Author: Jan Roberg

Posted on by Jan Roberg

How to Do the Split Exemption When Preparing Your Own Return

Kids on the bus

Photo by roarpett on Flickr.com

I have another blog post about split exemptions.  If you’d like more information about that, or if you’d like to know if you should even be doing a split exemption, then you should read that first.  Here’s a link to that page:  http://robergtaxsolutions.com/2011/11/split-exemption-claiming-one-child-on-two-tax-returns-%E2%80%94-the-legal-way/

 

This page is about the nuts and bolts of how to actually prepare a return with a split exemption.  I’ve gotten a lot of calls and emails asking me how it‘s done.  I’m using the 1040.com software package that’s on this website for the example.  If you’re using Turbo Tax and have questions, call the 800 number on the box.  They have trained experts to talk you through it.  (Sorry, Turbo Tax doesn’t pay me so I can’t tell you how to use their product.)  If you need Turbo Tax help but don‘t have the box, go to this site and send them an email, they’ll contact you: https://turbotax.intuit.com/support/contact/index.jsp?_requestid=15543

 

This is how it works in 1040.com

If you are the custodial parent, claiming the head of household status and the EIC, this is what you do:

 

1.  First thing:  Once you log into the software, the very first question you get is what is your filing status.  You’re going to say Head of Household.

 

Then you’ll complete the rest of the form with your name and address information.

 

The next section is the dependents screen.  First it asks if someone can claim you as a dependent.  If you’re splitting an exemption, then the answer to this had better be “No.”

 

Do you have any dependents to claim:  Yes

 

Did you pay for the care of a child, etc:  Yes if you did, no if you didn’t.  When splitting an exemption, the custodial parent is the one who gets to claim the child care credit if your child is in daycare.

 

Go to the next page.

 

Now you’re on the forms review page.  Under dependents it says “add a form.”  Click on that.

 

On the dependent screen, you are going to fill out all the information about your child; the name, social security number, etc.  But in the check boxes below you are going to check the box that says:  “Child is not your dependent but does qualify you to file as Head of Household”.

 

The next section is for Child and Dependent Care Expenses—If you have those complete that section.

 

The next section is about EIC.  Answer those questions.  Generally the answers should be NO, NO, NO.  Question 13a—where it asks is someone else qualifies to claim this child?  Your ex cannot claim EIC—your ex is claiming the dependency exemption, so you should answer NO.

 

When you finish the screen, it will send you back to the dependents screen again.  If you have another child, you’ll add another form.  If you’re done, click next.

 

Then you’ll complete the rest of the program by inputting your wages and other income.

 

After you’ve input your income information, you’ll be inputting your deductions.

 

Then you’ll have the state information for your state return.

 

You’re almost done.  There are more questions you’ll need to answer before you finish.

 

When you get to the part where you “Review Your Return” you want to click on the “Preview Your Return” section.  This is where you check to make sure it’s right.  This is what to look for:

1.  Your filing status will be Head of Household, box 4

2.  In the line below it, it will have your child’s name and social security number

3.  In the exemptions section, it will show that you have claimed yourself; it will not show your        child’s name in that box at all

4.  On page 2 of your 1040 form there will be nothing on line 33, or line 39 (the child tax credits).

5.  On page 2, if you do qualify for EIC, then there will be something on line 38a.

 

If that’s how your return comes out, then you’ve done the split exemption correctly.

 

Note:  if you have other children that will not have split exemptions, then you will have names in the dependents screen and probably numbers in the child tax credits line.  You might want to do the split child first and check the return, then go back and add the other children.

 

If you are the parent claiming the exemption and the child tax credit, but not the head of household status and EIC—then here are your instructions.

 

1.  Starting from the beginning, you will first choose your filing status.  The split child cannot make your Head of Household so unless you have another child that lives with you; this is not your status.  You’ve going to be married or single.

2.  When you get into the dependents – dependents information, you will answer the questions,

Can someone else can claim you as a dependent?  No.

