Category: Taxes

Posted on by Jan Roberg

Why the Supreme Court Ruling Makes My Life Easier: A Tax Preparer’s Reaction to Obergefell v. Hodges

Supreme Court Ruling gay marriage

 

I was sitting out on the deck with my husband and he asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I ran down my usual answers, “world peace, ending world hunger, etc.” He gave his usual answer, “Probably not this year.” I told him, “That’s alright, the Supreme Court just passed marriage equality, that makes my life easier. I’m happy with that.” He gave me that raised eyebrow look and said, “Care to explain that one?”

I’ve been married to this man for over 30 years so you might not think Obergefell v. Hodges will have much of an affect on me personally, but as a tax professional, it does. Here’s a little history of how legislation and the Supreme Court decisions have affected taxes over the past 11 years.

Massachusetts legalized same sex marriage back in 2004. That was the beginning of the crazy tax returns. You see, while you could be legally married in Massachusetts, the federal government didn’t recognize the marriage. So, you had to file as married on your state return and single on your federal. As a tax preparer, you had to prepare three tax returns instead of one. Back in those days I was an instructor for H&R Block. I remember teaching how to prepare that return in one of my classes. It was pretty crazy and very complicated. Living and working in Missouri, I didn’t see many Massachusetts returns, but we still have to know how to do them.

More states adopted gay marriage, but it was still illegal in Missouri. Couples were getting married in Iowa and living in Missouri, but they still couldn’t legally file jointly here in Missouri. Some of my business colleagues and I worked on a tax strategy to help couples who were “married for all intents and purposes but just not legally recognized in the state”. It was a good tax plan while it lasted, and for some couples it was actually better tax-wise than married filing jointly. But of course it didn’t solve the issues of Social Security, healthcare, or pension benefits.

In 2012, the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was unconstitutional. This issue was headed to the Supreme Court, but hadn’t been settled yet. Which was another tax headache. You see, if the Supreme Court ruled that DOMA was unconstitutional, it would affect tax returns, but you can’t change your tax return based on the first circuit court of appeals. But–there’s a three year limit to amend a return for a refund. So, if you didn’t want to miss out on a potential refund for 2009, you had to file something called a “protective claim for refund.”

That meant, you were filing an amended return based upon something that hadn’t happened yet, hoping it would. The IRS would just stick those returns in a drawer until (or if) the issue ever came up. You had to write: “Protective claim for refund contingent upon the US Supreme Court decision on the First Circuit Court of Appeals case regarding the Defense of Marriage Act, Gill v. OPM.” If you didn’t work it just right, the IRS could just reject your claim.

In June of 2013, the Supreme Court held in United States v. Windsor that the federal government was required to recognized same sex marriages.(I know, I know, what happened to Gill? Windsor was heard first so that became the landmark decision and the Gill petition was turned down in light of the Windsor ruling. Your Amended return claiming Gill would still be good because of Windsor though.) This meant that if a couple were legally married in Iowa, for example, that they would not only be allowed to file a state return as married filing jointly, but they could also file their federal tax return as married filing jointly.

The Windsor case had a lot of consequences for preparers. In places like Massachusets where same sex marriage was legal, then the couple could just file as married filing jointly for both the state and federal returns. But in other states where same sex marriage wasn’t allowed, it was wait and see status while the legislatures battled it out. Here in Missouri, if you can file as married on your federal return, you filed as married on the state return. Next door, in Kansas, you filed as married on your federal return, and single on your state return. Those of us who prepare multiple state returns had to keep up on all of that. It was a headache keeping track of the state rules. Basically, in 2013, we had a flip flop of the tax rules–instead of filing a joint state return and separate federal returns like we did with Massachusetts in 2004, we were now preparing joint federal returns and separate state returns.

So now, with Obergefell v. Hodges I’m back to filing normal returns for everybody in every state. I get to ask normal questions like, “Are you single or married?” And I don’t have to ask, “Are you gay or are you straight?” Because quite frankly, whether you’re gay or straight should have absolutely nothing to do with your tax return.

