Don't Mess With Taxes

Some people are getting seasonal jobs to pay for presents. Others just need to contact Uncle Sam for a refund that would come in handy for holiday shopping.

Both these topics warranted a closer look last week at my other tax blog.

Let's start with work. Regardless of whether it's a year-round job or seasonal employment, make sure you are classified correctly.

Some employers try to carry workers as contractors instead of employees because it costs them less. But it could have costly reamifcations for businesses and for the mischaracterized workers.

And everyone, with or without a job, would welcome a check from the IRS. Well, the tax agency has more than 99,000 income tax refund checks that were returned by the Post Office as undeliverable.

The total returned amount is more than $153 million. More importantly to taxpayers, the average check is more than $1,500.

You can check out new posts each Tuesday and Thursday at my Bankrate Taxes Blog. And if you happen to miss them there, you can find a wrap-up here each Saturday.

You also might find these items of interest:

• Santa IRS has $153 million in undeliverable refunds
• Happy holiday hobby income
• Democrats want unemployment benefits included
  in super committee plan