Do you have any dependents to claim:  Yes

Did you pay for the care of a child, etc:  No—even if you paid for the child care expenses, since you are not the custodial parent, you are not entitled to this tax credit?

3.  In the dependent screen, you will fill out all the information about your child, but the box you are going to check is “Child did NOT live with you due to divorce or separation.”  In the section that says “months lived with you” you will answer “zero.”  Even if your child did live with you for a few months, check zero here to make the program work.

4.  You will check NO under the child care expenses.

5.  In the EIC section you will check the box that says, “Dependent is not eligible for EIC.”

6.  Next you’ll complete the rest of the tax return like you would any other.

7.  When you get to the finish, you’ll want to check your return to make sure your child is listed correctly.

When you review your return, your filing status will be single (or married if you’ve remarried) but it will not be head of household.

You child’s name will be listed in the exemptions section.

You will have a number on one or both of the child tax credit lines.

You will not have anything listed on the EIC line.

If both parents file the split exemption correctly, you should have no problem with the IRS over claiming your child.

Posted on by Jan Roberg

Inheriting a House and Converting to a Rental

House

Photo by Kevin Saff on Flickr.com

I’ve gotten this question a couple of time recently so I decided to post about it.  Here’s the question:

 

“My Dad died and my sisters and I want to keep the house and rent it out instead of selling.  How do we handle the taxes on this?”

 

First, you need to change over the house to your names. That’s important.  Get the house out of the estate before your rent it.  Also, some day you might sell or something; you want to fix that now.

 

Now—you and your siblings are going to become a partnership. I recommend becoming an LLC—that means Limited Liability Company. It gives you a little protection in case someone you rent to decides to sue you. Here in Missouri, it only costs $50 to file online. Do file in whatever state you actually live in though—don’t do one of those “file in Nevada” things you see online—big mistake, unless you actually live in Nevada.   File your LLC in the state you live in (or the state the house is in if that‘s different.)

 

After you file for your LLC, you will want to get an EIN number. Here’s information on that: http://robergtaxsolutions.com/2010/11/how-to-get-an-ein-number-for-your-business-for-free/ .  Because you have a partnership, you’ll need the EIN number to file a tax return.

 

You will also want to have a separate bank account for the partnership. You’ll use the EIN number to set up that bank account. It’s important to do that. If you use your personal bank account for the LLC then you have (legalese here) “pierced the veil” of the LLC.  That means if there was an issue, then you could be sued personally—so the bank account is important.

 

Okay, so now you’ve got the LLC, the EIN, and the bank account. You rent out the house, the tenant writes checks to the partnership, and the partnership pays bills out of the bank account—all good.  If you have a profit, the partnership can make distribution payments to you and your sisters (the partners.)

 

At tax time you will file a partnership return, Form 1065. They’re due to the IRS by April 15th, but really they need to be done before then because you need that information to file your personal return.

 

The partnership will issue a K-1, tax form to each of the partners. The K-1 form is how you report the partnership income on your personal return so that you can pay your share of the taxes.  Let’s say the house had a profit of $5001. The three of you are equal partners, so you’d each get a K1 saying that you had a profit of $1,667 that you would report on your personal tax return. Or if there was a loss, you’d report the loss which would offset your other income.)

 

As long as you and your siblings all agree, you should be okay. You might want to sit down together and write out some stuff like, what happens if one of the partners wants out? Who’s going to run the rental (collecting rent, making sure house is okay and stuff). Does the person managing that get paid something extra?

 

You are not required to have an attorney write up a partnership agreement. (You might want one, but it’s not required.) But do think through potential problems and decide how to solve them before you start. Example: what happens if one of the siblings falls on difficult financial times and needs to sell her share of the house? How will you handle that? A partnership is kind of like a wedding.  It’s easier to get into than to get out of.  Planning ahead will make those transitions easier.

Posted on by Jan Roberg

Filing Taxes While Going Through a Divorce

Divorce and taxes can be complicated

 

Going through a divorce is traumatic.  It’s sad.  And it’s a royal pain in the behind.  On top of all the emotional stuff you’re going through, it can also really mess up your taxes.

