How To Start Preparing For Taxes

Beginning tax preparations can be a daunting task. It can seem easy to make big expensive mistakes or miss out on possible unknown deductions, but it doesn’t have to be that difficult or stressful. A few easy tips and strategies can help you stay on top of things and make tax time a breeze.

One very important key to tax preparation is being organized. You should make sure that you are saving all necessary receipts and forms. It can be a good idea to keep all this information together in one place so that you don’t lose it. While this isn’t a complete list, things that you want to keep together and save are W-2 Forms, SSA-1099 if you’re on Social Security, Form 1095A and 1099s. Typically, a good rule of thumb is if you’re not sure if you will need it come tax time, save it. In addition to receipts of possible tax write offs like receipts of supplies for a home office or mileage for a entrepreneur, you should also make sure to save records of any charitable contributions, which are tax deductible in many cases. Many people don’t realize that in order to claim a charitable contribution that’s over $250, you need a written acknowledgement(typically a letter) from the charity you contributed to that states not only the amount that you gave, but also that you didn’t receive anything in exchange for your gift.

Another thing to keep in mind when preparing for taxes is any personal finance or tax law changes. Of course, you don’t have to be reading through the nitty gritty details of the tax code yourself, but keeping up on major changes to the tax code could help you avoid any surprises. Some programs that you may be benefiting from like the home-equity loan interest tax deduction and certain deductions from job-related expenses will soon be coming to an end. Preparing for this by maybe putting aside more money or expecting less of a refund can help you from being in a financial hard spot come tax time. It’s also important to keep in mind and consider changing amounts withheld if you or your spouse are making significantly more or less money. If you or your spouse got a promotion, it can be a good idea to look up your new tax bracket (if you fall into one) and how much more you may want to have withheld. This is all to avoid having to pay anything come tax time. Oftentimes, when people make more money through a promotion or successful business season, they forget to have more money withheld causing them to end up with an unpleasant bill come tax time.

While these tips will help, it’s always a good idea to go to an accounting firm to get some professional assistance. If you’re looking for an Accounting Firm Los Angeles for Tax Prep Los Angeles, Capital Financial Network is a great place to get expert assistance in handling all your personal financial matters.

Content Source

How To Save On Your Taxes

Everybody wants to know how to save money on their taxes through either deductions or tax credits, anything to lower the amount you may have to pay or to increase the size of your refund. There are many popular deductions and credits that a lot of people just don’t know about or utilize like real estate taxes, student loan interest deductions or mortgage interest deductions.

One tax credit you should check to see if you qualify for is the earned income tax credit. This is credit has different qualifications, one of them being that you must make less than fifty thousand dollars a year. This is a credit that a lot of people do not realize that they may qualify for. A sometimes under-utilized way to save on your taxes is to start a business. If you have your own business you have more control with how you pay taxes. Many business owners decide to keep funds in their businesses or business accounts firm so they don’t have to draw it out as taxable income. If you are running a business, you can also right off certain expenditures as expenses that can help you reduce your tax burden.

For those that have children, you should look into many of the tax benefits available to you. The child tax credit can be up to a thousand dollars for each child under the age of seventeen. It’s important to note that this tax credit it not available for high-earners. For those that pay alimony, those payments are tax deductible as well. As a parent, creating a 529 college savings accounts for your child or children allows you to not only save your child’s future, but also allows you to not have to pay taxes on that money either.

Read more….

Tax Scams To Beware Of

Even though tax season is over, it is still important to remain alert for any tax scams by groups pretending to be the Internal Revenue Service. Some of the most common types of scams perpetrated are telephone scams and phishing emails. While most of these scams seem to follow the same basic structure, you should be wary of ever disclosing important personal information like account passwords or your Social Security number to another party.

One of the most common types of scams perpetrated is a phone scam. It is important to note that the Internal Revenue Service does not call and leave automated messages, insisting that you call them back. Sadly, many times the victim is told that they could be penalized or even arrested if they don’t call back. These type of scams obvious play to people’s fears, but again the Internal Revenue Service does not call like that in the first place. Criminals can even make it seem like they’re calling from an actual IRS office. This leads many people to believe that the call is in fact authentic. Fraudulent callers have made it seem like they were calling from federal agencies, local sheriff offices and others to seem more legitimate to their victims, thus making it more likely that their victims will pay up.

Continue Reading

What to Know About Payroll?

For many small business owners, the process of payroll can be very bothersome and time-consuming. It can be even more so if you don’t have an outside firm doing it for you. The National Business Association conducted a survey in 2013 in which they determined that about sixty percent of small businesses process their payroll themselves. For obvious reasons like IRS penalties or possibly disgruntled employees, it is important to handle your payroll properly and with care. Here are some tips to make your payroll go as smoothly as possible.

