Photo by Belle Co We made it. Tax Day 2025 is finally over for most of the country’s 140 million or so individual tax return filers. Now what? First, take a minute or more to celebrate being done with this annual tax obligation. Then, start thinking about taxes again. Wait! Come back! You did click over here, after all. And to reward your post-Tax Day curiosity, here are seven tasks you should consider. I promise they aren’t that difficult. 1. Adjust your paycheck withholding. Your tax goal each year should be for your paycheck withholding to cover as closely as... Read more →
Tax preparers
A towering city overlook is always impressive, but you don't necessarily need the telescopic help when it comes to overlooked tax breaks. Tax software, your tax adviser, and yes, the often-missed tax breaks listed below, can help you save on this year's filing. (Photo by Ricky Esquivel) The goal of every taxpayer is to pay Uncle Sam as little as legally possible. Even the Internal Revenue Service has enshrined that goal in its Taxpayer Bill of Rights. It’s number 3 on the 10-point list. A good way to ensure you pay no more tax than required is to claim all... Read more →
It’s the main tax filing season, so that means it’s also tax scam season. The Internal Revenue Service has been keeping track of the year’s most prevalent schemes for more than two decades and alerting us in its annual list of the 12 scams it has found to be the most egregious over the last year. The Dirty Dozen for 2025 includes some repeat [dis]honorees. A few are new or have been tweaked. But they share one characteristic. They target taxpayers, businesses, and the tax professional community, and all too often end in the loss by victims of personal information,... Read more →
Hello, February! Even though it's the second month of the year, it's the first full month of the annual tax-filing season and the time when most of us finally start focusing on our 1040s. So, since February also is the shortest month, and we’re already three days into it, I’ll cut to the chase and keep this month’s recommended tax moves short. 1. Keep an eye out for tax statements. Jan. 31 is the day that W-2 and various other earnings statements are supposed to be delivered to workers. Guess what? That date usually slips. Today, for example, I got... Read more →
Taking things a bit more slowly often is a good idea. For many, that applies to filing their annual tax return. (Photo by Kay Bell) Few people like doing taxes, even when doing so will get them a refund. That’s every year, some people who are due money back from Uncle Sam still put off finishing their taxes. But there are other reasons in addition to plain procrastination to wait to file your taxes. Here are five. 1. To allow for all your tax statements to arrive. We’re almost at the Jan. 31 deadline that most tax statement providers must... Read more →
Fortune cookie tax filing wisdom (Photo by Kay Bell) We’re into the second official day of the 2025 tax season and millions of taxpayers have already filed their returns. This post is not for you. It’s for folks who haven’t yet even thought about their 2024 tax year returns. That’s okay. We all work at our own pace. But there actually are some good reasons to get to your annual tax filing task sooner rather than later. Here are 10. 1. To get your federal tax refund sooner. This is the main reason early filers get their 1040 forms to... Read more →
Millions are getting ready to file federal tax returns so they can collect refunds. Crooks are among them. And things get even worse for the taxpayers whose identities were stolen and used to file false returns claiming fraudulent refunds. The average time it took the Internal Revenue Service to resolve identity theft cases and issue refunds to the affected victims in fiscal year 2024 was two years, according the National Taxpayer Advocate’s 2024 annual report to Congress, issued today. These delays impacted nearly half a million taxpayers, noted National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA) Erin M. Collins, and were even worse than... Read more →
Photo by Matheus Bertelli Happy New Year! I know, we’re well past the Jan. 1 hangover phase, but it is the first full work week of 2025, so I stand by my greeting. And I up it with Happy New Tax Year! On Jan. 20, Republicans who crafted that major tax reform bill will be in control of all three branches of federal government. They plan to keep and, if reports are true, expand the TCJA. As for paying for all those tax breaks, well that's another matter. Like I said, exciting tax times ahead. But while lawmakers on Capitol... Read more →
Photo by Kaboompics.com It’s Thanksgiving Week! The end-of-year holidays are officially here. So is scam and identity theft season. So it’s no surprise that this time of year, the Internal Revenue Service and its Security Summit partners spend a week focusing on ways taxpayers and tax professionals can protect their and clients’ sensitive financial information from tax scammers. Yes, in addition to trying to steal your identity and cash and holiday cheer, tax crooks are preparing for the upcoming filing season. They can use the information they stole to file fake tax returns claiming fraudulent tax refunds. Almost a decade... Read more →
The modern wooden replica of the Trojan Horse, created in 1975 by the Turkish architect İzzet Senemoğlu, stands today at the ruins of Troy archaeological site in Turkey. (Photo: Turkish Archaeological News) Two Nigerian men, one living in North Dakota and the other in Mexico, have been charge with in connection with a scheme to allegedly steal client information from several Massachusetts tax preparation firms’ computer networks. Federal investigators allege that once the duo got the tax data, they filed fraudulent returns and had the associated false tax refunds deposited in bank accounts the pair controlled. In total, the scheme’s... Read more →