 

Let’s say that right now you and your ex are still married but living apart.  The divorce will be final this year, but you still need to file last year’s taxes.  What do you do?

 

Scenario One:  You’ve been apart and on your own with the children for over 6 months.

In this case, you are entitled to claim the head of household filing status, the children’s exemptions, EIC (if your income allows it) and the child care credit of your kids are in daycare. Basically you get everything.

 

Your ex would only be able to claim Married Filing Separately. That could really hurt him at tax time. That’s not your problem, just letting you know what his status is.

 

So—bottom line—if there’s a fight, you win. Be aware, that he’ll probably try to claim the kids anyway (I see that all the time.) Your refund could be delayed by 75 days. But, if he files first and you get rejected—don’t quit, you’re the winner.

 

Scenario 2:  Couples who did not split apart until the second half of the year.

If you lived with your spouse at all during the last six months of the year, then you’re not allowed to claim the Head of Household filing status.  Your only two options for your filing status are Married Filing Separate and Married Filing Jointly.  Until your divorce is final, you cannot claim Single.

 

If you file separately, you lose the Earned Income Tax Credit.  There are other deductions you can lose too, but the EIC is probably the most devastating to lower income taxpayers with children.

 

The incentive to file jointly in this scenario is much higher than if you’re allowed to claim head of household.

 

No matter which scenario you’re in, there’s another filing option:  Married filing jointly.

 

First, if your ex is abusive or dangerous to you or your children in any way—don’t go there, stop here and file head of household or Married Filing Separate. Never risk physical danger.

 

But, if your ex has some redeeming characteristics—think about it, you’ve probably got adorable kids.  He’s done something right somewhere along the line.  Remember, you’re going to be dealing with your kids’ father for the rest of their lives even if you’ve divorced him.  Mercy might be a good option for future family peace.

 

So, if you’re thinking about filing jointly, first, you prepare your own taxes, as HOH or MFS like above, claiming all of the exemptions you’re entitled to and figure out your refund.

 

Next, I recommend doing this at a tax place, not on your own—so that you give yourselves a “mediator”, figure what the refund, or tax situation would be if you two filed together.

 

Then you’re going to “split the refund”. That is, you set it up so that instead of getting one refund check to go into one bank account, you have the IRS send the refunds to your separate checking accounts (so you don’t have to rely on your ex to sign a check or give you money or anything like that.) You do that using the 8888 form.  Here’s a link:  http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8888.pdf

 

BUT—and this is really important:  OKAY, I’M CAPITALIZING AND WRITING IT SEPARATELY BECAUSE IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT: You don’t have to split the refund evenly. You make sure that you get the full amount of what you’d get if you filed separately. That’s only fair. If you were the one that supported the kids, paid the rent, etc, especially if you would be allowed to claim head of household, then you should get the whole of that much of your refund.

 

You make sure that the refund is split the way it should be and don’t leave the tax place until you see that the return has been e-filed.  That way he can’t go back and change the dollar amounts.

 

Remember, you only file with the ex in order to keep him from totally tanking on his taxes because of the married filing separate classification.  This might not help him at all—in which case you don’t file jointly.

 

Sometimes, you don’t want to file jointly with a soon to be ex.  Here are some good reasons not to help the ex by filing jointly:

 

  • If he’s in some kind of tax trouble from before—keep away
  • If he owes on student loans or child support to a previous family—keep away
  • If he’s self employed—he’ll probably owe and is more likely to get audited—that’s a red flag, use your judgment. The EIC you’d get could be used to pay his self employment taxes and your refund probably wouldn’t be high enough to cover what you’d get by filing alone.  But if he’s a decent person—and not crooked, the financial benefit to him could be amazing.
  • If he’s crooked.  Seriously.  If you suspect that he has cheated on his taxes in the past, don’t risk having your name tied to his tax return.  Walk away.

