Filing your own taxes
http://www.accountingfacts.net/articles/6456/1/Filing-your-own-taxes/Page1.html
Jack Landry
Jack R. Landry has worked since 1988 as a tax attorney. He has written hundreds of articles about finding a Los Angeles tax attorney.
Contact Info:
Jack R. Landry
JackRLandry@gmail.com
http://www.taxcrisisinstitute.com/locations/losangelesDistributed by Content Crooner
By Jack Landry
Published on 02/5/2010
With spring comes new budding flowers, spring showers, green grass, sunshine and taxes. April brings the dreaded deadline to file your taxes.
Filing your own taxes
With spring comes new budding flowers, spring showers, green grass, sunshine and taxes. April brings the dreaded deadline to file your taxes.
To save money this year you may want to file your own taxes. If filing your taxes just sounds too intimidating, sit tight.
We will discuss some tips for filing your taxes from your home. Even if you have been filing your own taxes for years these tips may help you get through the process with more ease this year.
First, make sure that you take the appropriate amount of time to do your taxes. Sitting down to work on them hours before they are due is not a good strategy.
You will want to have all of the proper documents readily available. Having a clean area with adequate space will also eliminate some stressors.
When you are deciding which tax form to file you should use the simplest tax form for your needs. This is a very important tip to remember.
Before you begin to file your taxes you have to father all the documents you need to prepare a complete tax return. Having all of these gathered beforehand will prevent you from many stressful situations.
For your income documents you will need all of your W-2s, 1099s, proof of jury duty pay, proof of alimony you received, Social Security statement, dividend and interest statements and retirement distributions.
When you are filing for your tax deduction you will need all of the pertinent documents as well. If you have any health care expenses, real estate taxes, motor vehicle registrations, mortgage interest paid, gifts to charity, last year's tax preparation fees, job related expenses, loss of property due to casualty of theft and gambling losses.
You will also need brokerage statements along with statements showing when you bought and sold your investments, K-1 statements reporting profits from partnerships, trusts and small businesses, record of income and expenses for your rental property and a record of income and expenses for your self employment.
If you prepare the correct document you will save time and the IRS will be able to process your tax return more quickly. If you qualify for the 1040EZ or the 1040A forms then you should file from these Forms.
If you do not qualify for these simpler forms then you will need to file Form 1040. If you are confused about which Form you need to file make sure that you have a sound understanding of your financial situation and then read the description of the form from a government website.
If you have to file a report of foreign bank and financial accounts you must fill out Treasury Department Form 90-22.1. This form must be filled out every year if you own, or have an interest in, any foreign bank accounts.
You are entitled to claim a personal exemption for yourself and any dependent that you support. This exemption acts just like a tax deduction.
This reduces your taxable income, so you end up paying taxes on less income. Each year the personal exemption amount is indexed annually for inflation.
For 2010 the personal exemption amount is $3,650. This number is the highest amount of money that you can claim as a personal exemption.
If this process still seems to be too overwhelming you can definitely hire an accountant. The convenience, advice and expertise that you may acquire from a professional may be well worth the money you spend.
You may want to start early and try to prepare your own taxes. If you run into any major problems or you just get to overwhelmed you may then want to go to an accountant.
The other advantage of seeking the knowledge of a tax professional is that you will be able to avoid any tax crisis. There are many problems that you can get into with the Internal Revenue Service if you do not follow their rules.
If you find that you need more time to file your taxes it is necessary that you file an extension. The deadline to file your taxes is April 15 every year.
If you file an extension your taxes will then be due October 15, 2009. The extension of time to file does not give you an extension on your payments.
To avoid costly penalties and building interest you will want to pay all that you owe the IRS by April 15th. You can pay by just getting a rough draft of the money that you owe and paying your best estimate.
To save money this year you may want to file your own taxes. If filing your taxes just sounds too intimidating, sit tight.
We will discuss some tips for filing your taxes from your home. Even if you have been filing your own taxes for years these tips may help you get through the process with more ease this year.
First, make sure that you take the appropriate amount of time to do your taxes. Sitting down to work on them hours before they are due is not a good strategy.
You will want to have all of the proper documents readily available. Having a clean area with adequate space will also eliminate some stressors.
When you are deciding which tax form to file you should use the simplest tax form for your needs. This is a very important tip to remember.
Before you begin to file your taxes you have to father all the documents you need to prepare a complete tax return. Having all of these gathered beforehand will prevent you from many stressful situations.
For your income documents you will need all of your W-2s, 1099s, proof of jury duty pay, proof of alimony you received, Social Security statement, dividend and interest statements and retirement distributions.
When you are filing for your tax deduction you will need all of the pertinent documents as well. If you have any health care expenses, real estate taxes, motor vehicle registrations, mortgage interest paid, gifts to charity, last year's tax preparation fees, job related expenses, loss of property due to casualty of theft and gambling losses.
You will also need brokerage statements along with statements showing when you bought and sold your investments, K-1 statements reporting profits from partnerships, trusts and small businesses, record of income and expenses for your rental property and a record of income and expenses for your self employment.
If you prepare the correct document you will save time and the IRS will be able to process your tax return more quickly. If you qualify for the 1040EZ or the 1040A forms then you should file from these Forms.
If you do not qualify for these simpler forms then you will need to file Form 1040. If you are confused about which Form you need to file make sure that you have a sound understanding of your financial situation and then read the description of the form from a government website.
If you have to file a report of foreign bank and financial accounts you must fill out Treasury Department Form 90-22.1. This form must be filled out every year if you own, or have an interest in, any foreign bank accounts.
You are entitled to claim a personal exemption for yourself and any dependent that you support. This exemption acts just like a tax deduction.
This reduces your taxable income, so you end up paying taxes on less income. Each year the personal exemption amount is indexed annually for inflation.
For 2010 the personal exemption amount is $3,650. This number is the highest amount of money that you can claim as a personal exemption.
If this process still seems to be too overwhelming you can definitely hire an accountant. The convenience, advice and expertise that you may acquire from a professional may be well worth the money you spend.
You may want to start early and try to prepare your own taxes. If you run into any major problems or you just get to overwhelmed you may then want to go to an accountant.
The other advantage of seeking the knowledge of a tax professional is that you will be able to avoid any tax crisis. There are many problems that you can get into with the Internal Revenue Service if you do not follow their rules.
If you find that you need more time to file your taxes it is necessary that you file an extension. The deadline to file your taxes is April 15 every year.
If you file an extension your taxes will then be due October 15, 2009. The extension of time to file does not give you an extension on your payments.
To avoid costly penalties and building interest you will want to pay all that you owe the IRS by April 15th. You can pay by just getting a rough draft of the money that you owe and paying your best estimate.