Taxpayer asks: Is there a way to complete the W9 form that is technically legal that will avoid being 1099’d for income paid to you? Taxgirl says: No, not legally. The rules about when a form 1099 must be issued are pretty clear and there’s no magic language or box that you can check that…
Tax season starts on January 30! To get things started, I asked tax professionals around the country to give me their top tax tips. Here’s some of what they had to say: If you refinanced in 2012, be sure to write off any prior refi costs that you have been writing off over a number…
(Update: The contest is now closed. I have the winners! They are: BrynMawr Girl, csom97, Davis C. Burroughs, IV, David Moore and Scott Coyle. Thanks to all for playing!) Tax season officially opens tomorrow (*squee!*). To celebrate, I’ll be rolling out a number of giveaways (who doesn’t want free stuff?) as well as answering your…
With just a few days left before tax season officially opens on January 30, the Internal Revenue Service has announced that there will be a slight delay in processing individual tax returns claiming education credits. Those returns will begin to be processed by the middle of February. Specifically, those taxpayers who are affected are those…
I am a recovering rewards program junkie. My husband used to refer to me a “marketer’s dream” and he was right. My keychain was cluttered with those little bar code cards for everywhere from Genuardi’s to CVS to the local hardware store. I couldn’t resist the lure of a bargain. The truth is that most…
It all started with a ping. Just before noon, I got an interesting tweet. A flurry of tweets, Facebook messages, and emails followed. It was, in the grand scheme of my day, kind of a big deal. I had been following the IRS’ plans to regulate preparers more or less since then Commissioner Doug Shulman…
January 22nd has come and gone without incident. It was supposed to be opening day for tax season at the Internal Revenue Service. But with a last-minute tax deal, the IRS has pushed off opening day until January 30. Today, the IRS confirmed that opening day for tax season at the agency is still slated…
I was wrong. Remember when I said that the House was going to push off the debt ceiling for three months? Turns out they didn’t mean it. They meant four months. The House voted today to delay a decision on the debt ceiling for four more months, through May 18. The measure passed by a…
In light of the decision in Loving et al v Commissioner where the court ruled that the Internal Revenue Service did not have the authority to regulate tax preparers, the IRS has issued the following statement: As of Friday, Jan. 18, 2013, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia has enjoined the…
Two things happened on Sunday. One, I sat down for an interview with Dan Alban, the lead attorney in Loving et al v. Commissioner (downloads as a pdf). And two, I had friends over to the new house for a chat. You might think the two are completely unrelated. But you’d be wrong. You see,…