Posted on by Jan Roberg

Tax Strategy for Exes that Get Along

Rear view of young couple consulting financial advisor at office desk

Exes who work together with their tax professional can often reduce their overall taxes or increase their refund, leaving them more money to spend on their children.

 

If you have a child with an ex-spouse, or even someone that you weren’t married to, you might already know how complicated the whole tax situation can get.  Who can claim what? And if you now hate each other, then it’s really a problem.

 

But—if you and your ex get along and you want to work together to make the best situation for your child—then I’ve got a tax strategy for you to help you maximize your refund.

 

This strategy only works for couples that get along, and basically share physical custody.  If this sounds like you and your ex, then you two are perfect candidates to work together on your taxes.  If your ex is an absentee parent stop, this isn’t for you.  If your ex is a nasty person, stop, this isn’t for you either.

 

If your ex is a decent, trustworthy human being, then you can continue.

 

The first step is for you and your ex to do your own taxes the way you normally should.  For example:  let’s say your divorce decree states that you are the custodial parent and your ex gets to claim the exemption for the child.  That’s how you prepare your taxes and set the baseline for what your refund or balance due should be.

 

An example might help.  Let’s say that Barbie and Ken had a child named Penny and then got divorced.  Although Barbie and Ken basically share custody of Penny, if push comes to shove, in the divorce decree, Barbie is the custodial parent.  Per the decree, Ken is allowed to claim Penny’s exemption every other year.   So the way for them to file is for Barbie to claim the head of household filing status, but not claim Penny’s exemption.  Barbie also gets the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Care Credit for Penny’s daycare expenses.  Ken gets the exemption, and the Child Tax Credit.

 

That’s how you determine the baseline for Barbie and Ken.  Let’s say that in this example, Barbie would get a refund of $1500 and Ken would get a refund of $1000.  Together they get $2500.

 

There are FOUR Scenarios to this.  When preparing your taxes, you’re going to run all four scenarios:

 

  1. YOU claim no child, single, 1 exemption for yourself. EX claims:   2 exemptions; one for his/herself, one for child, AND claim EIC and head of household and child care credit

 

  1. YOU claim child for EIC and head of household filing status and child care credit, 1 exemption for yourself, no exemption for child, sign 8332 to other parent. EX claims:  2 exemptions; one for him/herself, one for child, no EIC, no head of household

 

  1. YOU claim 2 exemptions; one for yourself, one for child, no EIC, No head of household, EX claims:  child for EIC and head of household filing status, 1 exemption for him/herself, no exemption for child, sign 8332 to other parent.

 

  1. YOU claim 2 exemptions; one for yourself, one for child, AND claim EIC and head of household and child care credit. EX claims:  no child, single, 1 exemption for self.

 

Let’s plug the numbers for Barbie and Ken in here.  Scenario 1: Barbie owes $800 and Ken gets a refund of $4500.  The combined refund is $3700.

 

Scenario 2: this is our baseline. Barbie gets a $1500 refund, Ken gets a $1000 refund.  The combined refund is $2500.

 

Scenario 3:  Barbie gets $1000 refund, Ken gets $3100.  The combined refund is $4100.

 

Scenario 4:  Barbie gets $2600 refund and Ken owes $900.  The combined refund is $1400.

 

So in Barbie in Ken’s case, it makes send to let Ken claim EIC and head of household filing status and have Barbie claim the exemption.  It gives them back and extra $1600!

 

Now Barbie has a right to her $1500, and if she files using scenario #3, she’s losing $500.  So to make Barbie whole again, Ken would need to pay her back the $500 from his refund.  And they would also have to agree on how to use the extra refund money.

I always recommend that you put the extra money you get into a savings account or 529 plan for your child.  The only reason you can do this is because of your kid, so I think the money should go towards raising your child.  But it’s up to you.

