Rapid Tax

A blog focused on providing informative tax and personal finance information.

Posts Tagged ‘irs’

Double-check Checklist

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

Before you guffaw and navigate away, listen to this: the list below is created from the IRS’s list of most common (and sometimes, expensive) yearly filing mistakes. Our list is meant to be a simple catalog of things to double-check before you lick the stamp or mouse-over the “send” button on your tax filing.

If your eyes are straining from rolling too much, we suggest you simply bookmark this page for the final seconds prior to your sending off for your return. Why?

The IRS charges 6% interest and up to a 20% penalty for incorrect filings. A double-check can save you tons of time, and possibly, tons of money.

  • Did you include your W-2?

    • Obviously this won’t be a problem for e-filings, but for our snailmail brothers and sisters, it’s one of the most-repeated mistakes.
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Category: Uncategorized, taxes
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Schedule M Errors in Making Work Pay Forms

Monday, February 1st, 2010

In a trend that surprises no one, tax payers are making critical errors with a new tax form.

The Schedule M form is for anyone needing to account for the Making Work Pay credit or retirees who got the free $250 from the government last year. The Making Work Pay credit comes from the February 2009 stimulus package, which stated that working taxpayers can get up to a $400 benefit.

This benefit was automatically adjusted in the witholdings of most Americans’ paychecks; your “benefit” should’ve resulted in a slight increase in your take-home pay. If you’re a self-employed employee, however, you likely didn’t see a dime of it. You’ll need to file a schedule M, and there’ve been more than a few mistakes.
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Category: Uncategorized
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2008 Tax Return Conundrum: With Funding Dropping, How Will Feds Pick up the Slack?

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

2008 tax return numbers just aren’t looking good for the government. Year over year revenue has dropped catastrophically, even as spending is up. So how are they making up the shortfall? There’s been some tentative talk of cost-cutting and income tax hikes, but there are some unusual plans that are also in the works:


Via Phillip on Flickr.
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Category: Tax News
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Easy Tax Returns: Is the 1040-EZ as easy as can be?

Friday, July 24th, 2009

Some of the earliest examples of writing historians have discovered include records of tax payments. And complaints that taxes are too complicated are nearly as old. Tax authorities have always tried to strike a balance between a simple tax code and a tax code that rewards behaviors they’d like to encourage.

The most effective way to do that? Give different taxpayers different ways to file — big corporations like GE may file a 40,000-page tax return, while an individual might file a 1040-EZ. But are these “easy” tax returns easy enough?

Photo credit: striatic on Flickr.

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Category: Regulations
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IRS: “Help us decide who does your taxes.”

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

This just in: the IRS wants taxpayers to help them decide which tax preparers… they can decide to work with. At first, it seems like a pretty redundant exercise: the IRS is asking taxpayers and other interest groups to decide what criteria they’d like someone to satisfy before that person can prepare their taxes. People already do this — by paying someone to prepare their taxes.

So what is the IRS trying to add here? (more…)

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Category: Regulations
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National Taxpayer Advocate’s Report to Congress: Once a Year, Taxpayers Talk Back — and Congress Listens

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

It may feel like taxpayers always complain and Congress never listens, and perhaps most of the time that’s true. But once a year, Congress asks the National Taxpayers advocate to report on taxpayer concerns. And the latest report just came out. So what’s coming up next? Ten highlights:
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Category: Tax News
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“Someone Else Claimed My Dependent” — How To Straighten Things Out

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Claiming a dependent is usually pretty simple: you give the IRS their social security number, and claim that your relationship with your dependent satisfies a few simple rules. But things can get more complicated: someone else can also claim the same person as a dependent, and if they get their filing in first, the IRS will assume it’s legitimate. What can you do then?
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Category: FAQ
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IRS Commissioner and Treasury Secretary Talk Up a Tax Cut

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

Contrary to recent rumors, the IRS isn’t trying to tax employee mobile phones as a benefit. Instead, they’re getting rid of the existing tax — which nobody had bothered to pay.
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Category: Regulations
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New Regulations Ahead: Will Your Taxes be Affected?

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

The IRS has announced an overhaul of their tax preparer regulations. This comes at a time when a tough economy makes scams more attractive. At the same time, the possibility of a safe income from preparing taxes has encouraged less qualified people to join the industry. The IRS’s attention to this issue makes sense, but there are more questions about their actual plan.

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Category: Regulations
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