Author : Terry FitzroyIt’s tax time again, and you can bet that many people are being careless about it Paying your taxes is nothing to mess with, you have to do it according to the law, so don’t wait until the last minute to get yourself straight on things The government is scheduled to take in an extra seven billion dollars this year, and most of that money will come from regular tax paying, middle class families in America So it’s probably a good idea to have a few tricks up your sleeve to save yourself some money when it comes time to pay your uncle Sam bill

The group that is least worried about taxes, generally speaking, are the rich For as long as anyone can remember, the wealthy have always paid much less in proportion to what they have The reason for this, is because they have the money to seek out expert advice on how they can dodge the tax bullet each year So why not do the same? Why should the middle class get taxed more? Why DO they get taxed more? Because they aren’t educated on the subject That means that for the average Joe like yourself, the U S is going to stick it to you again like they did last year Here are a few tips you can use to save yourself some money in 2008

1 ) Give money away Yep, you heard me right Give money away to charity, to church, to missions work, to college students, and anyone else you can get a receipt from this year By giving this money away, you can write it off of the taxable amount of income that you would normally be taxed for In some cases, this can bring you down into a whole other bracket, and save you tons of money

2 ) Itemize everything pertaining to your method of generating income If you run a home based business, you can write off all the things you need to run that home as well For example, if your office takes a lot of energy to heat, you can write that portion of your power bill off, not to mention lights, and computers How about your internet bill, gas in your car, or even furniture expenses? What about the very tools that you use each day to do your work? Write it down, and KEEP RECEIPTS

3 ) Pay an accountant Yes, you will most likely save money by spending it here These guys didn’t do as much school as they did to become accountants for nothing They know their stuff, and can probably find some loop holes you didn’t even know existed When it comes time to do your taxes, go to your accountant and tell them your situation Most times, they will help you out for less than $100 Depending on who you are, it could save you thousands of dollars in the long run!

So yes, tax time is here again, but don’t let it scare you Be meticulous, and save every single receipt Apply the above tactics, and be confident that you’ll save yourself some serious cash this year, instead of being devastated by Uncle Sam once again God bless America, but don’t let America put you in financial crisis!Terry Fitzroy is a professional writer specializing in Online Tax Info and Tax Help To learn more about Tax Season visit http://taxengine.com

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Author : Shawn WilsonIf you’re an American, you probably look at the just-signed economic stimulus bill (called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) with a combination of trepidation and hope This bill, totaling up to almost $800 billion in tax breaks and new spending, is the most costly single bill in American history Its goal? To jump-start the ailing American economy and get more people working and spending money

Whether the stimulus bill will accomplish its goals or not remains to be seen But what is sure is that it will touch the lives of a huge majority of Americans Want to have a better understanding of how President Obama’s new bill will affect you? Read on for an overview of who will see what individuals and families will get from this huge block of government spending

Couples and Individuals Individual Americans will see a yearly tax credit of $400, and childless couples will get double that Rather than an all-at-once tax rebate check, these tax credits will be spread out over 2009 (starting in June) and 2010, minimizing your federal income tax every month As long as you make less than $100,000 as an individual or less than $200,000 as a couple, you will receive these credits (with some variations for under-$100,000 but still large income individuals) starting in June

Low-income families For low-income families with children, the amount that must be earned in order to qualify for a $1,000 tax credit has been lowered Starting at $3,000, every dollar earned will help low-income families to qualify for the credit This credit is also available to other families with three children or more

Middle-class families with children Some middle class families (those with 3 or more children) will be eligible for the $1,000 child tax credit described above In addition, almost 30 million middle-class families will see their Alternative Minimum Tax (which was created to force the wealthy to pay some tax and tends to be very hard on the middle class) eliminated or reduced

To help bear the burden of secondary education, families with children attending college may also qualify for a tax credit of as much as $2,500 to help cover the cost of tuition This credit will run through 2009 and 2010

