Tax season is proving to be a major headache for taxpayers this season. And it looks like it’s not about to get better for hundreds of thousands of taxpayers who claimed the American Opportunity Credit or the Lifetime Learning Credit on their personal income tax returns. To claim the credit, taxpayers must file a federal…
When the Internal Revenue Service finally announced that it was accepting federal form 8863, Education Credits (American Opportunity and Lifetime Learning Credits (downloads as a pdf), taxpayers heaved a sigh of relief. With a delayed tax season already in play, the additional two weeks pushed filing dates out more than three weeks for up to…
March 1 came and went and the world was still standing. Sequestration made a big splash at the end of February. Taxpayers were worried… How would it affect Tax Day? Would refunds be slowed down? Would the lights stay on in Congress? But as March kicked off, tax season was (finally!) in full swing and…
It’s official: 40 days after tax season was officially kicked off, the Internal Revenue Service has announced that it is now accepting all returns. No, that’s not a typo. 40 days. Tax season was originally slated to open on January 22, 2013, but due to the last-minute tax deal, opening day was delayed to January…
Today, I’m kicking off my annual “Taxes from A to Z” series. As part of the series, I plan to focus on tax terms that might not get much play on a day to day basis… If you’re wondering what the heck MAGI is or how to figure out the difference between an injured spouse…
It’s Dr. Seuss’ birthday! Theodor Seuss Geisel, or Dr. Seuss as he is better known, was born on March 2, 1904. If he were still alive, he’d be 109 years old. Dr. Seuss is known for a number of books and poems. Oh, the Places You’ll Go! first appeared in print in 1990, making it…
You remember when you were little and you would keep checking the sky for snow clouds on the off chance that you got a snow day? Welcome to the grown-up version: checking the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) web site for sequestration news. But, like your mom, I’m going to give you the bad news, and…
The IRS has announced that extremely high traffic is causing the “Where’s My Refund?” tool to be unavailable for some taxpayers at times this season.
Ugh.Now that tax season is in full swing, the spammers and schemers are out in force. I received four emails today alone purporting to be from the Internal Revenue Service, all of which were spam. Most of them were rehashed emails (of the “canceled by your banking institution” variety, asking for new banking information). One,…
For those of you who don’t hang out with me in real life, here’s stuff you might not know: I bake my own bread. I pickle my own vegetables. I make my kids’ Halloween costumes. I can code a little. But I do not do my own taxes. I used to do my own returns…