One of the main things to determine in setting up a payroll system is whether you are going to pay your employees by salary or hourly. By having salaried employees, you can take a lot of the figuring out of determining how many hours your employees worked each month exactly and therefore how much they should be paid. If you do opt to pay your employees hourly, it is incumbent upon you to have some sort of dedicated system that tracks every employees hours worked.

Continue Reading

Tips for Tax Preparation in 2018

The more preparation you put into your tax prep year around, the more headaches you can save yourself come tax day. Taxes can seem complicated and overwhelming; the type of thing to avoid thinking about to the very last minute, but with proper planning, taxes can be a breeze. Here a few easy tips that you can follow year round to make tax time as easy and pain free as possible.

First, you can start by developing a habit of checking in on your finances monthly. By multiplying your monthly income by twelve, you can estimate if you will be in a higher or lower bracket come tax time. If you can tell that you will be making more money, enough to qualify for a different bracket, it may be wise to change your withholding status so that you don’t end up owing any money to the federal or your specific state. If you believe that you will be making less, enough to qualify for a lower tax bracket, you can still change your withholding status, but it may be best to wait a couple months in case you end up earning more so that you won’t end up owing later in the year.

Continue reading

Skills That You Can Learn From Free Income Tax Preparation

The wonderful thing is that everyone participates free of charge of income tax preparation in Los Angeles. The disclaimer is the harder yields must be analyzed to a paid preparer.

Volunteers trained using all the IRS will prepare your taxes free of charge, and the IRS promote your e-filed tax return. There is no fee for its service, and it is provided to Los Angeles residents.

Many income tax refunds will be immediately deposited to your bank account in only 10 days. That's done without a commission or high priced loan. Additionally, you qualify if you are age 60 or older.

Others might nevertheless acquire entirely free income tax preparation along with this totally free email from your recurrence during the Tax-Aide program. There are no age or income limitations with this totally free service.

As a means to find your closest location, it is possible to phone 21-1 from the landline phone assuming you reside in Falls, Orange counties.

The Capital Finance Network has come as a way to boost cooperation involving the town groups dedicated to assisting taxpayers. Throughout the removal of tax preparation penalties, many households can enhance their savings refund debt.

Content Source

Common Tax Mistakes to Avoid

Being Late One of the biggest mistakes many people make in filing their taxes is filing them past the deadline. The IRS has estimated that twenty percent of taxpayers wait a week before the deadline to file. This can cause a lot of stress while also leading to many simple mistakes in the rush to file in time. If you’re worried you may not have enough time to complete your taxes, you can always file for an extension.

Arithmetic Errors Math can’t be everybody’s strong suit. Some of us are too proud to use a calculator or can just never find one. Accidentally making errors of any mathematical nature be it addition subtraction, multiplication or division is a big no-no for your taxes. It’s one of the most common mistakes that people make. An easy way to avoid that is by going to a professional accountant or tax service. Using a calculator or having a family member or friend look over your calculations could also serve to mitigate the risk of any numerical mistakes.  

Forgetting About Side Jobs Sadly, money earned from freelance work and side jobs does get calculated into your overall income. Forgetting about reporting income earned from secondary sources can become a big headache especially since many of these secondary income sources will have likely reported any money paid to you. Trying to remember any side jobs or freelance work can be difficult, but looking through emails or earning history can help you to figure out if you forgot about any earnings.

Using An Incorrect Social Security Number Or using none at all. According to the Internal Revenue Service, this is one of the most common mistakes people make in filing their taxes. It’s very important to make sure that you include your social security number and that it is, in fact, the right one. Using the wrong social security number or not using one at all can cause all kind of delays and bureaucratic headaches for you and your tax filing.

Incorrect Charitable Contributions Tax laws regarding writing off charitable contributions are notoriously complicated and difficult to understand. An example of this would be that in order to write off food or clothes given to charity, they must have been in decent shape when you donated them. The laws and policies don’t get any less confusing from there. If you have any questions regarding possible charitable contributions, it may be a good idea to visit an accountant or tax professional.

Not Signing Forms This one seems like another no-brainer, but one of the most common tax mistakes is also one of the most easily avoidable. In addition to remembering to sign forms, it’s also important to remember to write the correct date.

Where To Go If you’re looking for an accounting firm in Los Angeles to help you avoid these mistakes and maybe even find some more deductibles you didn’t even know about for your tax prep in Los Angeles, Capital Financial is the place to go.

Content Source