Online Preparers

AMT Twist?

February 3, 2008

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Today TaxMama hears from Steve in Alaska who sends a very long question. To summarize, he says: “Using TurboTax, my standard deductions are higher than my itemized deductions. Yet, choosing the standard deduction, I OWE the IRS approximately $1,650. But if I itemize deductions, I get a REFUND from the IRS of about $450. Why [...]

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Tax Preparers Beware! Uncle Sam is Watching Ever More Closely

January 22, 2008

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[note: Added 01/28/08 – link to IRS Revenue Procedure 2008-14 covering “Adequate disclosure for Statements on Tax Return” for purposes of reducing an understatement of income tax under section 6662(d) and for purposes of avoiding the section 6694(a) preparer penalty.] Report from the IRS Practitioner Liaison meeting in Los Angeles, January 17, 2008 – at [...]

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IRS’ Advice for Choosing a Tax Return Preparer

January 11, 2008

Courtesy of the Internal Revenue Service Taxpayers who pay someone to do their taxes should choose a preparer wisely. If you choose to use a paid tax preparer, it is important that you find a qualified tax professional. Taxpayers are ultimately responsible for everything on their return even when it’s prepared by someone else The [...]

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Most Taxpayers Eligible to File Their Taxes Online for Free

January 11, 2008

Courtesy of Internal Revenue Service WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service and its private-sector partners today announced the Jan. 11 opening of this year’s Free File program. The free tax preparation and electronic filing initiative begins its sixth year with high customer satisfaction ratings. Most Taxpayers Eligible Seven out of 10 taxpayers — 97 million [...]

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Another Record-Breaking Number of Taxpayers Choose to Electronically File in 2007

November 9, 2007

[Courtesy of the Internal Revenue Service] WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service this year received nearly 80 million tax returns through e-file, breaking the record set last year. The 2007 level is up about 9 percent from the 73 million returns filed for the same period last year. Of the 139.3 million returns filed in [...]

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Don’t Overlook Tax Breaks

October 11, 2007

Tax-filing Extension Expires Oct. 15; Don’t Overlook Tax Breaks, Choose e-file or Free File, IRS Urges IR-2007-165, Oct. 5, 2007 WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today urged taxpayers whose tax-filing extension runs out on Oct. 15 to double check their returns for often-overlooked tax breaks and then file their returns electronically using IRS e-file [...]

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IRS Website Registration – Deadline Extended

August 10, 2007

After bugging IRS all week, I finally got a definitive explanation of which EROs (Electronic Return Originators) – Authorized IRS e-file Providers – need to register their websites with IRS. IRS sent out an announcement on Wednesday extending the (August 9th) registration deadline until September 10, 2007. http://www.irs.gov/taxpros/article/0,,id=172967,00.html Here’s the scoop. If you simply have [...]

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Free File Software May Not Always be Accurate

July 5, 2007

By David & Mary Mellem, EAs The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) released a 45 page (pdf version) report dated June 28, 2007 dealing with the Free File Program. There is also a one page “Highlights” of the report. One of the TIGTA concerns was the accuracy of the returns prepared using the [...]

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Tax Season Sets Records

May 18, 2007

2007 Tax Season Sets Records for E-file, Direct Deposit, IRS.gov WASHINGTON — The recently completed 2007 tax filing season set a number of electronic records, highlighted by over 76 million electronically-filed individual tax returns and more than 140 million visits to IRS.gov, the Internal Revenue Service said today. “E-file and our other electronic services helped [...]

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Filing with Old Computer

May 3, 2007

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Today TaxMama hears from Dallas, who tells us. “I am retired from active practice for 3 years now. I still do my own return. My question is, can you recommend a very reasonable tax service for me? I have a 7 year-old Compaq computer, which was not able to use the free tax filing services. [...]

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