Filing Tips

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February 20, 2012

It is 11 p.m. on April 15th, and you have finally finished preparing your income taxes. But before you grab your coat and head off the to post office, where you know you will have to wait in line even at this hour, the Internal Revenue Service suggests that you take an extra few minutes to double check certain items to prevent mistakes that could cost you penalties and interest or delay your refund.

Here are a few of the most "popular" tax return filing errors:

  • Did you enter the proper amount as Federal Income Tax Withheld? Form W-2 shows both federal income tax and FICA (Social Security tax) withheld from your paychecks, and if you use the wrong information, your refund or tax owed calculation is incorrect.
  • If you or your spouse are age 65 or older or blind, you must check all appropriate boxes in order to get the additional tax benefits.
  • If you did not have enough deductions to itemize, make sure you used the correct standard deduction chart to find the right amount.
  • Are you entitled to an Earned Income Credit? Taxpayers who have earned income below a certain level may be able to get this refundable credit. A tax credit is a dollar-for-dollar reduction of taxes owed, and, with a refundable credit, your taxes could be reduced to the point that you would receive a refund rather than owe any taxes.
  • Did you enter the correct amount of tax owed? In order to properly calculate your tax liability for the year, you have to find the line on your return that shows taxable income. In the tax table, find the line that includes your taxable income, then find the column for your particular filing status (married filing jointly, single, head of household, etc.). The amount shown on the line where your taxable income meets your filing status is your tax for the year.
  • Is your math correct? There is nothing more distressing than getting an IRS notice that informs you of a mathematical error.
  • Have you attached all necessary forms and schedules? You must include Copy B of all your W-2's.
  • Did you (and your spouse, if filing jointly) sign and date the return? If not, it will be bounced back to you.
  • Include a check made payable to the "Internal Revenue Service" for any amount due, and print your social security number, phone number, tax form number, and tax year on your check.
  • Make copies for your own records.
  • Use proper mailing procedures. If possible, use the pre-printed envelope and label included in your tax package. If not, make sure you use the address of the correct IRS center for your state.
  • Put enough postage on the envelope. If it is returned to you for insufficient postage, it might not be processed in time.

Copyright 2011 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.

 

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Posted by Yuly on Mar 28th, 2012
This question biacaslly is looking to see if you should itemize your deductions or take the standard deduction.When you itemize, one of the things itemized is how much in taxes you paid to the states last year. They can figure out how much you paid from your paystub. They also want to know though, if you owed any money on your 2006 tax return that you paid then, because that counts towards "income taxes paid in 2007" for itemized deduction purposes.So what this question is asking is:- Did you owe any income tax on last years return that you paid.- Did you pay any back income taxes on last years return.- The key is that it's *state* income taxes. They don't care whether you owed / paid any federal income tax last year.Nothing too sinister.
Posted by Ney on Mar 28th, 2012
Make a list of what you want to donate. Take pooths.Visit goodwill and find out what furniture sells for.Be realistic that it isn't worth very much.If the total is more than $5000, you need an appraisal.Then at tax time, you file schedule A, attaching form 8283.If your schedule A is *more* that your standard deduction, you take the higher amount. The amount over your standard deduction times your tax rate (you are in the 15% bracket) is the amount by which your income taxes would drop. If you don't normally itemize, and had $6000 to itemize, you'd have to pay for an appraisal, just to get $85 back.Personally at that level I'd either hold a garage sale or donate with no intent of getting a tax benefit.References :
Posted by Froso on Mar 28th, 2012
To get ANY tax benefit from idnatoons, you have to itemize. Unless your total itemized deductions including the idnatoons are over the standard deduction of $10,700, itemizing won't help your federal tax.Over that, you'd likely get the donation value times your tax bracket % so if you already itemize, and donate another $1000, and are in a 15% tax bracket, you might save $150 in tax for your $1000 donation, the rest comes out of your pocket.Note that when you're donating items rather than cash, the donation amount is the USED value of the item, not the original value. And there are special rules for idnatoons of cars.References :
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Posted by Newman on Mar 30th, 2012
Yes, on your Schedule A, which means you would need to itemize to rieceve the deduction. If you don't itemize, your standard deduction might be greater than your itemized deductions. You may want to contact a tax professional for your state taxes, as there are additional schedules you will need to file for the tax paid, as well as resident and nonresident state tax returns.References :
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