 

Remember, only parents that get along can do this.  If you hate each other, then you strictly go by the IRS rules for divorced or separated parents.   Once you do this, you can’t go back to the IRS because you changed your mind.

 

Put proper safeguards in place.  If you’re the parent that will get a lower refund than you normally would have, make sure that your ex sets up the part of his/her refund that makes you whole will come as a direct deposit into your bank account.

Make sure the part of the refund that is supposed to go to your child goes into your child’s account as well.

 

Remember, this strategy is not for everyone.  But for some families, it can be worth a decent amount of money.

Posted on by Jan Roberg

Helping Mom With Her Taxes: Tax Tips for Preparing Returns for Senior Citizens

If you have an aging parent who is beginning to show signs of Alzheimer's or dementia, it's important to step in and assist with taxes so they don't wind up in trouble with the IRS.

If you have an aging parent who is beginning to show signs of Alzheimer’s or dementia, it’s important to step in and assist with taxes so they don’t wind up in trouble with the IRS.

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If you have elderly parents you may find yourself in the position of having to assist them with their tax returns.  If you have a parent showing any signs of dementia, it’s especially important for you to step in and offer assistance.  Believe me, I understand that there’s a big difference between “offering” assistance and being “allowed” to assist.  Parents can be stubborn, especially about money.  But if your parent is showing signs of Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, you really do need to step in and make sure that their paperwork is taken care of.  Here are some tips to help you make sure you’ve got your bases covered.

 

If your parent has been working with an Enrolled Agent or other tax professional, talk to them first.  They should be able to provide you with a list of all the documents that your parent has used on past returns.  An old return, preferably the most recent one but even one a few years old, will give you a good clue as to what documents your parent usually needs.  Here’s a list of the most common items found on senior tax returns:


1. You need to find the Social Security Statement.  The form is called a 1099SSA.  It should be mailed by January 31.  If you can’t find it after February 1st, you can order a replacement at this web address:  https://secure.ssa.gov/apps6z/i1099/main.html.  It looks like this:

 

 

This sample picture is not in color, but the most distinctive thing about this statement is that it has pink on it.  It comes in one of those envelopes that you have to tear off the sides to open up the paper—the envelope will be white.  It’s not a standard size.

 

The 1099SSA statement is important because for some seniors, their Social Security income is taxable—for others it is not.  It all depends upon how much money they make.

 

Tax Prep Tip:  Use tax software and always input the Social Security income even if it seems obvious that the SS income won’t be taxable.  Software will do the calculation about the tax for you.  And should something turn up later and the IRS contacts you about income that you missed, by reporting the Social Security income even though it wasn’t taxable—you’ve protected yourself from underreporting fines on that income.

 

2. Another statement many seniors receive is the 1099R – for pensions and annuities.  Some seniors won’t have any while others could have 10 or more.  Most seniors will have one or two each—a pension or 401(k) from a job and an IRA.

 

Tax Prep Tip:  Look at box 2 of this statement, often it is blank.  Usually, a blank box means zero, but on a 1099R-a blank box could mean that the company didn’t compute what was taxable.  Many tax software programs will automatically count everything in box 1 as taxable if you leave box 2 blank when inputting the 1099R.  You can test this by looking at line 16a and/or 16b of the 1040 to see if the number carried over there.  On the 1099R form there is a checkbox for “taxable amount not determined”.  If that’s checked, the default is to tax the whole amount.  There are formulas for determining a taxable amount on these types of 1099s.  If you’re dealing with a large pension, it would be worth consulting with an EA to figure the taxability.

 

3.  Investment Income:  Many seniors have investment income.  You’re going to want to look for something called a 1099B, 1099-DIV or a 1099-Combined from.  These come in all kinds of shapes, sizes and colors.  Many seniors have more than one investment firm; just because you find one statement doesn’t mean you have them all.  Many of these firms deliver their statements online.  If your senior parent used to be computer savvy, be sure to check online for these documents.