 

Divorce isn’t easy on anybody.  Make sure you know your rights and what you’re entitled to and don’t be bullied into doing something that’s not legal or in your best interests.

Posted on by Jan Roberg

State of Missouri Refund Debit Card

 

This year, the state of Missouri is offering you the option of getting your refund from your 2012 Missouri tax return on a refund debit card. You can qualify if you’re getting a refund on your individual MO-1040 or on a Property Tax Credit Claim.

 

To get the debit card, all you have to do is mark the “debit” card box on the refund line of your 2012 Missouri income tax return. How easy is that?

 

You don’t pay any extra charge to get the card. You don’t have to have a bank account. And once you activate your card you’ll have 24 hour access to your cash.

 

You’ll receive your refund card in the mail and you’ll have to activate it by phone or online. You’ll need to create a personal identification number to use it.

 

You’ll be able to use the card anywhere a VISA is accepted.

 

Here’s a video about the debit card and how it works:   Missouri Debit Card Video

 

It’s important to know that having your refund direct deposited into your checking or savings account is still the fastest way to get your refund. But if that’s not an option for you, then this refund card is a really cool alternative.

 

Posted on by Jan Roberg

Should You Hire a Tax Professional that Wears a Funny Costume?

Taxes are complicated.  Although, some returns are fairly easy to do, with Congress changing the rules all the time, it really helps to hire someone who knows what they’re doing.

 

Okay, I’m going to toot my own horn here, but Enrolled Agents are licensed by the Department of the Treasury to represent people before the IRS in all tax matters.  We have to pass a test.  Actually, it’s nine hours worth of tests divided into three parts.  You have to pass all three before you can call yourself an EA.

 

EA’s are also required to take 72 hours of tax training every three years to keep their certification.  And we also have to pass a tax compliance check—meaning, the IRS takes a closer look at my tax return.

 

Most of those people at your big box chain tax stores are not EA’s.

 

There’s also a new preparer designation called a Registered Tax Return Preparer, or RTRP for short.  They also have to pass a test, take continuing education, and they have the ability to represent taxpayers before the IRS but it‘s limited.  At Roberg Tax Solutions, everyone who prepares returns is either an EA or an RTRP, meaning that we’ve all got the licenses to do our jobs.  The most basic tax preparer designation is a provisional PTIN holder-but even they must do the continuing education credits.

 

It’s important to know that because most tax preparers out there don’t have any credentials.   None.  Every day I hear stories about people who used a so-called “professional” and got in trouble with the IRS because the “professional” didn’t know the tax law, or perhaps chose to ignore it.

 

Okay, the IRS requires that I say this:  ‘The IRS does not endorse any particular individual tax return preparer. For more information on tax return preparers go to IRS.gov.’   Just wanted to make sure I got that in there.

 

Now I was going to write about how you don’t want to hire the guy in the crazy costume to do your taxes.  But I’m not in a position to say that.  You see, every Halloween, Roberg Tax Solutions dresses up and helps with the Maryland Heights Halloween parade.  We used to dress up for the Pujol’s Foundation Winter Carnival too until they discontinued that.

 

So, go ahead and hire the tax person in a crazy costume.  Just make sure that you check his or her credentials for doing taxes first.  (By the way, the guy in the Shark costume is Mike, our new guy.  He’s in the shark costume because, well–he’s the new guy.  And the shark dance?  Well, the little kids at the parade kept begging him to “Do it again!”  For what it’s worth, he’s better at taxes than he is at dancing.)

Posted on by Jan Roberg

Now that Congress has Passed a Tax Plan, What Happens to Us?

The White House blanketed in snow

Photo by U.S. Embassy Jakarta, Indonesia at Flickr.com

Now that Congress has finally passed the tax legislation, I have to quit complaining about their not doing it.  Although I’m not completely happy with the bill (who is on either side?) at least we’ve got something to work with, and that’s better than nothing.

