct. 15 takes a look…

One of the main reason people put off doing their taxes is their fear of making mistakes. One error, whispers that voice as soon as you start working on your 1040, and the Internal Revenue Service will jump all over it, send you nasty letters, audit your return, make your life hell. Take a breath. Most of the time when the IRS finds an error on a tax return, especially a math mistake, it corrects it for you. Sure you'll get a notice of the change, but this correspondence tends to be more boring than totally terrifying. Still, you don't…

Hey there, you 11 million taxpayers who didn't file your return in April. Your time is almost up. OK, not all of you are procrastinating until the absolute final Oct. 15 due date. You, like Mitt Romney, didn't need the full six months to finish your Form 1040. But there still are plenty of you — the Internal Revenue Service's official count is "many" — are going down to the wire. Why wait? You didn't have all the forms you needed. You were worried about a particular tax claim. You just didn't want to mess with taxes back then. Well,…

A lot of taxpayers depend on tax breaks that are no longer in the tax code. But they're hopeful that Congress will reinstate them soon after they get back to work in mid-November. These technically temporary tax provisions expire and then are renewed, or extended, for another year or two. Because Representatives and Senators often wait so late in the legislative year to take action, the tax breaks often are retroactive. This process has led to these tax laws being known as extenders, although some tax wags have dubbed them expirers because in recent years that's what happens before they…

We finally have some tax plan specifics from Mitt Romney. Sorta. In advance of tonight's debate in the Mile High City, the Republican presidential candidate told Denver Fox affiliate KDVR that one way to pay for his 20 percent across-the-board income tax rate cuts would be to limit a filer's deduction amount to $17,000. "As an option, you could say everybody's going to get up to a $17,000 deduction," Romney said. "And you could use your charitable deduction, your home mortgage deduction, or others — your health care deduction — and you can fill that bucket, if you will, that…

October is here! It's one of my favorite times of the year. Fall weather really kicks in. Kids are back in school. Halloween is on the horizon. And we taxpayers have plenty of time — three full months — to make moves that can ensure our 2012 tax bills are less scary than the ghouls roaming our streets on Oct. 31. But before turning attention totally to 2012, some folks have to take care of a bit of 2011 tax housekeeping. Yep, I'm talking about meeting the Oct. 15 filing extension deadline. You've waited this long, so don't get in…

While Congress was marking time last week until it could recess until after the election, it spent its valuable limited time some important pieces of legislation. Not. Aside from a bill to keep the government running through March 27, 2013, the House and Senate bandied about politically themed measures to highlight their partisan positions on jobs, the economy and, of course, taxes. The best, or worst, example of this was the Buffett Rule bill that cleared the House. This Republican version of Obama's proposal that millionaires pay a tax rate of at least 30 percent calls for voluntary contributions to…

The tax world consensus is that if Mitt Romney doesn't win the White House, he'll amend his 2011 return to recoup the tax savings he surrendered in order to make his effective tax rate reach 14.1 percent. Some calculators say that the Republican presidential candidate's tax rate would have been closer to 9 percent if he'd taken all the deductions for which he qualified. When asked if Romney might file an amended return and claim the $1.77 million in charitable donations that he and the missus didn't include on their Schedule A, thereby getting a nice refund check of around $265,616,…

In July when Mitt Romney was catching heat for paying a 2010 personal income tax rate of only 13.8 percent, he defended his filing tactics by saying that if he paid more taxes than were required, he wouldn't be qualified to be president. Uh, Mitt. You might want to rethink that statement. Romney today released his 2011 tax return. A note accompanying the 379-page filing pointed out that the Republican presidential candidate intentionally overpaid last year's taxes. Mitt and Ann are sending the U.S. Treasury more money than they had to because they decided not to claim some charitable deductions.…

One of my favorite websites is Dictionary.com I particularly like its Word of the Day feature. I enjoy it so much, I'm borrowing the approach to look at a political-economic-tax word that's probably going to be at the top of this year's election glossary: Redistribution. Here's the by the book (or, in this case Internet) definition: Since Barack Obama's appearance on the national political scene, this term has become a partisan weapon. Republicans use it to slam the president and Democrats who want to raise taxes on wealthier taxpayers and use — yes, redistribute — the funds for programs designed for middle-income and lower-wage…