 

Also seniors, more so than younger investors, tend to hold individual stocks outside of the big investment firms.  Look for individual 1099-DIV statements from Met Life, Pfizer, Ameren and the like.  Many of these statements are still mailed, and they often come in smaller envelopes with the tear off sides.  They should say, “Important Tax Document” on the envelope, but the envelopes do sort of look like junk mail so you may be combing through the recycling bin for these.

 

Tax Prep Tip:  Investment documents aren’t due out until February 15th.  Be sure to allow enough time for all those statements to be delivered before you start your parent’s return.  Some of those brokerage house statements can be over 20 pages long.  While most of the information you need is all on page 2 or 3—there’s a reason they are sending you 20 pages of information.  If you have “gross proceeds from sales of investments” – you need the back 20 pages to determine the basis of that stock sale.  If you have non-taxable dividends from municipal bonds – you need the back 20 pages to determine if that money is taxable to your state.  Brokerage houses don’t send you all that stuff because they hate trees.  If you get a statement like that and you don’t understand it, it’s worth the money to get professional help at least once so you know where everything goes


4.  Bank interest statements.  These are called a 1099-INT.  Seniors are more likely to have CDs than younger taxpayers, and they shop around for the best interest rates.  Don’t be surprised to find multiple bank statements.

 

Tax Prep Tip:  Some banks put all of the CDs and their interest on one combined bank statement.  Other banks send separate statements for each CD—making it look like you’ve just got duplicates of the same statement.  If it looks like you’ve got duplicates—check the account number carefully to make sure you’re reporting everything (and not double counting the same one!)  List the interest earned on each statement as a single line item.  If the bank is sending you statements in separate envelopes, the IRS is also getting that information separately.  If you combine the amounts, it won’t match the IRS numbers and could cause you to get a letter.

 

5.  State programs:  many states have tax credits for senior citizens.  Here in Missouri, we have a property tax credit for low income seniors.  There are programs like that in many other states as well.  Even if your parent’s income is too low to require filing a federal return, be sure to check to see if he or she may qualify for some tax benefit in your state.   You’ll want to keep an eye out for real estate tax receipts or rental income statements.

 

It can be difficult helping a parent at tax time.  Half the battle is knowing what to look for and where to find it.  The harder part is often persuading your parent that she needs help!  But if your parent is confused, especially about financial matters, you need to step in and make sure that her taxes are taken care of now.  It’s much better than having to deal with the IRS on her behalf later.

Posted on by Jan Roberg

Filing Your St. Louis County Personal Property Tax Declaration

SAINT LOUIS COUNTY MISSOURI

ASSESSOR’S OFFICE

41 South Central Avenue

St. Louis, Missouri 63105-1777

314-615-1500

 

Do you own a small business in Missouri?  Are you filing a Schedule C with your 1040 tax return?  Or do you have a partnership or corporation?  If yes, then you’re supposed to pay personal property taxes on your equipment.

 

I keep getting asked:  Do I have to pay personal property taxes?  Do I have to fill out that form?  If you own a small business, the answer is yes.

 

I used to think that if you didn’t have any assets, you didn’t have to do a business personal property declaration.  But—even if you have absolutely no business assets at all, you’re going to have a minimum assessed value of business property for tax purposes of $200.  That’s not what the tax is, that’s an assessed value of your property.

 

So how does that assessment thing work?  I’ll use my own business as an example.  In 2013, I bought new computer equipment.  The total cost was around $3,000.  Computers count as “5-year” property, because that’s how long it takes to depreciate a computer on your tax return.  (Office furniture is an example of a 7-year property.)  Now I’m writing off the whole cost of the computer on my tax return (as a Section 179 expense)—but it’s still considered a 5 year property for depreciation purposes and for the personal property tax declaration.

 

In the personal property tax declaration form, I would put $3000 for year 2013 in schedule 9 for 5-year property.  (If your brain just exploded reading that, relax, I’m going to give you the easy cheater way to do the form in a little bit.)