Consumers The 2009 stimulus bill also has many benefits in it for consumers/buyers If, for instance, you want to purchase a home for the first time, the stimulus bill will make it cheaper and more attractive to do so Those purchasing first time homes will get an $8,000 tax credit (up $500 from the previous tax credit) if they buy their home before a set date, and will not be required to repay the tax credit once it’s been given (a significant change from previous policies)

After purchasing their homes (or for existing homes), the stimulus bill also includes a credit for making that home greener and more cost-efficient Homeowners who upgrade to energy-saving windows and air conditioning/heating will be eligible to receive 30% of their cost as a tax credit on their federal income tax

Those who buy new cars in 2009 will also see some benefits These have been put in place to encourage consumer spending and provide assistance to the ailing auto industry According to the bill, anybody who buys a new car, truck, or SUV after February 17th 2009 and before the first day of 2010 will be able to deduct the sales taxes paid on the vehicle from their federal income tax owed This is only available for buyers earning less than $125,000 per individual and $250,000 per couple

No matter what your feelings about the new Obama administration and its history-making new spending bill, you can probably see how widely this new bill blankets the American public In addition to the benefits listed here for individuals and families, the bill also extends benefits to small businesses and other companies Whether or not the bill actually stimulates the U S economy will remain to be seen but an extra $400 in your bank account might not seem like such a bad thing This article was written by Shawn Wilson, a member of the customer support team at Datepad, where we always offer free internet dating. Datepad has a massive directory of informative free dating articles along with a great list of dating site reviews on our dating blog.

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Author : Wayne DaviesIf your small business is a corporation, March 15 is the most critical tax return deadline of the year - even more important than April 15 Find out why in this article

First, some good news The March 15 deadline is actually March 16 Go ahead and breathe a big sigh of relief, now that you know you have an extra 24 hours to get your act together Here’s why: Whenever a federal tax deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday or federal holiday, the deadline is automatically moved to the next business day Since March 15 is a Sunday, the deadline is changed to Monday March 16

Second, more good news Keep in mind that to comply with the March 16 deadline, the appropriate tax forms discussed below must be postmarked on or before that date To file on time does not mean that the IRS must receive the return on or before that date

Now let’s move on to discuss what you must do by March 16

If your business is a corporation, whether a regular C corporation or an S corporation, March 16 is the deadline for filing your corporate income tax return C corporations file Form 1120; S corporations file Form 1120S

If you are unable to file your corporate income tax return by March 16, do not despair You can obtain an automatic, “no questions asked” extension by filing Form 7004 on or before March 16 Form 7004 works for either C corporations or S corporations It is also one of the easiest tax forms to complete and does not require a signature

By filing Form 7004 you are given an additional six months to file the corporate income tax return The March 16 deadline has been magically changed to September 15 Now you can do the return in the lazy hazy days of summer, if you like

If you go the extension route, here are some words of caution Don’t forget that filing an extension only extends the time to file the return It is not an extension of time to pay any tax due on the return For S corporations, this is usually not a problem, because S corporations typically don’t pay any corporate income tax But for C corporations, if you have a balance due on the return and wait until September 15 to pay it, you will be charged late payment penalties and interest So if you own a C corporation, do enough calculating to determine whether you will owe tax and make a payment if necessary by March 16

For S corporations, also remember that you really need to prepare Form 1120S before you can properly prepare your personal income tax return So don’t file Form 7004 and then file your personal return before doing the corporate return As part of the corporate return, S corporations give each shareholder a Schedule K-1, which reports your share of the corporation’s profit or loss That K-1 information must be transferred to your Form 1040 So if you file an extension for Form 1120S, you will also need to file an extension for your Form 1040, unless you happen to get the corporate return done by April 15 Looking for more small business tax tips? For a free copy of the Special Report ‘How To Instantly Double Your Deductions’, visit www.YouSaveOnTaxes.com. Wayne M. Davies is author of 3 ebooks on small business tax reduction strategies.