Or you a maker or a taker? While that question isn't particularly elegant either, it's how Republicans wish Mitt Romney had phrased his secretly taped comments at a Florida fundraiser. Most American are working hard, contributing to their families' support and success. If asked the maker or taker question, they would have said there is no way they are anything like the 47 percent of nontaxpayers whom Romney dismissed as eager dependents on the federal government. But the truth is that we are all takers in some way, dependent in some fashion on Uncle Sam, especially when it comes to taxes.…

Mitt Romney's self-described "inelegant" characterization of nontaxpayers as Obama supporters who see themselves as victims, entitled to government help, has re-energized the call for public review of exactly how much, or little, the Republican presidential candidate has paid Uncle Sam over the last decade. Romney has released just one complete tax return (for the 2010 tax year) and a preliminary filing for 2011. When he completes his 2011 Form 1040 — Romney, like millions of Americans, got an extension until Oct. 15 to file — he says he'll make the finalized version public, too. Similarly, Romney's vice presidential choice, Rep.…

Just in case you were otherwise occupied yesterday and missed it, below is the videotape of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney writing off 47 percent of the electorate. Those Americans, Romney told a group of potential donors, won’t vote for him because they’re getting a sweet, nontaxpaying deal under President Obama. “My job is not to worry about those people,” Mitt Romney said of the 47 percent of Americans who, according to a tax think tank study, did not pay federal income taxes in 2011. “I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” After…

A quick nag reminder about today's estimated tax payment deadline. Your third 1040-ES of 2012 is due by midnight if you pay electronically. In this case you don't have to actually send in the Internal Revenue Service voucher, just the amount you owe via your credit or debit card or bank account transfer. Click for a larger view. Or if you're mailing your payment via paper check or money order, you have until your post office closes. Estimated tax payments, just like your annual 1040 filing, are considered filed on time as long as the envelope is postmarked by the…

Here's a question for my fellow estimated tax payers: Have you sent in your third 1040-ES voucher yet? If not, don't panic. You've got a couple of extra days. Sept. 15 is on Saturday, so your estimated tax payment isn't due until Monday, Sept. 17. I've spent my share of weekends over the years taking care of tax tasks. Not so this year. As you can see by my redacted receipt below from the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS), I've scheduled our payment. Click for a larger view. If, however, you've yet to file your 1040-ES, you might have…

The hubby and I have always shared our finances. We've both worked. Sometimes his paycheck has been bigger. A few times, mine has. Either way, we put all our earnings into one joint checking account and go from there. I've always joked that we share everything because we were married in Texas, a community property state. Kids sharing a shake by andrechinn via Flickr Even when we moved away for a while, I told the hubby we still were operating under the what's yours is mine philosophy. Now we're back home in our native Lone Star State and I've got…

Bradley Birkenfeld, the former UBS banker credited with helping break open Uncle Sam’s investigation into secret untaxed Swiss accounts, is about to be $104 million richer. The Internal Revenue Service has recommended that Birkenfeld, who served around two and a half years in federal prison for a fraud conspiracy conviction related to the case, get that amount of money as a reward. It’s the largest whistleblower amount ever awarded by the IRS. Birkenfeld’s insider info helped the IRS collect more than $5 billion in unpaid taxes from foreign banks and nearly 15,000 individuals who used their services to avoid paying…

The case of the elusive Mitt Romney tax returns gets curiouser and curiouser. Ever since the Republican presidential nominee announced we would only get to see his 2010 and, once the forms are filed by the Oct. 15 extension deadline, 2011 returns, there has been widespread speculation as to what Romney's earlier 1040s might contain. Last week, an anonymous group claimed to have hacked the computer system of Romney's accountants and obtained the GOP candidate's older returns. The alleged hackers said they'll expose the returns or keep the documents under wraps depending on who is the first to pay a…