 

Then that amount (in my case $3,000) is multiplied by .85 and then multiplied by .3333 so my assessed value is $849.92.   That’s not the tax I’m going to pay, that’s just the assessment of the value of what my business owns.  (3000 x .85 x .3333 = 849.915)

 

Last year, the tax rate was 8.052.  I only had $230 of assessed value so my bill was only $18.52 this past December.  Because of my new equipment, my bill will be higher this year.  But your bill is going to be close to 8% of what the assessed value of your equipment it.  As your equipment ages, the assessment will go down but the assessment will never go below $200.

 

So what’s the cheater trick for filling out the form?  Grab your tax return and pull out the Federal depreciation schedule.  It’s going to have a list of your company assets, what they cost, and whether they are a 5-year, 7-year, or a 10-year property, and what year you bought them.  If you have company assets like computers, equipment, or vehicles, then you should have a depreciation schedule to go with your tax return.  I know that some companies won’t give that list to their clients to force them to come back every year.  If you’re not getting that list—you have a right to ask for it.  (And move to a preparer that gives you all the information you need for your taxes.)

 

If you didn’t get your personal property tax declaration statement in the mail, here’s a link so you can have the form:

http://www.stlouisco.com/Portals/8/docs/document%20library/Assessor/pp/BusAndMfgDecForm_WebCopy.pdf

 

You need to have it signed and filed by March 31st.

 

St. Louis County has started a new Online Personal Property Declaration that will be available from February 1 – April 30th.  http://revenue.stlouisco.com/Collection/ppInfo/ppDec.aspx It’s a good option for people who missed the March 31 deadline and for people who are just more comfortable with on-line services.  If you start using the online service, you’ll be able to access your previously filed returns, making it a whole lot easier to fill out that form in the future!

 

If you’ve been forgetting to file your St Louis County personal property taxes, 2014 is a good year to come clean and start filing.

Posted on by Jan Roberg

What Is a Dependent?

Dependents are usually your children, but they can be parents, siblings, or other relatives so long as they meet the requirements. A dog though, is never considered to be a dependent. Photo by Janice E. Roberg

Dependents are usually your children, but they can be parents, siblings, or other relatives so long as they meet the requirements. A dog though, is never considered to be a dependent.
Photo by Janice E. Roberg

 

If you’re doing your taxes this year, one of the questions you’ll be asked is, “Do you have any dependents?”  What exactly is a dependent anyway?

 

Most often, but not always, a dependent is your kid.  Sometimes, a dependent can be a parent, a sibling, and even in some cases a friend that lives with you.   There are many requirements that you’ve got to meet for a person to qualify as a dependent.  In general though, a dependent is someone that you support.

 

There are two types of dependents:

  1. Qualifying child:  that’s going to be a child or a disabled relative that will qualify you for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EIC)
  2. Qualifying relative:  a qualifying relative will get you an exemption for your taxes, but won’t qualify you to get EIC

Let’s look at the Qualifying child first.  How does the IRS define what a qualifying child is?  Remember, the IRS has weird rules, and it’s not the same as how your family decides who’s related or not.

 

A Qualifying Child must have a valid social security number to qualify for EIC.  If your child doesn’t have a social security number, but she gets one later, you can go back for up to three years to amend the returns.  In addition to a social security number, for EIC a Qualifying Child must also meet the following tests:

Relationship:  Son, daughter, adopted child, stepchild, foster child or a descendent of any of them such as a grandchild, or, a brother, sister, half brother, half sister, step brother, step sister or a descendant of any of them such as a niece or nephew.  Please note that an adopted child or foster child must be placed by the courts.  You’ve got to have legal documentation to support your claim; you can’t just take in your neighbor’s child and call her a foster child.

Age:  At the end of the filing year, your child has to be younger than you (or your spouse if you file a joint return) and younger than 19; or younger than 24 and a full-time student; or permanently and totally disabled.

Residency:  The child must live with you (or your spouse if you file a joint return) in the United States for more than half of the year.

