Category: Tax Preparation

Complete Your Taxes Easily And Correctly

Traverse City tax expert Frank Ellis shows how to enter the pertinent information regarding your Taxes into the current year’s IRS income tax return. He points out the many benefits and aspects of the popular TurboTax software. His newly published article takes readers step by step through the process of moving the information they have posted in the previous year’s tax returns to the current returns to be finished and sent off to the Internal Revenue Service.

Frank Ellis shows how to access the details from an online account in TurboTax or from a file that has been saved on an individual’s computer. He reveals TurboTax 2015 specifics so the user can benefit most from the software and obtain the best refund from the Internal Revenue Service that is legal and possible.

2014 Taxes photo
Photo by mleinet

A great benefit of TurboTax software is that there is no need to re-enter information. This way, filing is much quicker, and there is less chance of making a mistake. The user can also transfer information from other files; this is a very convenient automated feature.

Frank Ellis elaborates that TurboTax users really do get larger refunds and that importing tax information from many information sources is made quick and easy. There’s no more looking for paper documents to enter financial details because TurboTax does all this automatically.

Simplicity, security and safety are highlighted in the article. It points out that many taxpayers do not notice or are ill-informed about important money saving tax details. TurboTax shows users the credits, deductions, and filing deadlines that they need to file their taxes efficiently and correctly, getting the largest possible refund.

In addition, Ellis says individuals should invest in a tax refund calculator as this tool estimates the taxpayer’s possible refund. Armed with this knowledge, users can adjust their withholding and spending habits to make sure that tax filing goes as well as possible.

This tax refund calculator is very convenient and takes some of the anxiety out of the filing process. Knowing the approximate amount of a tax refund ahead of time helps people prepare wisely for their financial year ahead of time.

For more information about TurboTax or how to use the software online for this year’s tax season, go to .

H&R Block And Big Tax Returns

H&R Block has a definite strategy to getting significant tax returns. The company only markets to clients in certain tax brackets. Tax preparation services tend to be the most profitable when preparers sell them to people in specific socioeconomic brackets. H&R Block has been taking specific steps to exclude low-income potential customers for tax filing.

The company has recently pared down its free tax filing service and changed its online tax preparation packages to make them cost more money for fewer services. More types of tax returns fall into categories that are more expensive at H&R Block compared to some other tax preparers. Preparers have referred to these potential clients as “low-loyalty.”

H&R Block
stevepb / Pixabay

Consultants have examined these practices and found that H&R Block’s clients fall into four general categories. The category known as the “lower right box” consists of clients whose tax returns require a good deal of paperwork but give little profit potential to the tax preparation company. H&R Block has been actively taking steps to discourage this group of filers from doing business with them.

As a result of the company’s efforts, profits have climbed by 4% during the last fiscal year while the number of prepared at tax returns has fallen by 6.2%. The tax preparers at H&R Block have also had additional time to prepare the returns of higher income clients. The company has also spent 12% less on marketing and advertising. The CEO has expressed that the company has met exact goals with these tactics.

The tax preparation company H&R Block has seen a profit boost of approximately $500 million, but these tactics also represent a risk to H&R Block’s image. By excluding lower earners, the business may not get any clientele from this population segment when they eventually earn more and move into different tax brackets.

Getting A Mortgage Tax Deduction

You may assume that filing taxes has to be confusing, but that isn’t the case. With the use of Turbo Tax 2014, you can make the filing process less stressful.

If you have a mortgage, you may be considering utilizing the mortgage tax deduction when handling your taxes.

My Mortgage Docs to be Reviewed by an Expert
My Mortgage Docs to be Reviewed by an Expert (Photo credit: i am real estate photographer)

Many people attempt to lower their taxable income with the use of deductions and credits. In order to do this, you may want to claim your mortgage interest. Some homeowners plan to use the deduction and hope to benefit from it, so they choose not to pay off their mortgage. You’re likely wondering if it makes more sense to benefit from the savings or get rid of your debt altogether.

Many individuals find that they have enough money to pay off their debts and still have some savings for emergencies, but they’re not sure if they should make this move.

If you choose to pay off your mortgage so that you can be debt free, remember that tax credits are different than deductions. A credit will lower your taxable income and a deduction will lower the percentage of tax that you owe. If you don’t have a mortgage, you may pay more in taxes, but it may still be less than what you’d pay in interest if you had a loan. In this case, it doesn’t make sense to keep a mortgage in order to get the tax breaks.

IRS Free File To Open 2 Weeks Early

The IRS, internal revenue service, has announced the early opening of the free file. The free file will open as early as seventeenth January 2014. This is the case even though filing of 2014 taxes does not officially begin until 31st of January. In fact, reality is that the internal revenue authority is requesting tax payers to get onto the free file website which is found at IRS.gov. This is in addition to preparing tax returns using the TurboTax 2014 system.

FILE Rubber Stamp
FILE Rubber Stamp (Photo credit: Enokson)

According to the message posted by IRS, practically all tax payers are free to use the Free File option. Tax payers making an annual income of $58000 or less can use this federal income tax preparation guide and filing program. This program is free for such individuals. It is important to note that about 70 percent of all tax payers fall into this category. This is information attributed to Tim Hugo who is the executive director at the Free File Alliance.

The online version of the hard copy tax forms is the Free File Fill-able from. All tax payers can use these online forms. However, they cannot be used to pay state taxes as they only perform basic federal calculations. These forms are not dependent on an applicant’s income and hence can be used by all tax applicants. It is therefore much easier and quite fast to organize 2014 taxes.

The IRS has partnered with the Free File Alliance which is a coalition of leading tax software companies. The organization is non profit and the partnership focuses on providing the two versions of the tax forms. This association between the IRS and the free file alliance has been around since 2002. Prior to this arrangement, the IRS had an arrangement with computer firms that provided free tax filing to about 60 percent of the population.

This program was initially set for three years and then renewed for a period of about 4 years. Now, over forty million applications have been filed, including TurboTax 2014, though these programs. All these programs are however supposed to be available to taxpayers via the IRS website. However, tax payers may only participate for free through the IRS website as it costs to use individual software companies.

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