Change Your Life By Filing Your Tax Return

2010 Tax Return

Someone who has not filed his 2010 tax return may be a little nervous. The IRS, the most ruthlessly efficient collection agency in the country, tends to take a dim view of people who do not file their tax returns in any year. The organization wants to make sure the government gets the money it feels that it’s owed. Whether or not the taxes are fair or not is an irrelevant issue. The government needs to make sure it has the funds it needs to continue running. This is especially true with the current national debt.  It may seem to be a little clichéd, but filing 2010 tax returns can change your life.

It will not bring the great change promised by certain self-help pundits, but it certainly will bring relief.  A person does not need to lie awake at night wondering if he has filed his taxed properly or if he is going to suffer from any unwanted visits from the IRS agents. He may prefer to think of the agents as men in black, but that is unlikely to bring a person any comfort. Fortunately, the IRS will do its best to make it easy for a person who owes back taxes to give it money, even if the amount it is demanding is not in line with what the person thinks he owes. Filing his 20120 taxes can prevent a larger problem down the road.

Do US Citizens Have to Legally Pay Taxes?

We all work hard for our money and we all want life to be fair, so of course, when buzz begins to circulate about the possibility of US citizens not having to pay income tax… we jump right on it. But trust me, when something sounds a little too good to be true, it’s usually because it is.

Unconstitutional you say?

According to believers of this idea the 16th Amendment was never ratified, and therefore we shouldn’t have to pay taxes.

However, the amendment states that the government will collect taxes from its citizens.  This seems pretty cut and dry, however a man named Bill Benson, author of The Law that Never Was, argued that the amendment should not be included in the constitution because it was not properly ratified by the thirty-six states needed at the time to pass. Benson claims that none of the states properly legally went through the process of ratification and even found “evidence” proving that at least four of the states that were documented as ratified actually had paperwork stating their opposition or non-support of the amendment.

There were some spelling and capitalization errors on copies of the documents returned to the Secretary of State. However, Secretary Knox, aware of these small mistakes, adopted the amendment, seeing no need to throw it out based on such trivial and superficial errors.

Neiner Neiner Neiner

What many of the believers also think is that if you do not pay your taxes, even if accused and convicted of this, you will still avoid jail time, just… because.

Benson was indicted in 1980 and in 1981 for tax evasion After attempting to use hi research as his defense strategy, he was promptly found by a jury to be guilty on all counts. Anyone who has attempted to use his “evidence” in their defense or to support their negligence to pay income tax, has suffered the same consequences as he did. He is now infamous for tax evasion.

In addition to jail time, Benson also got a hefty law suit from the Department of Justice for manufacturing and selling tax scheme documents and interfering with the IRS. Benson was charging $3,500 for his “Defense Packages” and was ordered in the suit to stop, post a copy of the citation on his website and handover to the government all the personal information of his customers including social security numbers.

I believe the lesson learned here is that if you want something to be true, somehow, somewhere, especially in the internet era, you can dredge up “information” to support your fact or theory. But tread lightly, if you follow in Benson’s footsteps, there is nothing but trouble ahead.

TaxAlmanac offers up a discussion of tax evasion jam packed with tax urban legends containing a mixture of desperation and hope to downright humor and everything in between.

George Gallagher writes for a handful of personal finance and economic blogs. When not writing he works with young people to sort out their private student loan consolidation questions.

Home Business, Yay or Nay?

While the old American dream was once to land a steady job with good benefits and an early retirement, the updated version often entails becoming an entrepreneur and being your own boss. There are many challenges in steering your own ship, and yep many rewards as well. One advantage to working for yourself is that you know that you’ve got at least one person on board that really genuinely cares. As your own boss you can also guarantee that your opinions will be heard. But before making that big jump, you should really make sure you know what you’re getting into.

Here are some often overlooked changes you will experience…

Taxes

If you once were able to file a 1040EZ those days will soon be ones of the past. Taxes for your business will be involved, to say the least. And your personal taxes will doubtless be affected as well. Then you’ve got the cross-over items and the difficulty of trying to decide what can legitimately be itemized and for which. As an entrepreneur you will want to keep an eye on mileage costs and keep receipts for any business-related transactions.

Also be sure to check into any specific licensing or certifications you may require for your business and keep up to date on any registration renewals, if any.

Home Office?

A home office can obviously cut down on fuel costs and time spent going to and fro. Working from home can also keep you more connected with loved ones and may even get you tax breaks, if set up correctly. Though if you business is customer or client-based you may be required to have specific permits for such and to also carry extra liability insurance, should anything happen to someone on your property.

Another thing to consider is if you feel you can truly be productive while working at home. The Internet is distracting enough, what happens when you’re groggy all day and the bed is just a few feet away? Do you actually have enough space to specifically dedicate to an office? Will you and your family be able to agree on some kind of ground rules for specific hours of operation? These things and more should be considered before taking the plunge.

Insurance

As mentioned, if you have a home office you’ll most likely need extra insurance but don’t forget medical insurance and disability as well. An old 9 to 5 might have taken care of that for you but now that you’re the boss you do have to have a backup plan, should anything go wrong.