Joint Return:  The child cannot file a joint return for the tax year unless the child and the child’s spouse did not have a separate filing requirement and filed the joint return only to claim a refund.

 

For more details on what is a Qualifying child for EIC purposes, check out this link:  http://robergtaxsolutions.com/2012/05/eic-and-your-family-tree-what-counts-as-a-qualifying-child/

 

Now one of the most common questions I hear about EIC is, “My boyfriend lives with me and my child, but he’s not her biological father, can he claim my daughter for EIC?”  The answer is “NO” because the child doesn’t meet the relationship test to the boyfriend.

 

But, the boyfriend might be able to claim the child as a dependent for an exemption—just not claim EIC for her, because she may be a Qualifying Relative to the boyfriend instead of a Qualifying Child.

 

Rules for claiming a Qualifying Relative:

In order to be a Qualifying Relative the person can’t be a qualifying child.

The second is to pass the member of household or qualifying relative test.  Either the person lives with you for the entire 12 months of the year, or is related to you in your immediate blood line:  your brothers and sisters, and their direct descendants, and their direct ancestors (but not foster parents.)  Also, your in-laws are included here—even if you divorce, as far as the IRS is concerned, your mother-in-law is your mother-in-law forever.  (Heaven help us all!)  If, however, a person was at any time during the year your spouse, he or she can’t be your qualifying relative.  (I know, that looks like a typo—once you marry ‘em, you can’t be related to ‘em.)

 

With the qualifying relative rule there is a gross income test: a qualifying relative can’t make more than the standard exemption in income, which for 2017 is $4,050.  This means taxable income.  If your mother’s only income was $6000 a year from Social Security, that’s not taxable so she’d meet the gross income test.

 

The last requirement is support:  you have to provide your qualifying relative with more than 50% of his or her support.  So, back to your mom on Social Security, if she makes $6,000 a year, and spent it all on food and rent, then you’d have to pay at least $6,000 more towards her support.

 

The rules for Qualifying Relative and Qualifying child can get pretty confusing, especially if you’ve got a unique situation.  The IRS website has a tool to help you decide if you can claim a dependent or not.  As you go through the questions, remember to answer them honestly and you’ll get a reliable answer.  Sometimes people change their answers to get the result they want—that’s how you get into IRS trouble.  Answer honestly and claim what you can, don’t claim what you can’t and you won’t have any problems.

 

IRS Interactive Tool for Claiming a Dependent

Posted on by Jan Roberg

Where’s My Refund?

Where is my refund

If you’re expecting a refund from the IRS, you really want to know when that money is coming in.

http://www.irs.gov/Refunds

When you go to IRS.gov, click on the refunds tab on the top.  This is where you can check the status of your refund online.

 

Once you file your US Income taxes, the most important thing to you is, “Where’s My Refund?”  If you’re trying to find out about a current year tax return that was e-filed, the easiest way to find out about your refund is through the IRS “Where’s My Refund?” website.  Before you go to the website you’ll need to have your Social Security Number, your filing status (Married filing jointly, Single, Head of Household, etc.), and the exact amount of your refund in order to gain access.

 

You need to wait at least 24 hours after the IRS receives your e-filed tax return.  That means 24 hours after you get IRS confirmation that they’ve received it—not 24 hours after you filed.  If you go to someplace like H&R Block and file your taxes on January 5th,—but the IRS hasn’t opened up their e-file acceptance, then your taxes are not really filed yet as far as the IRS is concerned.  The tax company is just holding your return in a batch folder waiting for the IRS to open.

 

If you mail your tax return, don’t expect to see any results on “Where’s My Refund” until 4 weeks after you mail your paper return.  Once again, the IRS isn’t “receiving” paper returns until they open the e-file, so even if you mail your return on January 1st, don’t expect to see your results online before an e-filed return.

 

The IRS has announced that they will not personally respond to calls about tax refunds until 21 days after your return has been received.  To put that in plain English—

 

The IRS ain’t gonna talk to you about your refund until they’re good and ready to, no matter how early you filed your return.