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Author : Jeff ParrackIf for any reason you are unable to complete your federal tax return by April 15th, you can apply for an extension There are some catches, of course (it is the IRS, after all) The extension gives you extra time to file the paperwork, but you still have to pay any money that you expect to owe and send your check along with the extension request, which is Form 4868 And it all has to arrive to the IRS address for your state or region on time

There are really a few different ways (let’s say three) for taking advantage of this extension Read about them here, and investigate the matter for yourself, before deciding on the best option for your particular situation If you have an involved or problematic return, you just might require more help than one of the regular services can provide Consider consulting a CPA or tax specialist, and don’t wait until the last minute to do so

Online and offline
The first way is by using one of the filing services, such as TurboTax or H&R Block They have online and offline tools for figuring your tax, so that you can then apply for the extension They will also advise you (although you can find the same information elsewhere) as to how to pay by check or credit card, and tell you about the various state extension requests, should you need one

You can also visit, call or log on over the Internet to take advantage of the extension through what is called a "service provider " The Official Payments Corporation is perhaps the best known of these providers, all of which will charge a "convenience fee" that is a percentage of the tax payment you are making Choose the service provider that suits you best, adhere to all of their instructions, pay any amount owing before April 15th and file your return by October 15th

Go it alone
You can also just print the form out, fill it in by hand, write a check and mail it all in yourself When you get IRS Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File (downloadable from the IRS, or available at banks and post offices), you should read it in its entirety and refer to online or offline information for how to complete it When you know what to do, you will then fill out the form and mail it off to the IRS address given for your state

If you are going to owe money on your federal taxes, you must include the payment with the form and have it postmarked by April 15th If you do not include a payment and you do have taxes due, you will most likely have to pay penalties and interest, despite having filed for an extension After this first step in April, you will have six months to complete and file your return, making sure it is postmarked on or by October 15th

Be careful and attentive
Naturally, if the IRS considers your estimated tax liability to be unrealistic, or "unreasonable," they can simply disallow any extension and begin assessing penalties and adding interest to what will now be a "late filing " And if you happen to underestimate your taxes, willfully or carelessly, you’ll end up paying interest on the amount you did not remit by April 15th

The IRS has established something of a "sliding scale" for smaller errors If, for instance, you pay under 90 percent of the tax owing, you will be charged a penalty of

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Author : Wayne DaviesFrustrated with the amount of self-employment (SE) tax you pay each year? You should be The sole proprietor pays twice as much in SE tax (15 3%) as the employee pays in federal payroll taxes (7 65%) What’s a Schedule C filer to do? Here are three ways to reduce the dreaded SE tax

1 Take the home office deduction Have you been mislead by the never-ending rumor that the home office deduction increases the chances of an audit? Such talk is bogus, and to believe it is to needlessly pay too much tax Here’s why: Don’t forget that when you take a deduction on Schedule C, you are not only reducing income tax, you are also reducing SE tax Some folks think that they are getting the same bang for their buck without the home office deduction because they can deduct mortgage interest and property taxes on Schedule A But this is foolish thinking, because a Schedule A deduction only reduces income tax, while a Schedule C deduction reduces both income tax and SE tax

2 Deduct tax preparation fees on Schedule C instead of Schedule A The logic here is similar to Item #1 above Tax preparation fees are deductible on Schedule A, but why deduct them there when you can deduct them on Schedule C and get more bang for your deductible buck?

Also keep in mind that when deducted on Schedule A, tax preparation fees are only deductible, along with other “Certain Miscellaneous Deductions”, to the extent they exceed 2% of your Adjusted Gross Income So even though you have enough deductions to itemize them on Schedule A, you may not have enough of these miscellaneous deductions to actually deduct them That’s taxes for ya!