These are just a few of the I’s to dot and T’s to cross, there’s so much more. However, it’s a pretty terrific time to go into business for yourself – provided you think ahead, plan accordingly, and prepare yourself for the worst so that the worst never comes to call.

Written by Erin Nolan. Hurt yourself at someone’s business? Make a claim: www.accidentclaims.org

Tax Preperation For Real Estate Investing

Tax preparation in real estate investing can seem like tricky business. And why shouldn’t it? The U.S. Tax Code dwarfs the Bible, which at 773,000 words, written over thousands of years, is one of the largest documents known to man. How could anything associated with that system make any sense whatsoever? Nevertheless, you may find prepping for tax season with your real estate holdings easier than anticipated. The government allows a certain amount to be deducted for the interest associated with home ownership each year. That means whatever your final taxable income is, you can subtract the price of the interest paid in from that total, resulting in a lower tax liability, and for millions of American homeowners, a tax refund. But the concerns for tax preparation for real estate investing go a little further beyond this measure even.

When you are holding several properties, you are essentially acting as the landlord to those properties, and you can end up deducting more than one home from your final tax tally. The more you invest, the more you save, to an extent. In addition to this reality, you may also be available for credits or incentives for other actions associated with the house. One of the most obvious is that of the home remodel. If you are remodeling your home, then any monies that you spend on that remodel could also be eligible for a tax credit or deduction. Depending on the appliances you use – and whether they are Energy Star compliant – going right down to the construction of the home remodel itself, the government is there at tax season to reward you for strengthening the housing sector.

To prepare for the real estate investment tax season, make sure that you avoid payoffs as long as you can. Once interest is no longer being paid on the property, you are losing out on a big tax incentive. So even if you have the money upfront, you may wish to carry out payments over time. With the interest rates lower than they have ever been at a fixed level, the next year will probably be the best time to invest.

To take advantage you may want to get your taxes associated with all income assorted, and invest in open properties with the leftover holdings. Without the real estate investor, the market would surely die. And by investing, you give something back to the strength of your country’s economy. In return, the tax incentives are there to help reward you for doing so, but it is important that you do not try to cheat the system. Instead, play within its rules, and you will end up leading a much more rewarding life.

Laguna Beach Homes can be one of the best investments you’ll ever make. But make sure that your Laguna Beach Homes For Sale and the tax requirements surrounding it have been met. For more details, visit our site.

How Tax Law Changes Change Your Life

Tax law changes tend to happen at least once a year. An obscure loophole may be closed, or the tax rate on a specific type of profit may be increased or decreased. In either case, it is important to make sure that you have the right income tax advice before dealing with your own taxes. Rather than trying to go it alone, the help of a professional can aid you in making sure that all your forms are filled out correctly and that all the correct deductions have been made. Even with this in mind, though, you may still wonder if tax changes will actually have any bearing on your own situation.

Now, the truth of the matter is that most tax law changes will not actually do much to change the tax returns of most individuals. The bulk of the changes in any given year will only actually cause an effect on the taxes of a select few, but you may never actually know that these changes have gone into effect unless you actually consult with a tax professional. Unfortunately, lack of knowledge about these changes is no excuse when you file, and if you are audited you may actually face rather stiff penalties for failing to adhere to laws that were only recently passed.

There are, of course, many tax law changes that will cause major changes for more tax payers. The IRS is generally quite vocal in announcing these changes, and most are incorporated into even simple tax return programs. However, if you need to feel reassured about what effect these changes will have on your taxes or you simply wish to play it safe, it may be wise to seek out professional income tax advice. It may cost a bit more, but the associated costs are nothing when compared to the fines that may be incurred by those that file incorrectly.

The author has spent a lot of time learning about tax law changes and other related topics. Read more about income tax advice at the author’s website.

Taxes, And A Look At Obama’s And Romney’s Budgets

Budgets are wonderful, and I love them. I love all of the charts, the graphs, the tables and appendixes. Budgets are so fantastic because they make us take a hard, serious look at numbers. We are forced to make priorities, and we are challenged to make tradeoffs on what we can do without, and what we truly need. The budget is the proof in the pudding, and it is what forces the government to be brutally honest with itself, and the American people. With people preparing their 2012 taxes, a short look at some of the differences between President Obama’s budget proposals, and those of Mitt Romney are in order.

Comparing the fiscal plans between Obama and Romney is almost like comparing apples to oranges. The reason is that while Obama is on the hot seat and needs to make his numbers add up, Romney is just running a campaign in the primaries. He can make budget promises without having his feet held to the fire over them, whereas Obama is not afforded that luxury.

However you slice it, though, taxes under both the Romney and Obama plans are lower than they would be if we simply allowed the tax cuts put in place by George Bush to expire and tax rates returned to the rates of the Clinton era.  If that happened, tax rates would be almost 20.4% of the GDP. This, despite the reverence that Democrats have for Bill Clinton‘s former economic policies, and the panic that Republicans are in over Obama’s tax ideas. I suppose that is why I just love budgets. They help everybody keep an eye on everybody else.