Tax Updates and Help With Tax Questions

Important Tax Deduction Tips

Did you search for a new job in 2009? (Job search expenses can reduce your taxes)

Did you lose your job in 2009? (How a job loss might impact your taxes)

Did you get married in 2009?

Did you get divorced or separated in 2009?

Did you have a child in 2009?

Medical deductions and medical expenses checklist

Charitable donations and deductions

Other miscellaneous deductions

Nondeductible expenses

Additional tax deductions

Making Work Pay Tax Credit - Paycheck Withholding Adjustment

As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the stimulus package signed by President Obama, you could be receiving a larger paycheck right now.

Make sure you are not having too little withheld from your paycheck if you are: a single taxpayer with two jobs, a full-time student with a job, a social security recipient who works, or married filing jointly with a working spouse.

IRS Taxable Income - Do I Need to File a Tax Return?

See if you must file a tax return. Find out which income amounts require you to file or efile a tax return.

Ways to Save Tax

Tax loopholes are not only for big businesses and savvy tax attorneys. Read here about ways to save tax dollars--from charitable giving to incomedeductions that the IRS cannot tax.

Tax Adjustments in Tough Times

Depending on the degree of economic hardship they are suffering, a taxpayer may be eligible for an adjustment to payments on back taxes, a deferral of collection action, or leniency over the default status of existing payment agreements.

Difficulty Paying Taxes or Owing Taxes?

IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman has assured taxpayers that the IRS would balance its responsibility to enforce the law with the economic hardships that face American citizens in the 2009 tax season. He explained that IRS staff has been given a degree of flexibility on a wide range of issues to help taxpayers struggling to pay taxes.

Federal Tax Lien Relief

The IRS has implemented an expedited process that will make it easier for financially distressed homeowners to avoid a federal tax lien that would block the refinancing of mortgages or the sale of a home.

Bankruptcy and Insolvency

2009 was a tough year for many people. It is important to know the tax ramifications of bankruptcy or insolvency.

Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act

The IRS has reassured homeowners that although mortgage workouts and foreclosures can have tax consequences, special relief provisions can often reduce or eliminate the tax bite for financially strapped borrowers who lose their homes.

If you find that you owe additional tax, there is a form that you can use to request a payment agreement with the IRS. In some cases, eligible taxpayers may qualify to settle their debt for less than the full amount through an offer-in-compromise.

Checks Without a Home

This year 107,831 tax refund checks have been returned to the IRS because they were sent to an incorrect or out-of-date mailing address. The average amount of these checks is $1,148 and the checks total approximately $123.5 million.

If you are the intended recipient of one of these returned checks, all you have to do to receive your refund is update your address with the IRS. The IRS recommends that taxpayers efile their returns and use direct deposit to receive their refunds. Efiling and direct deposit help reduce errors, increase the speed of tax refunds, and eliminate the problem of undeliverable refund checks.

Use the "Where's My Refund?" tool to update your mailing address with the IRS.

Federal Standard Deduction

The federal standard tax deduction for each filing status is listed after the link.

List of Tax Exemptions

Exemptions reduce your taxable income for the year and are divided into two categories: personal exemptions and exemptions for dependents. Each exemption is worth $3,500 for the 2009 tax year, but different rules apply to each type of deduction.

Mileage Reimbursement Rate

The increased gas prices have a major impact on individuals who use their own personal automobile for business use as well. The new standard business mileage reimbursement rate for 2009 is 55 cents per mile. This rate is used to compute deductible business related automobile costs (this applies only if you are using your automobile for both private and business use).

Income Tax Filing Status

Your filing status must be decided before you can calculate your correct tax, deduction, and filing requirements. Your income tax filing status generally can be divided between being unmarried and being married, which is determined by your status on the last day of the tax year, December 31. There are five filing options, however, each with its own specific qualifications and consequences.

Foreign Income Earned by U.S. Citizens

The IRS and U.S. Treasury announced that they have released guidance on the estimated tax penalty for citizens or residents of the United States living and working abroad.

Tax Audit

According to the IRS, the total number of audited individual tax returns increased by 7 percent--from 1,293,681 in 2006 to 1,384,563 in 2007. That’s the highest number since 1998. The 2008 number is expected to be higher. Good tax record keeping is important in case you get audited. Don’t forget to print out (either as a hard copy or PDF file) your 2009 tax return and keep a copy for your records. On efile.com, you can print your return free of charge until December 2010. After that, we will close that operation in order to prepare for the new tax season.

New Electronic PIN Signature Requirement

The Internal Revenue Service will simplify the signature process for electronically filed individual income tax returns submitted by tax practitioners. The simplification eliminates the need for a paper signature document to be sent to the IRS in support of efiled tax returns.

Employer Identification Number (EIN) Online Application

Taxpayers can now request an Employer Identification Number (EIN) through a web-based system that instantly processes requests and generates identification numbers in real time, the Internal Revenue Service announced today.

"This new and improved online application will reduce the time it takes taxpayers to get an EIN," said Richard Morgante, commissioner of the IRS Wage & Investment Division. "Essentially they can get one while they wait -- within minutes."

Poker Tournament Winnings Must Be Reported to the IRS

Since 2008, casinos and other sponsors of poker tournaments have been required to report most winnings to the Internal Revenue Service.

The requirement was designed to clear up confusion about the tax reporting rules that apply to poker tournaments. In recent years, some casinos and players have been confused over whether poker tournament sponsors who hold the money for participants in a poker tournament are required to report the winnings to the IRS and withhold tax on the winnings.

IRS Announces Pension Plan Limitations for 2009

The IRS announced cost of living adjustments applicable to dollar limitations for pension plans and other items for Tax Year 2009.

Section 415 of the Internal Revenue Code provides for dollar limitations on benefits and contributions under qualified retirement plans. It also requires that the Commissioner annually adjust these limits for cost of living increases.

IRS Warns of New Email Scams

The IRS alerted taxpayers to the latest versions of an email scam intended to fool people into believing they are under investigation by the agency's Criminal Investigation division.

The email purporting to be from IRS Criminal Investigation falsely states that the person is under a criminal probe for submitting a false tax return to the California Franchise Board. The email seeks to entice people to click on a link or open an attachment to learn more information about the complaint against them. The IRS warned people that the email link and attachment is a Trojan Horse that can take over the person's computer hard drive and allow someone to have remote access to the computer.