California FTB – Personal Income Tax: 2009 Tax Rate Schedules Released

August 21, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

California – Personal Income Tax: 2009 Tax Rate Schedules, Exemption and Other Amounts Released

According to figures obtained from California Franchise Tax Board’s Tax Practitioner Liaisons Office, there will be decreases in the indexed 2009 California personal income tax rate schedules, return filing thresholds, standard deduction amounts, itemized deduction limitation amounts, personal exemption amounts, credit amounts, and alternative minimum tax exemption amounts. These figures are based on the negative 1.5% inflation rate, as measured by the California Consumer Price Index (CCPI) for all urban consumers from June of 2008 to June of 2009.

Tax Rate Schedules

Watchdog Growls At IRS’ Audits By Mail

August 21, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

Watchdog Growls At IRS‘ Audits By Mail

Source: forbes.com

A new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration lends support to growing complaints about the Internal Revenue Service’s big audit-by-mail program.

It’s easier to raise taxes if you don’t pay them

July 28, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

Morality and Charlie Rangel’s Taxes

It’s much easier to raise taxes if you don’t pay them.

Source: WSJ

IRS Urgent Letters and Notices

July 23, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

IRS Urgent Letters and Notices That YOU MUST ATTEND TO

Mike Habib, EA

IRS Audit & Examination Letters

Letter 525 – General 30 Day Letter

This letter accompanies a report giving you a computation of the proposed adjustments to your tax return. It informs you of the courses of action to take if you do not agree with the proposed adjustments. The letter explains that if you agree with the adjustment, you sign and return the agreement form. If you do not agree, you can submit a request for appeal/protest to the office/individual that sent you the letter. The letter or referenced publications explain how to file a protest. You need to file your protest within 30 days from the date of this letter in order to appeal the proposed adjustments with the Office of Appeals.

Tax Relief

July 20, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

Tax Relief

No one looks forward to the tax filing season. This period is associated with endless paperwork and sorting through receipts and other documents to get your tax accounts in order. And even with the use of tax programs, you are still at risk of encountering errors that can get you in the spot light as far as the IRS is concerned. Your problem grows worse once you have the misfortune of owing the IRS monies or getting your return picked out for audit. You can only pray that you have managed to get every entry properly accounted for.

So what should you do?

In case you do find yourself and your tax return subjected to inquiry by the IRS, you need to get proper representation to help you get tax relief. The concept of using a licensed tax representative has risen in popularity over the years as more and more individuals and businesses are beginning to find it more difficult to justify the entries in their tax returns for some reason or come up with the monies to pay their mounting tax debts.

IRS Tax Audits and Examinations

July 20, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

IRS Tax Audits and Examination

The US Internal Revenue Service organizes audits and examinations on tax returns to ensure tax compliance by both individuals and businesses. But because it’s virtually impossible to actually audit and examine every ITR for discrepancies, the audits are mostly randomized so your chances of getting picked for a particular year is just as high as getting overlooked. Many taxpayers manage to survive every tax season without undergoing an IRS tax audit but there are those that are not as lucky.

The audit selection process

IRS reminder of ARRA

July 20, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

IRS Reminds Taxpayers to Take Advantage of Recovery Act Benefits

WASHINGTON — With 2009 now half over, the Internal Revenue Service reminds taxpayers to take advantage of the numerous tax breaks made available earlier this year in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

The recovery law provides tax incentives for first-time homebuyers, people purchasing new cars, those interested in making their homes more energy efficient and parents and students paying for college. But all of these incentives have expiration dates so taxpayers should take advantage of them while they can.

Drywall tax relief

July 20, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

Drywall victims could get tax relief

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Internal Revenue Service has declared that residents whose homes have been severely damaged by Chinese drywall may qualify for special tax deductions.

Homeowners may be able to claim a casualty loss on their tax returns if they have Chinese drywall that emits an unusual or severe concentration of chemical fumes that causes extreme and unusual damage.

Tax Crack Down on CASH ECONOMY

July 18, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

Hawaii Cash Economy Enforcement Act of 2009

On June 18, 2009, Governor Linda Lingle signed Senate Bill 972 SD2, HD1, CD1 into law as Act 134, the “Cash Economy Enforcement Act of 2009.”

This Act provides the department with additional resources and tools to target high-risk, cash-based transactions to shore up confidence in Hawaii’s tax system. In this regard, this measure ensures that all sectors of Hawaii’s economy, including those prone to substantial underreporting, are paying their fair share of taxes.

This Act focuses on the civil collection and enforcement nature of Hawaii’s tax laws, by establishing the Special Enforcement Section, a group of tax officials charged with handling sensitive and high-risk civil tax cases as directed by the director. This Act also provides various enforcement tools, including the authority to issue monetary fines and cease and desist citations.

FL State Collection

July 17, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

Florida Department of Revenue Administrative Collection Processing Fee Beginning September 1, 2009

Effective May 30, 2009, a new law imposes a 10 percent administrative collection processing fee on any outstanding debt older than 90 days. The fee is equal to 10 percent of the total amount of tax, penalty, and interest owed, or $10 for each collection event, whichever is greater. A “collection event” is defined as any time a taxpayer fails to:

• Timely file a complete return.

Tax Relief Blog

Letter 525 – General 30 Day Letter