Making Taxes Less Taxing!
Visit My Amazon Page
Take Us To The Top Of Bloglog
Take Us To The Top Of Blog Top Sites
IRS Tax Assistance
Tumbtack Gold Member
Today's Employer Tax Tip
If you are a semi weekly depositor who has incurred payroll between the dates of January 21 through January 24, your payroll tax deposits are due today.
These deposits can be made through EFTPS online at www.eftps.gov
Tax Changes For 2012: Entry 3
Standard Mileage Rates Up For 2011
The standard mileage rate for business use of a car, van, pick-up or panel truck is 51 cents a mile for miles driven during the first six months of 2011 (January through June) and 55.5 cents a mile from July to December.
Two Extra Days to File and Pay
The due date has been extended to Tuesday, April 17th, to file their 2011 income tax returns and pay any taxes due. This extra time comes as a result of April 15th falling on Sunday and the observation of Emancipation Day, a holiday in the District of Columbia on Monday, April 16. By law, filing deadlines that fall on D.C. holidays are extended to the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday.
The April 17 deadline also applies to any return or payment normally due on April 15. It also applies to the deadline for requesting a tax-filing extension and for making 2011 IRA contributions.
Today's Employer Tax Tip
If you are a semi weekly depositor who has incurred payroll between the dates of January 18 through January 20, your payroll tax deposits are due today.
These deposits can be made through EFTPS online at www.eftps.gov.
Tax Changes For 2012: Entry 2
For the tax period of 2010, income limits no longer apply to rollovers or conversions to Roth IRAs from other retirement plans. However, unlike 2010 conversions, all of the income resulting from a 2011 conversion would be included on the 2011 return. See Form 8606 and its instructions for details.
If you elected a 2010 conversion, only half of the resulting income would be included in income in tax year 2011 and the other half is reported in 2012, unless you chose to include all of it in your income for 2010. If you did not make this choice, report the taxable amount on either Line 15b or Line 16b of Form 1040 for 2011. See the instructions to Form 1040 for details.
For More Information:
Form 8606 Non Deductible IRAs
Instructions For Form 8606, Nondeductible IRAs
Instructions For Form 1040
Tax Changes For 2012: Entry 1
New Way to Report Capital Gains and Losses
For tax year 2011, if you have a capital gain or loss transaction to report, you will now use new Form 8949. Schedule D, the form traditionally used to show these individual transactions, is now used as a summary sheet, reporting amounts for total sales price, basis and other adjustments for all individual transactions, and for figuring the tax.
If you bought and sold securities in 2011, the Form 1099-B, issued by the broker, will now show your basis in the stock. The information on this form will help you to complete Form 8949.
See the instructions for Form 8949 and Schedule D for details.
For more information:
Sales and Other Dispositions of Capital Assets
Form 1040 Schedule D Capital Gains and Losses
Form 1040 Schedule D Capital Gains and Losses Instructions
Today's Employer Tax Tip
If you are a semi weekly depositor who has incurred payroll between the dates of January 14 through January 17, your payroll tax deposits are due today.
These deposits can be made through EFTPS online at www.eftps.gov.
Today's Employer Tax Tip
If you are a semi weekly depositor who has incurred payroll between the dates of January 11 through January 13, your payroll tax deposits are due today.
These deposits can be made through EFTPS online at www.eftps.gov
Highlights of the National Taxpayer Advocate Report to Congress: Overview
On January 10, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson released her annual report to Congress, identifying the combination of the IRS’s expanding workload and declining resources as the most serious problem facing taxpayers. The result, the report says, is inadequate taxpayer service, erosion of taxpayer rights, and reduced tax compliance. The Advocate expressed her continuing concern that the IRS’s expanding use of automated processes to adjust tax liabilities is causing harm to taxpayers.
As in last year’s highlight of the Advocate’s report to Congress, over the next few weeks and months Tax Today will put its two cents worth with regard to the Advocate Service, IRS, and you, the taxpayer.
The IRS Is Not Adequately Funded To Serve Taxpayers and Collect Taxes
According to the Advocate, the overriding challenge facing the IRS is increased workload with decreased funding. This has caused the IRS to resort to shortcuts that undermine fundamental taxpayer rights and harm taxpayers.
Workload Overload. The sharp increase in the IRS’s workload is due to several factors, arising mostly out of the increasing complexity of the tax code, a surge in refund fraud and tax-related identity theft, and the implementation of new third-party information reporting requirements.
Not cited in the report but playing a part in work overload is employee attrition, either through retirement, or the closing of certain IRS facilities around the country, subjecting the affected workers to retirement or a buyout by another employee, allowing him to retire. The remaining workers inherit the workload of their predecessors while at the same time remain responsible for the work that they performed beforehand.
New and expanded credits, such as the Earned Income Credit, First-Time Homebuyer Credit, the American Opportunity tax credit, the Adoption Tax Credit, and the Additional Child Tax Credit, has fostered an increase in bogus refund claims by both preparers and taxpayers alike that seeks to profit off the tax system by claiming refunds that exceed the amount of taxes they have paid. At its worse, these individuals have resorted to stealing and using another taxpayer’s identity to file for refunds they are not entitled to.
In 2011, the IRS’s Electronic Fraud Detection System (EFDS) flagged 1,054,704 returns on suspicion of fraud, an increase of 72 percent over 2010. Meanwhile, the IRS’s centralized Identity Protection Specialized Unit (IPSU) received more than 226,000 identity theft-related cases, an increase of 20 percent over 2010.
According to Ms. Olson, “the IRS’s task in identifying these claims has become more challenging, with the inevitable result that some fraudulent claims are never identified and many legitimate claims are mistakenly held up, imposing a significant burden on honest taxpayers.”
Of course, it would be nice if a strategy were formulated to avoid having honest taxpayers having to suffer unfairly at the hands of the dishonest ones.
The Taxpayer Advocate Report To Congress: Executive Summary
Today's Individual Tax Tip
You can mail your payment on Form 1040ES, using the fourth quarter voucher or pay your taxes electronically.
Be sure to consult the 1040ES package to ensure that you are mailing your payment to the correct address and that your payment is properly documented with your social security number or in the case of a joint return, the primary's social security number.
For information on paying electronically, visit www.irs.gov/e-pay.
Today's Employer Tax Tip
If you are a monthly depositor who has incurred payroll for the month of December 2011, your payroll tax deposits are due today.
These deposits can be made through EFTPS online at www.eftps.gov.