I put that in big, bold, red letters because last year I received several calls from people who filed their taxes early with a store front tax company down the street from my office, then couldn’t find their refunds on the IRS website and that store front office didn’t return their calls.  People were frantically trying to get information and couldn’t get answers.

 

So, if you go someplace to file your personal US income taxes and they tell you the IRS is receiving them before the acceptance date, they’re either lying or stupid.  I know, that’s harsh but it’s true.  They’re not actually filing the returns— they’re sending them to a “holding bin” until the IRS can actually receive the transmissions.  It’s called stockpiling.  It used to be illegal, but since the IRS keeps putting off the filing date they’ve made it okay to do now.   The point is—your return isn’t really filed yet, and it won’t be received by the IRS until they officially open the filing season.

 

Now, if it’s after the official start date, and you’ve waited 24 hours after receiving notice that your return has been accepted by the IRS, you can go to the “Where’s My Refund?” page to check on the status of your return.  Here’s the link:  Where’s My Refund?

 

If the site doesn’t have an answer for you, wait another day and try again.  The website is only updated once every 24 hours so checking on it more than once a day is a waste of time.

 

One final thing—all of the accounting firms have to deal with the IRS late e-file acceptance issue.  Whether it’s a big box company like H&R Block, a small tax company like Roberg Tax Solutions, or a Big Four accounting firm like Deloitte; we all have to live with the same rules.  The IRS will not accept anyone’s return any earlier than the official start date.

 

Generally, the e-file acceptance date begins on the day after the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, but has been as late as January 31.  The start date for 2018 was not yet set at the time of this update.

Posted on by Jan Roberg

YEXT

 

 

 

We’re signed up with Yext. They’ve got a fancy little gizmo that let’s us post things. Anyway, this is going to be our Yext page for now. So consider this to be an experimental page. If it works, we’ll make a regular page out of it. Thanks for visiting.

Posted on by Jan Roberg

5 Reasons to Bring Your Old Tax Return to Your St. Louis Tax Preparation Appointment

St. Louis Arch

Beautiful effect on the St. Louis Arch downtown. -Photo by Photo by Eyton Z at Flickr.com

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I hear this question a lot, “Why does my tax preparer want to look at my old tax return?”  The answer is:  Lots of reasons.  Let me give you a few examples.

 

1. Carry forwards:  A carry forward is something that was on your last year’s tax return that can affect your taxes this year.  A really important one is capital losses.  Let’s say you sold some stocks last year at a big loss and couldn’t use all your losses on last year’s return.  You get to carry those forward until they’re used up.  I once had to amend a bunch of tax returns for a woman with $100,000 of loss carry-forwards.  She had never brought her returns to her preparer before.  Because the returns went back for more than three years, some of her deductions were lost forever.

 

But it’s not just capital losses.  All sorts of things from last year can affect this year’s taxes like depreciation, estimated tax payments, what you paid to the state, did you itemize or not, and did you pay any alternative minimum tax (AMT), just to name a few.

 

2. Continuity:  the IRS looks at things funny when you’ve got changes.  Changing something simple like putting the wife’s name on top one year, and then putting the husband’s name on top the next can be seen as an attempt to hide something.  I always list taxpayers in the same order as the prior year return to avoid trouble.      I once helped taxpayers who had a simple notice about their taxes.  It was normally an easy thing to fix—make a quick phone call and mail a document and you’re done.  What I would call a no-brainer as far as audit letters go.  But for this couple, it took weeks to settle the issue; I couldn’t understand the problem.  Finally, the agent on the case explained that they were “digging into the taxpayers” because they had flip flopped the names on the return for different tax years, which is a common habit with fraudsters.

 

Fortunately for the couple had nothing to hide—but a teensy little question on their tax return (not even a mistake, just a question) led the IRS to look back through several years of tax returns because of the  flipped names.