 

So what does it mean for you and me?  The first thing that’s going to happen is the 2 percent increase in the payroll tax.  You should expect to see that with your next paycheck.  Here’s how it will work:

 

Let’s say you make $400 a week.  The quick and dirty answer is that your take home pay will be 2% less than what it used to be.  That would be $8.  It won’t kill you, but over the course of a year it’s $416.

 

Now if you make $2000 a week, you’re losing $40 a week or $2,080 over the year.

 

So, how’ve you been doing?  Are you completely strapped for cash or have you been making ends meet okay?  How are you going to deal with that 2%?  Thinking it through is going to be your best help.

 

Now for people with incomes over $200,000—you can expect to see an increase in your Medicare withholding—but don’t expect to see that until you reach that $200,000 threshold.  You know how later in the year your social security tax goes down because you’ve crossed the line?  I expect your Medicare increase will be handled the same way.  You’ll be dealing with the same 2% payroll tax increase that everybody else is—but you won’t see the Medicare tax hit you until you’ve actually hit the $200,000 mark.

 

If your income is over $400,000 a year, then you will definitely see a difference in your withholding right away.  Remember, the tax rate goes to 39.6% for single persons making over $400,000 a year and married persons making over $450,000 a year.   That’s a 3.9% increase.  But remember, that’s a 3.9% increase on amounts over the $400,000 mark only.

 

Although you should see a difference right away, remember that your employer has until February 15th to make the adjustment so keep an eye on your paycheck to make sure it’s correct.

 

There were lots of tax issues that Congress dealt with all at the last minute.  The best summary I’ve seen of them is from a place called “The Tax Book”.  That’s a reference guide that I buy every year to use when working on tax returns.  They posted on their website a good summary—in plain English—of what Congress passed.  Here’s a link to their summary:  http://www.thetaxbook.com/updates/TheTaxBook/Updates/2013-01-02_Fiscal_Cliff_News.pdf

 

So how are you going to deal with your 2% payroll tax increase?  Is it hurting?  Will you manage?  What will you do that’s different from what you did last year?  Leave a comment.  We would love to hear from you.

Posted on by Jan Roberg

Walking on the Edge of the Fiscal Cliff?

Happy new year

Happy New Year!  Do we know where we’re going?  Does our government?

 

Turn on the news and all you hear is the blame game—it’s the other guy’s fault.  I was listening to the news and the politicians were “posturing”.  They weren’t solving a problem—just posturing how they’ll explain their votes.  No matter what happens, there will be losers.  I’m not sure if there will be any winners.  It seems that no matter what happens we’ll all be losers.

 

That said, real people like you and me still have to get up in the morning and go to work.  We still have to pay our rent and mortgage.  We still have to feed the kids.  Life goes on.

 

Unlike the Mayan end of the world clock, remember we’re all supposed to be dead now right?  The “fiscal cliff” isn’t going to be the end of the world.  It will be a pain in the behind.  That’s for certain.  But life will go on.

 

So, starting this month, pretty much no matter what Congress decides, your paycheck will be lower.  Your take home pay will be lower because the “payroll tax holiday” is now gone.  That was that 2% reduction in payroll taxes that we’ve had for the last two years.  If Congress doesn’t pass anything, our withholding will be higher too.  We’ll be going back to the tax rates from the year 2000.

 

Here’s an example:  let’s say you make $600 a week and claim no exemptions.  In 2012, your federal withholding would be $75.45.  Starting in 2013, your federal withholding will be $90.67.  Plus, there will be an extra $12 taken out for your payroll tax—that means your weekly take home pay will be about $27  less a week than it was before.  That’s going to take some getting used to.

 

Of course, everybody will have a different situation, that’s just one example.  The point is, you’re still going to work, and you’ve still got bills to pay.  Those of us in the middle class, the ones who make the world go ‘round, we’ll still be grinding away.  Like I said, the world won’t end with the fiscal cliff.  But it’s not going to be very pleasant.

Posted on by Jan Roberg

Angels at the IRS

Angel

Photo by Svenstorm at Flickr.com

My job is to fight the IRS. All year long, that’s my job. It’s like a little accounting war. I’m the soldier for the little guy.

