How To Choose Great Online Tax Preparer Software

When people look for Online Tax Preparer software, they need to consider various factors. Choosing the right tax software option is vital to maximizing a tax refund after all. Therefore, individuals must focus and search for their best tax preparation solution. Each person is going to require something slightly different from their online tax prep service.

Safety Concerns with Online Tax Preparer Software

TurboTax 2013 from last year provided ample safety measures. Unfortunately, not all preparation services take safety seriously enough. The last thing a person wants to do is lose their personal information. Others have become victims of identity theft and lost their returns. The best tax prep options implement strict safety protocols today.

Tax refund theft continues to grow at an alarming pace. More taxpayers find themselves victims each tax filing year. While tax prep companies try to combat this fraud, cases will slip through the cracks. By choosing the safest option, taxpayers can minimize their risk of becoming a victim.

How To Choose Great Online Tax Preparer Software
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Convenience

These days, people tend to prize convenience and efficiency over other factors. It’s important to check out a tax service’s extra features. Turbo Tax 2013 was prized for its variety of useful features. Typically, such features aren’t core to the tax filing experience. They do, however, provide certain taxpayers with extra tools that can be used for various purposes.

In the end, consumers must consider price and a handful of other factors, too. TurboTax is often considered the best Online Tax Preparer Software available today. Anecdotal and usage figures seem to support the validity of this idea. Still, each taxpayer needs to find the tax preparation service that’s right for themselves.

Tax Changes For The Wealthy

2013 and 2014 taxes may be different for the wealthy due to several new tax implementations. The top tax rate may be steeper, and the actual percentage may depend upon what is included. People may be surprised by the changes, and this may be the ideal time to let TurboTax 2013 guide you through efficient tax preparation.

Income inequality continues to be a major political issue, and things like extending jobless benefits, raising the minimum wage, and imposing changes that affect the top tax rate are central to addressing this issue. Some of the newer 2014 taxes include changes to capital gains taxes, and 2013 is the first year that taxpayers will feel the impact. New payroll and Medicare taxes may effect wealthy taxpayers starting in 2013, and the increases may net $87 billion over the next decade.

The 2013 tax filing season will begin on January 31st, but wealthier individuals may already see differences in their withholding going forward. The law is applied unevenly, and this may result in withholding for some people, exemptions in some cases, and larger tax refunds for others.

Changes involving capital gains, interest, dividends, and other types of investments may increase tax bills, but income after taxes may decrease by a small percentage. The percentage may not seem like much, but losing this share of income may seem substantial. You may not know where your income will place you in terms of the current tax rate changes, but TurboTax 2013 may give you the important answers you need.

Married Same Sex Couples Gain Equal Tax Benefits

Married Same Sex Couples

Regardless of which state that they live in, all lawfully married gay couples can now file back taxes in the United States and can obtain the same tax benefits that married heterosexual couples receive. This means that whether a married gay couples lives in a state that recognizes gay marriage or one that does not, the marriage tax benefits applies nationally. This is because of the invalidation of an important part of the Defense of Marriage Act federal law of 1996 on June 26.

This act had previously recognized marriages only between a man and a woman. The invalidation of the act now provides for definiteness for gay couples that want to file back taxes and gives them access to benefits, responsibilities and protections under federal tax laws. The implication of this ruling is that same sex couples in states that do not recognize same sex might move to states such as New York where same sex marriage is legally permitted.

The ability of gay couples to file back taxes goes back to the 2010, 2011 and 2012 tax years and such couples can seek tax refunds by filling amended tax returns. Filling tax returns will change their tax status because couples can choose to file taxes as married filing jointly or married filing separately. But the change is also both positive and negative because it has benefits as well as penalties.

The positive side of the ruling is that spouses that are legally married will be exempted from federal state tax. A gay couple that is in a certain income bracket may get charged with the marriage penalty tax that heterosexual couples are usually faced with. Same sex couples will receive the file back taxes benefits as long as they are married without regard to where they reside.

Tax Carnival Ecstasy – April 15, 2013

Welcome to the April 15, 2013 edition of Tax Carnival Ecstasy. In this final edition for the 2013 tax season we have a number of good articles beginning with one from John Schmoll on last minute tax deductions for those that still need to file. Bill Smith has a post on the popularity of Turbo Tax for online tax filing. And if you are wondering the status of your tax refund since you have already filed and not seen a check from the IRS in the mailbox, KC Beavers covers finding the status of your refund in a great piece. Hope all the articles are helpful, make sure to bookmark, like on Facebook, tweet, and come back for additional tax information throughout the year.

deductions

John Schmoll presents Looking For Last Minute Tax Deductions? Try Making a Ringtone About Yourself! posted at Frugal Rules, saying, “It’s the end of tax season and people that are waiting til the last minute are commonly looking for deductions to take. Here’s a look at some of the crazy ones celebrities have tried to get past the IRS.”

