Fellow tax professional Dave Ramsey recently preformed a survey of 2000 taxpayers; about half of who prepared their own returns, and the other half who had them prepared professionally. This is what he found: When you use software to file your income taxes, there’s a moment, an instant just before the point of no return,… Continue reading

Citibank recently sent out 1099 forms to thousands of it’s clients indicating that their redeemed airline miles are taxable to the tune of 2.5 cents per mile and listed as miscellaneous income.  This of course caused an immediate uproar not only because Airline miles could cost additional money in taxes, but also because if they’re… Continue reading

The State of Connecticut has indicated that it will stop issuing paper refund checks and instead will use Chase Bank debit cards.  These cards will need to be activated before they can be used.  CT taxpayers can opt-out and receive their refund by direct deposit, however they will not have the option to receive a… Continue reading

Republican candidate Mitt Romney recently bowed to pressure last week and released his 2010 tax return.  What it showed is that Romney paid a little less than $3 million in taxes on $21.6 million of income.  This equates to an affective tax rate of less than 14%–far below what the average taxpayer pays. The Wall… Continue reading

If you are one of the millions of taxpayers who filed early this year, the IRS has emailed tax professionals that they  may be delaying the release of refunds by about a week (or even more).  “The [IRS] says some refunds will take longer to arrive because its ‘fine-tuning’ some of its systems.  The email… Continue reading

According to the Tax Foundation–a Washington D.C. based research firm–New Jersey & New York Sates were ranked the worst climates in the United States for business. The Tax Foundation’s “State Business Tax Climate Index” compares the 50 states in five areas of taxation that impact business: corporate taxes; individual income taxes; sales taxes; unemployment insurance… Continue reading

The name “Watson”–the IBM supercomputer that beat human Jeopardy champions handily–has become a fixture in today’s lexicon.  So much so that the New York State Department of Taxation has partnered with IBM and is using the same technology developed for Watson to review tax returns.  Thomas H. Mattox, the tax commissioner explained that their new… Continue reading

Every year, taxpayers forfeit more than one billion dollars of their money to the government. Missed tax credits and deductions, choosing the wrong filing status, not filing at all and other errors all keep taxpayers from getting all they are due in tax refunds. With recent tax law changes and the extension of the payroll… Continue reading

The New York State Department of Taxation wants all tax returns filed electronically this year.   In years past, they have assessed penalties to Paid Income Tax Preparers as an “incentive” to file returns they prepare electronically.  This year, they have gone one step further. New York is now assessing penalties directly to the tax… Continue reading

As reported today, 12/9/11, Republic Bank has settled with the FDIC to shut down it’s Refund Anticipation Loan (RAL) Business.  As part of the settlement, Republic will pay a $900,000 fine, and completely shut down the RAL by April 30th, 2012.   Republic was originally sued by the FDIC for $2 Million for RAL program violations… Continue reading