 

But, although the IRS as an institution is pretty cold and impersonal, many of their foot soldiers are real people. They have friends and families who love them. And they are kind and generous and they actually care about the human beings that call them and try to straighten out their tax problems.

 

To you IRS agents, today is my day of truce. I’ll be back battling you again all too soon. But for today, I’d like to acknowledge the good guys.

 

To Mr. H—who helped straighten out the account of a senior lady with Alzheimer’s and understood that her tax issue really wasn’t her fault. You went above and beyond to help figure out her situation. Your information also helped the doctor understand the problem better as well. You’ll never know how you helped her that way.

 

To Mrs. G—who deals with the really hard luck cases and tries not to cry every night because she sees so much suffering. I’m sorry for sending you more hard luck stories, but I’m glad you’re out there for those people. It helps when there’s someone who actually cares on the other end of the line.

 

To Miss S—who exhausted every possible avenue until she found a way to help a taxpayer who really needed it. It took a long time to work something out, but you didn’t give up. I underestimated you, but you surprised me. Thanks.

 

To the woman whose name I don’t remember but whose laugh I’ll never forget—thank you for recognizing that the IRS really did make a mistake when they sent my client a bill for $2 million dollars! If more agents were like you, there’d be less need for people like me. The first agent my client had called was not nearly as smart, nor friendly, as you.

 

To Mr. D—you said that the IRS had, “Empowered you to help people.” I nicknamed you Captain IRS; you were like a super hero. (You even had the super hero voice!) Not only did you go out of your way to help a woman who was truly indigent, you also pressured me to do the case pro bono as well. I kept up my end of the bargain.

 

To all the phone people who answered questions correctly—please know how much that is appreciated. There’s nothing worse than getting incorrect information from the IRS.

 

To all the people who said, “I don’t know,” when they didn’t know an answer. It’s also much appreciated. “I don’t know,” is always better than wrong information. Thanks.

 

We’ve got a new year ahead of us and I’ll be back in battle mode again soon. Most of my clients think that I’m fighting against the IRS when I try to help them with their tax problems. And sometimes I am. But more often than not, there’s an IRS agent out there battling for them as well. Most people don’t know about the good guys, but they’re out there. Just thought you should know about them.

Posted on by Jan Roberg

Santa and the IRS

Parody about Santa Claus being audited by the IRS

Who knew Santa kept receipts?

 

Roberg Tax Solutions will be closed from  December 24th  – January 3rd.  Generally, confidentiality rules prevent me from sharing client information, but our very special client has authorized the release of his personal information so that our clients may understand why we will be closed that week.  We were recently contacted by Mr. S. Claus concerning this letter that he recently received from the IRS.  What follows is our correspondence on behalf of our client with the IRS.

 

IRS:   Mr. Claus,   It has come to our attention that you have never filed a US Income Tax return, despite that fact that you have been receiving US business income.  We have gone back as far as 1913 and estimated your income and taxes and have determined that you owe the IRS $16,345,619,841.61 including penalties and interest.

 

Roberg Tax:  Dear IRS, Don’t you think it’s a little absurd for you to be charging tax back to 1913?  What about the 10 year statute of limitations on collections?

 

IRS:  The 10 year statute does not apply if a tax return was never filed.  Therefore, we demand full payment for all years in question.

 

Roberg Tax:  But Santa doesn’t receive US income, he delivers gifts for free.

 

IRS:  Mr. Claus has been receiving his income in the form of barter.  He has been receiving cookies, milk, and reindeer carrots for years as payment for his deliveries.  We understand, Ms. Roberg, that your parents used to leave Santa beer but we have been gracious enough not to impose federal alcohol excise taxes on Mr. Claus at this time.

 

Roberg Tax:  Well thank you for your generosity on that point, how could you possibly know my Dad used to leave Santa beer?

 

IRS:  We have our ways.  We know lots of things.

