What Not To Do On Your Taxes According to Experts

Being careful is import when completing your taxes and this year should make you a little bit nervous if you are preparing your taxes yourself. Even professionals are making a lot of mistakes according to the Government Accountability Office.

In a study done in 2014, 10% of preparers did not calculate a normal tax return correctly. The final error rates for tax preparation according to the study was 50% for self-prepared returns and 60% for professionally prepared returns. Of course, the professionals more than likely handle the tough returns. Still, those are alarming numbers.

Some errors are obvious mistakes while others are harder to deduct, keep these difficult areas in mind this tax season: foreign investments, charitable giving, real estate taxes, gambling winnings, and state refunds.

What Not To Do On Your Taxes

If you have foreign investment accounts or savings accounts, make sure to report them to the IRS. If the IRS is able to discover the account later, you can face a penalty up to $10,000.

When making contributions to charity, keep a record so you can prove that you gave to a qualified charity. And when purchasing an item for a charity event, you can only deduct the portion above the value you are receiving.

Real Estate taxes can be a trick if you just purchased the home as some are paid on the closing statement. And an office in the home is a great deduction, but make sure not to claim more space than the office occupies.

If you have gambling winnings during the year, offset those winnings with loses you experienced and documented. You can’t take a lose of gambling, but limiting the amount of your winnings that is taxable is really nice.

Finally state refunds. State refunds on tax return filings are taxable the next year as income on the federal return. Yet federal tax refunds are not taxable, you get to keep the full amount of those funds.

Income Tax Considerations And Changes

Here are Income Tax Considerations: Politicians across the country debate about ways to fund worthwhile programs, and the new mayor of New York City has received considerable attention regarding his proposed agenda. Mayor de Blasio has outlined a progressive agenda aimed at funding after-school and early education programs, and his approach pushes for higher tax rates for wealthy individuals. You may have a lot of tax questions regardless of your income level, but using Turbo Tax 2013 may help you make sense of current and future tax scenarios.

Bill de Blasio
Bill de Blasio (Photo credit: Kevdiaphoto)

Mayor de Blasio would like to impose a tax increase on residents who report an excess of $500,000 in taxable income, and he wants this tax increase to be in effect for five years. Taxes 2013 and beyond may be affected by such a measure, and the rate would move from 3.88% to 4.41% under the de Blasio proposal. New York city resident tax rates have been as high as 4.46% under previous administrations, and the additional funds were intended for education and crime prevention.

A little over one percent of New York city residents would be affected, and the additional tax revenue raised would be approximately $500 million annually. This is in line with the goal of establishing continuous funding for education programs, and having this additional revenue may give Mayor de Blasio time to establish other funding sources once the higher tax rate has expired. Any discussion about proposed tax rate changes can lead to numerous questions, but Turbo Tax 2013 may help you find good ways to save at tax time.

Tax Carnival Ecstasy – May 9, 2013

Online Investing?
Online Investing? (Photo credit: Monkey Mash Button)

Welcome to the May 9, 2013 edition of Tax Carnival Ecstasy. We begin with a post from James Powell on credit and benefit changes for 2013 that is quite interesting. Bill Smith looks at how TurboTax has changed in the current year. And finally John Schmoll has a number of online brokers that he likes to use. Hope you enjoy all the articles, bookmark, share on your social sites, and come back real soon for more tax topics.

credits

James Powell presents Tax Credits and Benefits Changes 2013 – How They Will Affect You : Tax Credits posted at Tax Credits, saying, “This post will look at how the changes in tax credits will affect you in 2013.”

filing

Bill Smith presents Innovations For Turbo Tax 2013 posted at 2013 Taxes, saying, “Professional accounting can help business owners save time and resources, and the Turbo Tax 2013 CPA Select edition by Intuit may be the ideal solution for tax filing season.”

retirement

Jebelle presents LIFE is what you make it: HEALTH is WEALTH posted at LIFE is what you make it, saying, “earn even retired”

John Schmoll presents Online Brokerages I Use: OptionsHouse Review posted at Frugal Rules, saying, “There are many online brokerages to use as you look to invest in the stock market. The good ones are there to meet your needs and help make sure you’re doing what you can to be investing for things like retirement.”

tax law

Bill Smith presents Senate Bill On Internet Taxes Passes First Hurdle posted at FastSwings, saying, “Recently, the United States Senate passed a bill concerning Internet tax collection.”

taxes

Bill Smith presents Estimate Your Tax Refund With The Free TurboTax Taxcaster posted at 2013 Taxes, saying, “Tax time is drawing near and like most other Americans, you need to file and prepare your taxes to avoid penalties and late fees from the Internal Revenue Service.”

tips

Bill Smith presents The Benefits Of TurboTax 2013 posted at 2013 Taxes, saying, “When you are planning to file your income tax return, you want simplicity, accuracy, and options. You will have these benefits and more with TurboTax 2013.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of tax carnival ecstasy using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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FreeTaxUSA- Prepare your Taxes Yourself

<img src=”https://2011taxes.org/”” width=”1″ height=”1″ border=”0″ />

There are several tax preparation programs available online.  Let’s begin with a very simple and a detailed review.

Anyone can benefit a lot from tax return software, as they are:

  • Simple to fill in and submit the correct tax application;
  • Help in attaining bigger refunds;
  • Make simpler deduction in medical expenses;
  • Displays your present refund amount;
  • Even though you have changed the work, these services help you with right tax application.

All these online tax preparation services have easy to use systems, modern interface, best knowledge base as well as live support if in case you have more questions or problems filling out tax application.

Here are 3 most popular and top selling services: 24 Hour Tax, FreeTaxUSA, and without any doubt TurboTax. All these services might not seem familiar to you, but they have helped million of people across the world in getting their tax refunds in very easy and fast way. It’s best for both personal as well as small business taxation.

But the question is about the pricing; again you don’t have to worry as it is really cheap. Mostly, each one of these services has altogether different pricing packages, beginning from Basic and going up to different Professional plans. Usually subscription depends on monthly or annual payments. In few cases, for instance Turbo tax, you can buy it as tax audit software by giving onetime fee.

Now how to begin with getting fast tax refunds? Here are few steps for you:

  • Check out all the three services, compare their prices and find out the most suitable plan for you.
  • Subscribe with the service; it is always better to pay yearly, usually it is much cheaper than those with monthly payments.
  • Fill in the tax application and submit it using your chosen service
  • Systems will provide you guidance in terms and conditions for receiving the refund.

File Your Taxes Quickly

2011 taxes are already in the books for most people. It is possible you simply forgot about taxes, were busy, or perhaps did not have the money to pay what you owed. If you have not filed yet, do not panic. If you have the capability, you want to go ahead and do your 2011 taxes as soon as possible.

If you are still not ready, contact the IRS and request an extension for taxes 2011. Depending on your circumstances, the IRS may not penalize you. If you are getting a refund, you should not be penalized at all for your late filing.

The best way to make the filing process go smoothly is to have all your tax information on hand. This can includes receipts, your total income, possible business expenses, and your taxes from last year.

2011 taxes can seem pretty daunting. If you are having trouble figuring out everything yourself, it can often be beneficial to use a program like Turbotax. This can help guide you step by step and show you the math and some of the deductions for taxes 2011 that you should make. Filing sooner means you will get your refund faster, or prevent late fees and interest piling up on money you owe.