Ask The Taxgirl: Your Tax-Related Questions

With the end of tax season looming, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has processed nearly 90 million individual federal income tax returns. That means there are about 60 million more taxpayers yet to file. With all of those returns to be filed, taxpayers have questions. Lots of questions. I’m hoping that I can provide some answers.

I’ve been fielding taxpayer questions as part of my Ask The Taxgirl^® series. I try to answer the questions that are most important to my readers. If I notice a similar bunch of questions (for example, about glitches in filing tax returns or security concerns), I’ll usually answer those first. I also think about the timeliness: if something is making headlines now or affects tax filing, I’m likely to post that before a more general question. And sometimes, I’ll field a really interesting question – just because.

If you have a question, you can Ask The Taxgirl. Here’s the skinny on how to ask (most important rule: make sure you send your question to the right place). Tax rules can be complicated and there may be more to your question than you first think. With that in mind, you can read my disclaimer here (remember, I’m a lawyer and we love disclaimers).

Keep in mind that I’m not a substitute for your own tax professional (here are some tips on how to find a tax pro – as well as red flags to avoid). A good pro is always helpful but if you’re actually texting from an audit, crouched in your closet hiding from the feds, or on your way to jail, I can’t stress enough how much you need to put down the smartphone or laptop and find yourself a good tax professional right now. Run, do not walk, to the phone and call someone to help you.

If you’re just looking for general answers, you can browse through this year’s posts. To make it easy, you can find links to some of the most recent taxpayer questions and articles in this handy list: