Does the thought of preparing your small firm’s tax return make you queasy? Do you put it off until the deadline, hoping against hope that it will disappear? You don’t need to go through this anymore. There is now an excellent small business owner’s guide to tax preparation that can aid you to stop procrastinating any longer. Read more…

Wesley Snipes, star of such amazing action films such as Blade, Blade II, Blade III, Blade IV, and Blade V faces 17 years of imprisonment and resulting ass-rape for charges of failing to file a tax return.

Mr. Snipes’ defense is that he was “following unscrupulous tax advice”. 

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Deducting mileage for your commute is not allowed by the IRS unless you know a few commuting mileage tax deduction tricks. The IRS mileage allowance can include virtually all your commuting mileage expense, allowing you to take a mileage tax deduction for the miles you log from your home to the office or other place of business, if you meet the following two criteria:  You are a small business owner or self-employed person, and you have two offices or work locations: one outside the home and one inside the home. Read more…

Riding on the coattails of TurboTax’s Free Tax Question gimmick, the Virginia society for Certified Public Accountants have decided to throw their own version of this same shindig. 

Anyone who files federal or state tax returns in the Commonwealth of Virginia is offered free tax help and tax advice through the Tax Resource Center part of their website: http://www.financialfitness.org/.

The tax questions hotline will be open from January 31st to April 8th.  Unlike the TurboTax folks, they have their answer desk open during the times that people are actually likely to file their taxes.

I wonder what percentage of people actually file their taxes before January 31st.  I mean, most people don’t even get their W-2’s until sometime in February.  So, Virginian’s – someone’s got your back, and they’re not pulling any punches.  Head on over and get yourself some free tax advice.

First and most importantly before we lay out the basics of making a wise choice-one that will hopefully develop into a long term professional relationship; it is important to decide why you want a tax attorney. Truly, the myth of the safety net that tax attorneys provide is just that a myth.  Having said that, there are many valid and important reasons to use and be affiliated with a tax attorney.

Second, before we pick a tax attorney, take an internal audit and make sure that your not bring a tax attorney on board solely to have bragging rights of having a tax attorney, or that you have the extra cash to do so, but know that a tax attorney is not always a substitute for an accountant; sometime yes-most of the time both are necessary and many tax attorneys will have in-house bookkeepers and accountants to assist him. Read more…

The folks at TurboTax have started FreeTaxQuestion.com. Their ads say that after you submit your tax question there, a real person will call you and answer your question within 24-48 hours.

Here’s the question sent in by the filife blogger:

Should I file individually (as opposed to my parents claiming me as an exemption)? I’m under 24 and a full-time college student who lives in student housing (but I’m thousands of miles from home), but my parents do not provide more than half of my support. I work and pay for school (tuition, books, housing, food, etc.) with scholarships, personal savings and money from work that is taxed, but not part of federal work study. I’m not legally emancipated. If I am eligible to file individually, would this maximize my own return? Or is the difference the same? Read more…

If you own rental property, you should be aware of your tax deduction options. Knowing how to save money can help you to pay your mortgage and keep your income higher from your rental units. You can get different benefits and should know about the normal deductions that you can make from your properties.Here’s a list of some that you should know about. Read more…

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA–(Marketwire – January 24, 2008) – 2nd Story Software®, Inc., developers of TaxACT® and pioneers of totally free federal tax preparation software, announces the launch of its online store on Amazon.com for the 2007 tax season.

With the number of tax preparation software options available, consumers can become overwhelmed when trying to decide which option is going to best meet their needs. Amazon customers shopping TaxACT’s Amazon Store will benefit from having a single online destination to research their options prior to purchasing tax software. By TaxACT becoming an Amazon merchant, more consumers can become familiar with the value and added ease TaxACT provides — including a completely free tax software option TaxACT Standard.

Canada, like the US, has two tax systems – one for employees, and another one – for business owners. This is not what the CRA will tell you but the fact remains – employees are very limited in what they can write-off while businesses are entitled to a wide variety of legally deductible business expenses. (Next logical step would be to stop levying taxes on successful entrepreneurs as I cannot think of one government service worth paying for – which could not be better provided by the private sector…but hey, we are not building the moral case against taxation here…)

So it might seem pretty simple and straightforward: one should open a small business and join the ranks of 2.6 million Canadian entrepreneurs who enjoy the favorable tax treatment of their income streams. You don’t need to be a big guy – if you operate a legitimate home-based business with the intent to produce a profit, you can qualify for most of the same deductions as an “office-based” business.

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Tax season is here. It’s time to dig out all your receipts, paperwork, documentation and cuddle up with your calculator.

It can be a real pain to figure out what you should, could, or can’t deduct. But, finding all your deductions can really add up to a big refund.

Experts have said many taxpayers forget to deduct their charitable donations like electronics, clothes, and money. Now, the IRS requires documentation in detail for these donations, along the lines of a cleared check or receipt.

Energy efficiency improvements on your home can also jump right in on the tax deduction wagon. Upgrades to your doors, windows, and insulation are deductible, if they improve the energy efficiency of your home.

Two other deductions frequently overlooked are the Earned Income Credit for working families with low incomes and the Child Tax Credit if you have kids under 17. If you do your own taxes, both of these can be a pain to calculate, but well worth the effort.

Here are a few more tax deductions which are frequently overlooked: