April's blog

The 2009 tax filing season is officially over and I want to say a big "Thank You" to all of a my wonderful clients who made this another successful year. I hope you all had a great experience and will let your friends and family know about my service too. I'll be sending out a newsletter soon and remember that you will no longer receive "snail mail" reminders or checklists so check back here often or sign up for the newsletter! Have a great 2010!!

Came across a great article on CNN recently on three ways to spend your tax refund...it's exactly what I would recommend.  I've included it below but here's the link: "3 ways to use your tax refund"

More and more preparers are starting to use the term "IRS Certified" to promote themselves as a reliable source for tax preparation.  But what does that mean?  If you search for "IRS Certification" at irs.gov, you don't get anything relating to tax preparers.  If you search the Internet, you do find a reference back the VITA (volunteer income tax assistance) program which is run by the IRS.

Yes it's true.  The IRS is investigating the real possibility of placing new requirements on people like me who prepare tax returns for pay.  Hopefully by the end of 2010 they will have a process in place which may include such things as requiring tax preparers to register, requiring education and testing, and more.  Personally, I think this is long overdue and welcome the coming changes.

For anyone purchasing a new (never owned) vehicle after Feb. 1, 2009 and before Jan. 1, 2010, you may be eligible to deduct some of the local taxes related to the purchase whether you itemize your deductions or not.  You can read the details from the IRS here.

At the end of November  of 2009, the homebuyer's credit was expanded to include more taxpayers as well as to extend into 2010.  The deadline for the home purchase is now April 30, 2010.  The new homebuyer (has not owned a home in the past three years) can get up to $8,000.  The "long-time resident" homebuyer (has been in the same home for five of the last eight years) can get up to $6,500.  For more details, read the IRS article here.

There has been a lot of media coverage of late concerning the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and how it will affect taxpayers. The good news is that there is no change to the current filing season. However, depending on your income level, there may be some good changes ahead for the 2009 tax year.

My software provider, Drake, has prepared some documents that highlight the act and explain things
quite clearly. Rather than re-writing everything in my own words, I have attached these documents to this article for you to review at your convenience.

I came across a great document provided by the IRS to assist taxpayers who have gone through a job loss.  View the IRS Publication 4128 here.  It's very easy to read!

I get a lot of questions with regards to what can be deducted for tax purposes. I want to caution you though that you are not paying extra just to save on your taxes. The biggest example of this is the home mortgage. Many people ask me about having or maintaining a home mortgage for the purpose of the tax deduction. But I want you to look at it this way: