The goal of tax planning is to arrange your financial affairs in order to minimize your taxes. Here are three tax-cutting strategies that you could make: 1. Earn as much nontaxable income as possible. You have more control over business and investment income than any other income you earn. You can draw income from your business in the form of tax-deferred and tax-free benefits. And you can grow and draw income from your portfolio in all sorts of tax-advantaged ways. This sys

Preparing your own business tax return, especially for the first time, can be a frustrating experience if you don't have all the necessary information at your fingertips. Gathering certain documents before you begin will help you fend off the frustration. Here's a list of items you may find helpful when preparing your business tax return: Business information Last year's business tax return Articles of incorporation Partnership agreement Accounting records Bank statements Cr

Keeping accurate records helps you pay the right amount of tax avoid paying any extra tax or penalties keep track of your expenses see quickly what you are owed by others and how much you owe them ask for a bank loan or credit if you need to save time and accountancy costs receive the right amount of benefits or credits. How long should I keep records The length of time you should keep a document depends on the action, expense, or event which the document records. Gener

In recent years, thousands of people have lost millions of dollars and their personal information to tax scams and fake IRS communication. Scammers use the regular mail, telephone, fax or email to set up their victims. This page looks at the different scams affecting individuals, and businesses. 1 IRS-Impersonation Telephone Scams An aggressive and sophisticated phone scam targeting taxpayers, including recent immigrants, has been making the rounds throughout the country. C

Well-organized records make it easier to prepare a tax return and help provide answers if your return is selected for examination or if you receive an IRS notice. You must keep records, such as receipts, canceled checks, and other documents supporting an item of income, a deduction, a credit appearing on a return, etc. Here are the list of a handful of tips. 1. Go paperless with online bank account statements - perhaps even copies of cancelled checks and deposit records 2.

Tax refunds can feel like Christmas in springtime. With a sudden boost to your bank account, you can look forward to going on a shopping spree, catching up on debt or squirreling the refund away in savings. These days, you can even anticipate when your windfall will arrive by tracking the status of your refund with the Refund Status tool available from the IRS online. For those receiving minimal refunds, the celebration can be less like real bubbly and more like club soda. B

The Electoral College has confirmed new president-elect making great changes next year. For now, we still need to keep track of the routine things involved in bookkeeping and tax. Here are some quick steps: 1. Make charitable contributions before year-end This is an exceptional way to reduce your tax burden for the year as well. Remember to look up the charity to see what they do with your donations. Also, the IRS imposes several rules for claiming a deduction for donation:

If people haven’t filed their tax returns for a number of years, they are likely anxious and find themselves glancing over shoulder periodically to see if Uncle Sam has caught up with them. Once a refund is older than three years, they can no longer be claimed and can’t be applied to other year income tax liabilities. Thus, non-filers may have the IRS jumping on them about filing or they might be missing records. They may also end of owing quite a bit to the IRS by complement

With the extended 2017 tax filing season drawing to a close, now is the time to act promptly if you still need to claim a tax refund. Your preparer may take information directly from you or ask you to complete a questionnaire. Either way, you’ll need time to collect and organize the information. Here are 10 steps to take before meeting for your tax prep. 1. Choose a preparer Hiring a professional – trustworthy tax preparer is actually important. Be sure that the person you

Taxes are a necessary evil - the price we pay for roads, bridges, schools and law enforcement. Audits, on the other hand, feel just plain evil. In an effort to thwart fraud, the Internal Revenue Service audits about one percent of U.S. taxpayers every year. IRS computers are programmed to catch outliers and oddities on returns; any item that falls outside the norm may be flagged so that an IRS employee can review it to see if there's actually a need for an audit. Common red