Mitt Romney’s tax returns are in the news again, this time purportedly “kidnapped” by hackers who are demanding a $1 million ransom. The anonymous tax return thieves claimed Wednesday in an online ransom note that they were able to breach PricewaterhouseCoopers’ network file servers through the accounting giant’s office in Franklin, Tenn., a suburb of Nashville. Once in the system, they were able to “copy over the tax documents for one Willard M Romney and Ann D Romney. We are sure that once you figure out where the security breach was, some people will probably get fired but that is not…

If Taxmageddon arrives on Jan. 1, 2013 — which I don't expect to happen, but with Congress, who really knows? — one of the taxes that will return is the marriage penalty, as I discussed with Bob Moon in his recent Marketplace radio story on fiscal cliff tax implications. Some states, however, still have laws that produce a marriage tax penalty for their residents. The Tax Foundation created a map showing the 16 states where couples are likely to pay more when filing a joint state tax return than if they filed separate individual tax returns with their state tax…

Two. That's how many full tax returns Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney says we'll eventually get from him when he files his now-on-extension 2011 taxes. Romney's been taking heat for not offering us a larger look at his annual Internal Revenue Service filings. That's likely to continue all the way to Nov. 6. Personally, I think Romney should show us more of his tax returns. But he's not the only candidate to stop at two. That's how many years' worth of federal tax returns the last GOP seeker of the White House made public. In 2008, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) released…

Another part of the 2012 presidential campaign puzzle fell into place when Paul Ryan on Friday afternoon released his 2010 and 2011 tax returns. Yep, only those two years' worth of 1040s for the Republican vice presidential candidate. Now we just wait for Mitt Romney's final 2011 filing. The GOP presidential nominee made public his preliminary tax calculations for last year when he released his official 2010 return. Romney (or rather, Romney's accountants) had to do a down-and-dirty 2011 Form 1040 to see if he had to send the Internal Revenue Service any cash when he filed for an extension.…

Paul Ryan is now under the most intense scrutiny he's ever faced. Journalists, bloggers, campaign staff and just plain old people — that last one's a colloquial reference, not a descriptive one, although senior citizens obviously are interested in Ryan because of his Social Security and Medicare proposals — are poring over everything they can find on the Republican vice presidential candidate. But there's one thing all these sleuths aren't likely to find: a lot of Ryan's tax returns. While it's become expected that presidential candidates and their running mates make public their tax filings, sometimes the White House wannabes,…

One Congressman has an idea about what should happen in the wake of confirmation that the Internal Revenue Service purposely overlooked fake tax identity number applications. IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman should resign. Rep. Sam Johnson told the tax agency head that in a letter that the Texas Ways and Means Committee member sent after it was revealed some IRS supervisors urged employees to ignore possibly fake tax ID applications. Click image for a larger view. The "ITIN" mentioned in the snippet of Johnson's letter pictured above stands for Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. These numbers are used instead of Social Security…

I know you're as excited as I am about today's London Olympics schedule. That's right, kiddies. The dressage competition has begun! If you're like most Americans, you've just learned about the fancy-schmancy sport of dressage (pronounced like massage) thanks to Mitt and Ann Romney. The Republican presidential candidate's wife owns a one-third interest in the horse Rafalca, via her participation in Rob Rom Enterprises LLC. The mare and her rider, Ann Romney's riding instructor Jan Ebeling, are competing in Olympic dressage events. In the early rounds, the horse ranked fourth. And most of what you've probably read, be it info from…

Ka-pow! Bam! Amend! Taxes pretty much pummeled H&R Block's superhero economics infographic last week. I noticed that the Dark Knight's alter ego Bruce Wayne improperly deducted all his charitable contributions. Janet Novack, Forbes' Washington, D.C., bureau chief, picked up on the error, as did TaxProf Paul Caron. The ensuing attention finally prompted a change to the comparison of Batman's and Spider-Man's (aka Peter Parker's) money. On Monday, H&R Block amended the infographic: [UPDATE 7/16/12] We got swept away in the fun & fantasy and initially miscalculated Bruce Wayne’s estimated tax bill — we’ve adjusted it accordingly on the graphic below.…