Tax news and guidance for individual taxpayers — filing tips, deductions, refunds, and everything else that hits your personal return.
For tax year 2003 (the most recent tax year for which data is available), individuals reported noncash donations valued at $36.9 billion. These donations were reported on federal form 8283, Noncash Charitable Contributions, which is required when a taxpayer makes noncash donations which exceed a total $500. Not surprisingly, corporate stock was the largest percentage,…
It’s tax cut-apalooza on Capitol Hill. No wonder. It’s an election year, and a majority of Americans are not happy with the current state of affairs, including the economy. What’s a lawmaker to do? Cut taxes. So, tax packages are rolling in, purporting to offer “relief” to taxpayers. Most are, in my opinion, targeted at…
The IRS announced last week that it has revised its list of automobiles eligible for hybrid tax credits. In December, the IRS published a list of vehicles eligible for the credit – the new credit applies to vehicles purchased on or after January 1, 2006. Hybrid vehicles which now qualify and their credit amounts are:…
The IRS is becoming increasingly defensive about reports that it hopes to make it easier to sell taxpayer’s information as a result of the proposed regs from December 2005. As reported earlier, the Philadelphia Inquirer published an article critical of the proposed regs from IRS which would allow tax preparers to sell personal and financial…
And they’ve prepared a special “memo” addressing reasons why you shouldn’t… On March 16, 2006, the IRS published IRS Notice 2006-31 describing 26 frivolous arguments that taxpayers should avoid when filing their returns. Basically, these arguments include your run of the mill “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is” schemes such as…
Or put another way, how much does your tax preparer think you’re worth? The Philadelphia Inquirer recently broke a story that the IRS has been keeping quiet… It seems that in an action labeled “not a significant regulatory action,” a change in privacy laws was included in proposed rules published in December. The change would…
H&R Block has become the target of a number of lawsuits alleging wrongdoing. Among them… California is suing the company, alleging that it has violated state and federal laws in marketing and providing high-cost refund anticipation loans with interest rates exceeding 500%. The laws which H&R Block are alleged to have broken include those regulating…
Really cold. And yes, as a former Southerner, I have to say it’s getting a little old. It’s not supposed to go above the 30s/40s all week, with 20s in the evenings in Philadelphia. Brr. We’re coping by hibernating in the house as much as possible. Only, I’ll confess, our home is not as energy…
The IRS has recently announced its “Dirty Dozen” Tax Scams for 2006, including two new scams. Be on the lookout for the following, as pulled from the IRS web site: 1. Zero Wages. In this scam, new to the Dirty Dozen, a taxpayer attaches to his or her return either a Form 4852 (Substitute Form…
While the new year started for most folks on January 1, the new tax year begins for IRS on today, January 3. Just this week, the IRS will send 17.7 million 1040 tax packages to taxpayers who have previously filed paper returns. This number is on the decline as more taxpayers opt for electronic filing….
