When people look for online tax preparers, 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
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.
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 tax preparation 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.
Even if one is certain there are no mistakes in the forms when following federal tax procedures, a little shiver goes down a taxpayers spine at the very thought of a letter arriving from the IRS. The Internal Revenue Service blundered recently when the office sent penalty notices to business owners who had requested an extension in filing tax return Form 5500 to file back taxes. An error in programming caused the mistake regarding the required Form 5558, the Application for an Extension of Time to File Certain Employee Plan Returns, before filing Form 5500. Normally, taxpayers are penalized if the Form 5500 is late or unfinished. However, the notice to those taxpayers who filed the proper forms in the right order received the penalty notice, CP 283, Penalty Charged on Your 5500 Return.
Legal research (Photo credit: gwilmore (I HATE THE NEW LAYOUT!))
A letter of explanation concerning the inaccuracy was instituted November 8th to IRS employees. Citizens received a penalty notice before the Form 5558 had an opportunity to post to the accounts. Therefore, letters of explanation were prepared while telephone assistors and tax examiners were instructed to apologize to callers. Penalties were removed in all cases, up to five if the caller was a person with multiple plans or clients. If the person was responsible for more than 5 accounts, they were requested to solicit their abatement in writing. The Internal Revenue Service accepted responsibility for the penalty notice to the taxpayers and the charges were removed. It seems filing back taxes can be simple most of the time, but one small computer error can create a fiasco of work.
Welcome to the October 23, 2012 edition of Tax Carnival Ecstasy. In this edition we start with Anisha from the NerdWallet who takes a look at oil companies and the taxes they pay. Bill Smith reviews H&R Block‘s small business tax software. Anna Deguzman looks over the Fiscal Cliff and how the two presidential candidates will handle the crisis. Finally we have four easy ways to save money on your taxes that you can implement before the year ends. Hope you get a chance to read all the posts here, bookmark for later, share on the social networks like Twitter and Facebook and follow the carnival in the future.
tax law
Bill Smith presents File Your Taxes posted at 2010Taxes, saying, “When it comes to online tax filing security is the major issue. Many people may like the concept or many might look down, most of them may feel worried about putting their information all on the internet and doubt that is it actually safe and secure to submit your tax return this way.”
taxes
Bill Smith presents Gay Marriage Increases Federal Tax Headaches posted at 2008 Taxes, saying, “The advent of a new era in our nation’s history brings with it more than gay marriage acceptance; we are witnessing the dawn of a new era of federal tax headaches.”
Bill Smith presents 2010 Tax Credits For Your Home posted at 2010 Tax, saying, “For those of you thinking of buying a new home but are not sure about the 2010 tax credits, maybe this will help you.” [email protected] presents Should oil companies pay higher taxes? Prof. Ho explains the economics of optimal taxation posted at NerdWallet, saying, “Should oil companies pay higher taxes? Prof. Ho teaches the economics of optimal taxes for the purpose of reducing the federal deficit.”
Bill Smith presents Tips to Get TurboTax Discounts posted at 2009 Tax, saying, “Turbotax software comes in various different versions like Premier, Deluxe, etc. Turbo tax software is used to prepare both State & Federal Income Tax Returns.”
Bill Smith presents How to get online tax refunds with H&R Block? posted at 2008 Taxes, saying, “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.”
Bill Smith presents H&R Block- Small Business Tax Software Review posted at 2009 Taxes, saying, “H&R Block is one of the best tax preparation software used worldwide. Today more than 500 million clients mainly in Australia, the U.S., and Canada use H&R block.”
[email protected] Obama vs. Romney vs. The Fiscal Cliff posted at NerdWallet Blog – Credit Card Watch, saying, “What change will the impending “fiscal cliff” bring? The nerds weigh in on the issue and the roles the presidential candidates could play.”
tips
Bill Smith presents FreeTaxUSA- Prepare your Taxes Yourself posted at 2011 Taxes, saying, “There are several tax preparation programs available online. Let’s begin with a very simple and a detailed review.”
John Schmoll presents 4 Simple Ways to Save Money on Taxes Before Year End posted at Frugal Rules, saying, “Tax season is quickly approaching us. Don’t fall behind and wait til the last minute to prepare for it. There are numerous things you can do now to help save you money and give less to Uncle Sam.”
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.
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.
Lauryn Hill is charged for not filing free federal tax returns
On Thursday the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey publicized that the Eight-time Grammy award winner, Lauryn Hill, was charged because of her inability to file income tax returns with the IRS for several years.
Free Federal Tax Filing
Lauryn hill’s main source of income is the royalties she gets from the recording and film industries. Between 2005 and 2007, she earned more that $1.6 million and these are the years she failed to oblige to her free federal tax filing obligations. According to the court documents, she is also the owner and operator of Creations Music Inc., Boogie Tours Inc., L.H. Productions 2001 Inc. and Studio 22 Inc.
After the announcement, her California based lawyer as well as her publicist got word of the charges. However, her publicist did not reply to the emails immediately.
Although Hill began her first solo career in 1998 with the highly acclaimed album “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” the 37 year old celebrity got her start with The Fugees.
Time magazine called her the face of “The Hip-Hop Nation” because of her first album. Critics claimed that her synthesis of rap and soul lyrics helped her sell 8 million copies of the album.
Later after this success she disappeared from the public scene in order to raise her six children. Five of them she had with Rohan Marley.
She attended Columbia High School in Maplewood and her current residence is based in Orange County, a suburb just west of Newark.
Her hearing is scheduled before a federal Judge on the 29th of June. If she is convicted, she is likely going to face a year in prison and pay a penalty of $100,000 on each charge.
Whether you are self employed, run your own business or do not get taxes paid through your employer for another reason, hiring a tax professional can be a great decision and can save a good amount of stress and headaches at the end of the tax year. Here are some of the top reasons to hire a tax professional next time your tax return is due, so that your taxes don’t have to be taxing.
1. It’s their profession
Because most accountants will have spent years filling in tax forms, returns documents and producing the required evidence, they will be well abreast of current rules and regulations to make sure you are 100% above board and still getting the most for your money. Because they know the current legislation and rules, they may be able to save you a great deal of money through deductions and offsetting tax against expenses, which many small business owners are unaware of.
2. It saves you time and effort
Even if you are great at keeping your books in order and know exactly what you are doing with your tax return, by getting someone else to do it for you, you can free up your time to do what you do best – run your own business. If you are self employed or run your own small business the tax return can be extremely complicated, and it is estimated most people in this situation spend between 10 and 20 hours sorting everything out. If you view this in terms of the money you could earn if you were working rather than doing your tax return, it can make the accountants fees seem much better value for money.
3. Avoid costly mistakes
If you haven’t done a tax return before, it is highly likely you will make some mistakes when filling in your tax return. These can turn out to be very costly if you have underestimated your tax liability for the year, so use a professional to ensure you get it right first time. The added bonus of using a professional is that they will be around to answer any questions or queries that the tax office has with your submission, so that you can be left to carry on with business as usual.
4. Help with audits and other financial planning
If you are asked to be audited you can be sure it will not be a pleasant process. You will need to have a professional accountant to help you, and by already engaging with one for your tax return you will have built up a relationship with them and they will be aware of your business and better placed to help you. Accountants are also good at financial projecting, so if you are considering taking on a member of staff, expanding your office space or otherwise making a change that will impact the turnover of the business, you can enlist their help to project whether this will be a good business decision or not.
This article has been written from a Professional Cyprus Tax Firm PHS Hadjizacharias and Co. The Company is located in Cyprus and is offering Taxation, Audit, Accounting, Company formation and other corporate services for International Companies