iStock Texas’ unofficial motto has always been go big or go home. Or, in the case of one former tax professional, go out of business. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Nov. 1 entered permanent injunctions against Charles Dombek and The Optimal Financial Group LLC barring both from promoting any tax plan that involves creating or using sham management companies, deducting personal non-deductible expenses as business expenses, or assisting in the creation of “captive” insurance companies. The injunctions also prohibit Dombek from preparing any federal tax returns for anyone other than himself and Optimal from... Read more →
The Internal Revenue Service does more that issue red cards for tax penalties. Filing mistakes, unintentional or otherwise, could mean costly penalties, some of which increase due to inflation. (Photo by BOOM 💥) The United States' tax system depends on voluntary compliance by taxpayers. But Uncle Sam is no fool. He and his tax collectors are believers of the adage "trust, but verify." The Internal Revenue Service also follows up on that verification with penalties when it finds taxpayers — and the professionals we pay to take care of our taxes — aren't fulfilling our tax responsibilities on our own.... Read more →
Photo by Brett Jordan Here’s a subject line you never want to see in your email box: There’s a problem with your tax return. But that is what’s happening to some taxpayers. No, it wasn’t from the Internal Revenue Service. Uncle Sam snail mails you a tax notice with questions about your filing. Rather, it was an email from TurboTax to its users with the subject line — CRITICAL NOTICE: Regarding your 2023 TurboTax return And here’s the message — Hi there, We’re contacting you because there might be an issue with the accuracy of your 2023 tax return. Due... Read more →
Sometimes, shelters don't work out as hoped. That's also the case with tax shelters set up to take, rather than save, your money. (Photo by Min An) Looking for a way to save tax dollars is not a crime. But setting up a bogus tax shelter is. That's what federal investigators accuse a Florida man of doing, along with a few other things, in a grand jury indictment. The document was unsealed by the U.S. Department of Justice on Sept. 26 in Gulfport, Mississippi. It charges the Sunshine State financial advisor, securities broker, and insurance salesman (whose name I’m not... Read more →
If only online privacy was as easy as posting a sign. (Photo by Connor Danylenko) Do you look at your overflowing email box (OK, maybe that’s just me) and wonder why in the heck am I getting all this unsolicited crap? It’s probably because you checked, or didn’t check, a box when you went to some website. You either directly or implicitly consented to let that site pass along your email to “partners” who are now inundating you with unwanted email. That’s a tax issue, too, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). In a just released... Read more →
If you’ve glanced at the filing extension countdown in the ol’ tax blog’s right column, you know time is running out to file your extended tax return. The incessantly ticking clock isn’t a reason to panic. It is, however, a reminder that you don’t want to push that Oct. 15 deadline. The Internal Revenue Service doesn’t give you any more time to file your Form 1040. So, you should be thinking about finishing up that paperwork now. Here are some tips to help. Gather your filing documents. This shouldn’t be too much of a problem. You probably used the material... Read more →
Both taxpayers and the Internal Revenue Service depend on tax professionals doing their jobs in, well, a professional manner. A crucial part of the job is ensuring the security of clients’ tax information. Security measures are particularly important as everyone — tax pros, taxpayers, and the IRS — increasingly rely on electronic methods to complete tax tasks. In fact, tax professionals are legally required to secure their clients’ data. The Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act after the names of its primary Congressional sponsors, mandates that financial institution companies ensure the security and confidentiality... Read more →
When the COVID-19 pandemic was at its worst in 2020 and 2021, Uncle Sam offered help to businesses who kept workers on payroll. But the Employee Retention Credit (ERC), like many tax benefits, was complicated. That's led to wrong claims, so the IRS is asking companies to review their claims, both filed or about to be submitted. The Internal Revenue Service says another major announcement about the Employee Retention Credit (ERC), the tax break created to help companies weather the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic challenges, is on the way. But until then, the agency is urging businesses to re-evaluate their filings.... Read more →
Hackers got their hands on information from around 110 million AT&T customers when they were able to breach the company’s records. The data stolen from the telecom is only the latest security breakdown. At least 1 billion records have been stolen or accessed in data breaches this year, according to TechCrunch. All those stolen records are one reason why so many of us are getting more phishing emails and smishing texts. The illegally obtained data also helps crooks and con artists gain entry into additional networks that have high-value information, like taxpayer data. That’s why the Internal Revenue Service and... Read more →
IRS urges social media users to give a thumbs down to bad online tax advice, like the non-existent Self Employment Tax Credit. How do you use social media? I get suggestions from neighbors for home repair services and local restaurants. I also check out cat videos. Way too many cat videos. I also interact with reputable tax pros I know, leading to innumerable interesting and informative online tax discussions. Again, this is with trained tax professionals, whom I’ve known online (and some in real life) for years. I do not, however, use social media to get tax tips from strangers... Read more →