Tax Day, New York City
Tax Day, New York City (Photo credit: @superamit)

filing

Bill Smith presents Checking Your Tax Refund Status After Using TurboTax 2013 posted at 2010Taxes, saying, “After filing your taxes with TurboTax 2013, you’ll immediately begin wondering about the status of your refund.”

Bill Smith presents United Way Offers Free Tax Preparation To Qualified Earners posted at 2012 Tax – Free Tax Filing Options, saying, “It is that time of year again; time to get out your tax documents, records, and W2s and do your taxes.”

Bill Smith presents The Benefits Of Using TurboTax 2013 To File Your Taxes posted at 2012 Taxes – Free Tax Filing Options, saying, “If you have never used Turbo Tax before, you need to consider filing your taxes with this computer program this year.”

Bill Smith presents Top Tax Scams To Avoid With Turbo Tax 2013 posted at 2014 Taxes, saying, “Using Turbo Tax 2013 is a good way to avoid tax scams in the first place, seeing as how you can e-file your paperwork with confidence that it will go directly to the IRS.”

taxes

KC Beavers presents Where Is My Tax Refund? posted at Generation X Finance, saying, “So your taxes should be done and filed by now. Now one of the most common questions we ask is where is my refund?”

Bill Smith presents TurboTax Continues To Grow In Popularity posted at 2011 Taxes, saying, “Millions of people utilize TurboTax in order to file their income taxes annually. In fact, Intuit recently reported that sales for its products have increased since last year.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of tax carnival ecstasy using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Tax Refunds with H&R Block

How to get online tax refunds with H&R Block?

Nowadays there are many tax filing programs available online, but even today most of the people think twice while filing their income tax returns using these online programs.  Many taxpayers still does not trust these online tax programs and prefer doing it themselves or seek help from experts to file their returns.

TurboTax and H&R Block are 2 of the best known services that offer free online tax filing programs to the public. Both the programs offer a step by step way for completing the tax form and allow filing of the complete income tax return online. Both the programs are user-friendly and all the instructions are easy to understand. The programs even do the mathematical part for you, ensuring that you file a mathematically correct return.

H&R Block has software that can be downloaded to help you prepare your taxes on your own and getting the tax refunds back faster along with the satisfaction that you did it by yourself. For tax filing all that you need is to fill in the required information data with a step by step guide and the program automatically computes prints and files the tax return. The program also has an automatic checker which checks the form for any mistakes before the sending it off. This is really great as there is nothing bad than getting a notice for any mistakes on the taxes from IRS, making delay in the tax refunds.

If you are self employed, an investor or even a homeowner you can file the refunds to. If will only cost you to download and file the return though, but the return forms will have all the required information and assistance you need to file the return yourself and thus, save your time from having to go to the location.

Tax Refunds and Bankruptcy

When it comes to making the decision to go bankrupt, you need to be aware of just what the benefits will be.  If wiping your financial slate clean means that you will lose your house, savings, and assets, perhaps it would be best to consider other options.  When it comes to tax refunds and bankruptcy, here are some tips to protect the money owed to you by the government.

First of all, you should be aware that your tax refund can be a part of your bankruptcy estate, meaning that the court-appointed trustee has access to it and can part or all of it to pay off your creditors.  It is the part of the refund that was accrued the date of petition that belongs to the bankruptcy estate, therefore, the time of the year that you file bankruptcy makes a big difference to the amount of money you are due to receive.  If you submitted a joint married tax filing but only one of you is claiming bankruptcy, the joint tax refund may be at risk.

•    Change your exemptions – if you usually receive a large tax refund and are thinking about filing bankruptcy in the future, increase you exemptions to reduce the amount of money to be refunded.

•    Delay your petition – unless you are facing an immediate foreclosure, lien, or garnishment, delay filing for bankruptcy until you have received your refund then use it to buy necessities.

•    Submit a W-5 – Your Advanced Earned Income credit can be transferred to you on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis.  This ensures that you can receive it and spend it without losing it during bankruptcy.

Dealing with tax refunds and bankruptcy can be especially stressful as you obviously don’t want to lose any more than absolutely necessary.  Consult a qualified bankruptcy attorney to discuss options of how to hold onto your tax return.

For more information about filing personal bankruptcy, please visit claimingbankruptcy.net.