 

3. Finding missed deductions:  If you have a professional do your taxes, we want to find a missed deduction.  It’s what we do.  For us it’s the chocolate sauce on the ice cream.  It’s well…., click on this video to see how finding extra money for you feels http://www.flickr.com/photos/83052216@N00/4354753195/in/photolist-7CPfpD-9LYL7p

 

4. Making sure your new preparer doesn’t miss something:  I have some clients with some pretty complicated paperwork.  They have tax forms that aren’t included in home tax preparation software and aren’t even found in some professional packages.  I have to get some of these forms from the IRS and prepare them by hand.  (I actually print out extra copies of those forms and tell my clients, “If you ever change preparers, your new preparer needs to see these.”)   But even if your tax return is fairly easy, letting your preparer see your last year’s return is  a good idea—you don’t want her to miss something.

 

5. Comparison:  Putting your tax returns together for comparison purposes is a valuable tool for you.  How did you do this year?  Did you make more than last year?  Did you make less?  What did you do differently?  What should you do differently?  You’ve probably heard the old saying, “Those who don’t study history are condemned to repeat the same mistakes.”  The same goes with your tax return.

 

So please, bring your old tax return with you when you make a tax appointment.  It will make your preparer happy and it could save you some money!

Posted on by Jan Roberg

How To File a Tax Return When You Have No Income (And Why You Might Want To)

If your income is below the filing requirement, there is no need to file a federal tax return. But for some people, it still makes sense to file.

If your income is below the filing requirement, there is no need to file a federal tax return. But for some people, it still makes sense.

 

There are two main reasons for filing a US income tax return even if you don’t have any income to report.

 

1.  Identity theft, and
2.  Identity theft.

 

I realize it looks like I was repeating myself but I wasn‘t.  I’m talking about two different kinds of identity theft.  The first is related to an unauthorized person claiming your kids as dependents on their tax return.  The second involves someone claiming you, or impersonating you, on a tax return.

 

Let’s talk about your kids first.  Here’s a story I’ve heard several times:

 

“I’m on SSI and I support my daughter 100%.  We get nothing from her father but he claims her every year on his tax return and gets thousands of dollars in refund money.  I reported him to the IRS but I haven’t heard anything.  I tried to file a tax return but other tax company said I don’t have income so I can’t file.   Is there anything I can do to stop him from profiting on my child that he never sees?”

 

 

One way to deal with this issue is to report the tax fraud.  Here’s more information about how to do that:  http://robergtaxsolutions.com/2010/11/how-to-report-tax-fraud/.  But here’s the thing–the IRS will never tell you what happens.  You’ll never know if the fraud stops.  You might not have enough information to give to the IRS to stop the fraud.  But if you file a tax return and claim your child as a dependent–that messes up their computers and something is going to happen.   The IRS will have to deal with the issue.  You’ll need to be prepared to prove that your child lives with you to stop your ex from claiming your child, but hey–with no income, you’re not getting a refund.  You’ve got nothing to lose!

 

Here’s another story that I don’t hear as often, but I have had to deal with before:

 

I got a letter from the IRS saying that my tax return is wrong and that I shouldn’t have claimed those kids.  I don’t understand, I don’t have any kids and I never filed a tax return.  What’s going on?


 

 

Fraud isn’t limited to claiming kids that aren’t yours; the fraudsters will also use a non-filer’s identity to claim kids that aren’t theirs for huge refunds and then when the IRS investigates, some innocent person who never filed a return gets caught and gets fined.  It’s a nightmare to sort this all out.

 

So how do you protect yourself?  File a tax return.

 

Just because you don’t have any taxable income doesn’t mean you can’t file a tax return.  You won’t get any money back, but you can still file an information return just to let the IRS know that you’re out there.  Many software programs won’t process the return if you show no income, so you’ll want to plug $1 into the other income section on line 21 for the long form.

 

You can even file for free with no income from my website.  Just go to the “Do Your Own Taxes” tab at the top.  Of course, you can always go to the IRS.gov website and use their Free File Online instead.  The important thing is that you file a return and protect yourself.