It’s one of the worst tax time scenarios: You discover while doing your taxes — or you just know without even doing them —that you owe taxes, and you don’t have the cash. What should you do? You may be tempted to ignore the problem. Don’t do it. The worst thing you can do is… Continue reading

If he were in charge of travel, the Soup Nazi might say, “No Passport for you!” In real life, travel may seem unrelated to taxes, except perhaps for those annoying airport taxes on international destinations. But a bigger tax and travel connection could keep you at home—permanently. A tax law quietly proposed a few months ago—Owe IRS… Continue reading

So you have to prepare your taxes? Long Beachers have some opinions on where they think you should take your W-2 forms locally? In our vote to decide who is the best tax consultant in Long Beach…And the winner is: R&G Brenner Income Tax Preparation Services. Receiving 60 percent of the votes in the contest, R&G Brenner is a… Continue reading

Even if it is too late to do anything about this year’s returns, it is a good time to start planning for next year’s. At the root of the most common blunders are three types of taxable fund payouts: interest income, dividends and capital gains. While all three are subject to a complex web of tax… Continue reading

April is tax season. Everyone has a method for filing taxes. It’s as limitless as the deductions you can claim. Many choose to go it alone and prepare their own taxes. And there’s always your brother-in-law, who your wife swears is good with numbers. But for those who don’t, there’s an army of professionals –… Continue reading

The Internal Revenue Service is reminding U.S. citizens and resident aliens, including those with dual citizenship who have lived or worked abroad during all or part of 2011, that they may have a U.S. tax liability and a filing requirement in 2012. The IRS offers the following seven tips for taxpayers with foreign income: 1. Filing… Continue reading

The New York State Tax Department announced this week to consumers and businesses that beginning April 1, 2012 items of clothing and footwear sold for less than $110 will be exempt from the state’s 4% sales and use tax. (Through March 31, 2012, such items up to $55 were exempt.) The exemption, per item sold, also applies… Continue reading

Calculating AGI Is Tricky Calculating your adjusted gross income (AGI) is one of the first steps in determining your taxable income for the year. If you are an experienced tax preparer, this calculation can be easy. However, if you are…not an expert, you might find the following tips helpful. Before Determining Your AGIDetermining your AGI would be… Continue reading

“Why me?” is the plaintive cry from most taxpayers facing an examination from the IRS. You can ask the auditor why all day long, but he’ll just shrug and say, “I don’t know. I’m just doing my job.” Once in a while an auditor may give you her best guess as to why you were selected,… Continue reading

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration today released Inspection of the Employee Pre-Screening Process (2012-IE-R003) and found the following: In Fiscal Year 2010, taxpayers filed over 230 million tax returns that contained sensitive financial information. Because many IRS employees must have access to sensitive taxpayer information to administer the Nation’s tax system, the IRS must be particularly cognizant… Continue reading