One word of caution, however You can only deduct tax prep fees on Schedule C to the extent those fees apply to business work done by your accountant So you will probably have to ask your accountant to breakout his fees into business forms (like Schedule C, Schedule SE, Form 8829 and Form 4562) and non-business forms (like Form 1040 and Schedule A)

Remember, too, that your accountant might also do work for you that is exclusively business related, such as bookkeeping, software consulting, paycheck processing or payroll tax returns Those types of fees are 100% deductible on Schedule C

3 When it comes to calculating SE tax, get some help The self-employment tax calculation is complicated While the SE tax appears to be a straightforward 15 3%, it is actually a little less than that, for two reasons First, you pay the SE tax on 92 35% (not 100%) of your Schedule C profit And second, you get to take a deduction on Form 1040 for 50% of the SE tax And while you must pay the Medicare portion of SE tax on all your profit, there’s a limit to how much profit (plus W-2 wages) are subject to the social security portion of SE tax How do you navigate those calculations? You don’t You spend a few bucks on a decent tax prep software program and let the computer prevent your head from spinning, or you hire a tax professional Looking for more small business tax tips? For a free copy of the Special Report ‘How To Instantly Double Your Deductions’, visit www.YouSaveOnTaxes.com. Wayne M. Davies is author of 3 ebooks on small business tax reduction strategies.

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Author : Nicholas SwezeyThere are a few things you should be aware of when it comes to taxes for your investments Note that many of these tips are specific to 2007 tax returns in the United States

Taxed on Sells, Not Buys
The first thing to realize is that you are charged tax on the profits of your trades, which means the IRS does not care about your trade until you sell the shares

Tax Forms from your Brokerage
Your brokerage should send you a 1099 tax form in January that lists all of your sales and dividends from the previous year Two examples are “Form 1099-B Proceeds from Broker & Barter Exchange Transactions” and “Form 1099-DIV Dividends and Distributions ” These forms will be needed to complete your tax return Note that these forms may or may not include the purchase information for those trades You are required to get that information from your brokerage records to fill out your tax return so the IRS will know how much profit you you made

Short-Term vs Long-Term Trades
If you kept your shares more than a year, they are considered “long-term capital gains” and you are rewarded with a lower tax rate of 15% in most cases Otherwise, if you held the shares for less than a year the profits will be taxed the same as your regular wages These are called “short-term capital gains ”

Dividends and Interest
Many public companies distribute dividends or other forms of cash and shares to their shareholders when they have extra profits You will be taxed on them of course These are usually reported to you on the 1099-DIV form

Wash Sales
What in the world is a wash sale? This IRS rule was created to try to reduce cheating on investment taxes Let’s say you buy 100 shares of Microsoft at $25 per share, then it drops to $20 You decide to sell it for a loss and then buy it right back at $20, hoping to get a tax deduction on the “loss” you just suffered Well the IRS doesn’t like this practice and they consider it a wash sale if you buy very similar stock within a month (before or after) of your sale for a loss You aren’t penalized for this wash sale, you just have to apply the loss to a future trade Please read more about wash sales on the IRS website

Listing All Sales
The tax forms usually ask for a detailed list of all stocks you sold in the previous year, including the company name, number of shares, gross proceeds, and the cost basis The cost basis is used to determine how much profit you made when you sold the shares It is the total amount you spent when you purchased the shares, including the commission The “gross proceeds” is the total amount you received back when you sold the shares, after the commission and SEC fees were deducted

However, if you bought and sold many stocks during the year it might be too time-consuming to enter in each one individually An alternative is to combine all the sales into one line and call the company name “Various” and just add up all the numbers This is a common practice The IRS doesn’t really care which shares you traded, just the total profit you made during the year In any case, it can be a real time-saver to keep accurate records of all of your trades, perhaps in a spreadsheet

Other Topics
This article is not a comprehensive list of all aspects of investment taxes, so please do more research if you have any questions One special topic is “short-selling ” If you did any short selling there are some special rules involved Another topic is “professional traders,” who get taxed differently They can count some investment expenses as tax deductions, for example The best thing to do is consult with a tax professional, especially if this is your first time to do taxes with investments Nicholas Swezey is the creator of the Stock Market Simulation at HowTheMarketWorks.com.

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