Posts Tagged ‘Tax Preparation’

First Time Home Buyers Credit

February 23rd, 2010
Tax Brain

First Time Home Buyers Credit

There are home buyer tax credits available to first time homebuyers and long-term home owners who are moving residences. Some important facts about the credits will help you determine if you are eligible and how much you can claim.

Beginning in February of 2009 up until the end of April 2010, if you enter into a contract to purchase a home in the US the purchase could be qualified for a credit with the IRS. To be a first-time homebuyer, you could not have owned a primary residence for the past three years. This also applies to your spouse.

Long-time homebuyers is a newer category that includes anyone that has lived in the same home for five years that is now purchasing a new primary residence. The credits are different for the two types of homebuyers, $8,000 for first time and $6,500 for long-term.

To claim the tax credit you have to file a paper return and attach the IRS Form 5405 to your return. Some additional documents will also need to be attached to provide proof of your home purchase during the required time period.

For the long-term home buyers, some proof of ownership is also needed. This could include a 1098 mortgage interest statement for the previous 5 years in which you lived in the home you sold. The credit is worth the extra paperwork, so get into contract prior to the deadline and receive a great tax credit on your 2009 tax return.

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The Process of Electronic Tax Preparation and Filing

February 11th, 2010

TaxAct Free File

The Process of Electronic Tax Preparation and Filing

Just when you are faced with the tax season, you may come across the latest editions of popular tax preparation programs claiming to make tax filing as easy as can be for any layman. It is important to know which one is the most suitable for you and which electronic tax filing solutions are the most popular. This write-up provides you with valuable information on tax preparation options and the popularity of electronic tax filing.

What is it that you pay attention to while choosing a tax preparation solution? Beginners should opt for tax software that provides step by step guidance through the digital tax preparation interview and also includes interview topics which would not be difficult too understand or answer.

What makes the tax preparation software so useful is the fact that it allows the user to try out figures and hypothetical situations. Several of these programs are equipped with importing features that provides the scope for importing data from other programs into the tax preparation software directly.

As electronic tax preparation and filing are capable of carrying out extensive calculations and associated automatic checks, it has a negligible error rate, less than 1 percent. This implies that if you use the electronic tax preparation software, you can be almost fully ensure that you will have an error-free and complete tax return.

As high speed internet connections are becoming widespread and internet security is advancing at a tremendous speed, the number of tax preparations being done online is going up. This system of filing has been agreed unanimously to be safe, easy and error-free. With an overwhelming amount of online resources readily available, there is hardly any difference between the capabilities of the taxpayer and a professional.

Whatever it is, this much is certain that electronic tax preparation is the word of the day in terms of efficiency and popularity. It is owing to this popularity and reliability that taxpayers would resort to the use of tax software to file their tax returns. What a lot of taxpayers don’t know is that they can prepare and e-file their taxes every time they access the internet. The IRS Free File program has been designed to help those taxpayers who file their returns independently and still resort to filing paper returns. However, it should be noted that electronic filing is not allowed in the case of filing taxes for previous years.

Online tax filing allows you to prepare and e-file your income tax returns. And the process is wonderfully easy, speedy, error-free and safe, not very different from net banking. It might be a good idea to try out the electronic filing this year if you are willing to give it a shot. Being able to manage and file your taxes would definitely make you feel good and self sufficient.

It is very common for people to be scared of the idea of filing your taxes and you are probably wishing it would be easier this year. It is actually possible, with a fair amount of planning, to make tax preparation much easier and not be faced with any harsh surprises.

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