 

Roberg Tax:    I don’t think I want to know!  Anyway, you’re arguing that Santa runs a business in the US and gets paid with milk and cookies.  Therefore, since his operation is a business, then he gets to deduct his business expenses which certainly exceed any revenue he could possibly receive from the milk and cookies he receives, therefore he owes no tax.

 

IRS:  Not so fast!  Only a legal business may write off expenses.  Santa does not live in the United States and he flies into the country illegally—thereby voiding any expense deduction that he would otherwise have been allowed to claim.

 

Roberg Tax:  So you’re calling Santa’s delivering of toys a criminal activity?  But if he has proper permission to enter the country, then his business is legal and he may deduct his business expenses which would make his tax bill zero.  Is that correct?

 

IRS:  Well, it will work on the business income, but we’ll probably be asking for his federal fuel excise tax on the reindeer.

 

Roberg Tax:  I don’t believe that reindeer feed falls under fuel tax guidelines.

 

IRS:  We’re reaching.  We’ve got to close the tax gap and the fat guy could be our ticket out of trouble.

 

Roberg Tax:  Don’t call my client fat, he prefers the term, “Jolly.”  And you can’t use Santa to solve the federal deficit.  That’s Congress’ job.

 

Anyway, we’ll be closed for the week.  I’m going to be spending my time with a very nasty IRS agent, who really should be dropping this case if he doesn’t want to stay on Santa’s naughty list.  We’ll all be back in time for tax season.  Don’t you worry about Santa, we’ve got him covered.

 

Merry Christmas.

Posted on by Jan Roberg

***Roberg Tax Solutions EITC Special Offer***

 

EITC Special (February 2013)
__________________________________________________

Roberg Tax Solutions is offering a limited time, special deal on tax returns with an Earned Income Tax Credit.

 

This special price is only available to the first 200 people who make an appointment for this special offer, and is limited to February 1, 2013 – February 28, 2013.

 

For this time, we will offer our full service tax preparation services to our wage earning EITC clients for $200; that includes the cost of a bank product and all state returns.   A bank product means that we take your payment out of your tax refund.  You may either have your refund direct deposited into your bank account, or we can print a check in our office for you to pick up later.  This works out to be a $50 to $75 savings off of our regular price depending upon your tax return.

 

This is a great savings from those other big ticket tax companies.

 

If you are self employed, for this special offer, we will prepare your EITC tax return for $350 including a bank product.  That’s a $150 savings off of our regular price.

 

We do not provide Refund Anticipation Loans—that is, we don’t do fast refund money.  Your refund will come after the IRS funds the money to the bank which generally is expected to take 21 days.  If you have had problems with other people claiming your children on tax returns, this could take as long as 75 days.

 

What are the rules?  You must legally be able to qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit and you must provide the necessary documents that are required in the new IRS regulations.  We will be making copies of all of your documents and we are required by law to hold copies of those documents for three years.

 

You will need to bring the following paperwork with you to your appointment:

 

  • Social security cards for every person listed on your tax return
  • W-2s
  • 1099-MISC forms
  • Any other income documentation
  • Proof of your child’s residency such as recent school report cards or medical statements
  • Proof of self employment income (if relevant)
  • Driver’s license or other state issued photo ID

 

For more information on documentation, read our post about the new EITC rules:  http://robergtaxsolutions.com/2012/11/what%e2%80%99s-new-with-the-earned-income-tax-credit-you-need-to-know-this/

 

This offer is limited to persons who can come to our office in person.  We will not do EITC returns over the internet.  (Sorry.)

 

If we discover that you are not eligible to claim an Earned Income Tax Credit, we will return your paperwork and you will be under no obligation to file your tax return with Roberg Tax Solutions.  Of course, if you still choose to file with us, we’ll be happy to have you as a regular client—in which we have another offer for you on our special offers tab.

 

If you’ve been filing your tax returns with some cattle call tax office that treats you like a number instead of a person, maybe it’s time to try something different.

 

Call today to set up your appointment.  (314) 275-9160 or visit www.robergtaxsolutions.

 

***Roberg Tax Solutions EITC Tax Return Special Offer***