1. Do not send cash to the IRS.

2. Whether you file a paper return or electronically, you can pay by phone or online using a credit or debit card.

2. If you file electronically, you can file and pay in one step by authorizing an electronic funds withdrawal via tax preparation software or a tax professional.

4. Electronic payment options provide an alternative to checks or money orders. You can pay taxes or user fees 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Visit the IRS website at www.irs.gov and search e-pay, or refer to Publication 3611, Electronic Payments for more details.

5. If you itemize, you may be able to deduct the convenience fee charged for paying individual income taxes with a credit or debit card as a miscellaneous itemized deduction on Form 1040, Schedule A, Itemized Deductions. The deduction is subject to the 2 percent limit.

6. If you file on paper, don’t staple your payment to your form.

7. If you pay by check or money order, make sure it is payable to the “United States Treasury.”

8. Always provide on the front of your check or money order your correct name, address, Social Security number listed first on the tax form, daytime telephone number, tax year and form number.

9. Complete and include Form 1040-V, Payment Voucher, when mailing your payment to the IRS. Double-check the IRS mailing address. This will help the IRS process your payment accurately and efficiently.

10.  For more information, call 800-829-4477 and select TeleTax Topic 158, Ensuring Proper Credit of Payments. You can also find out more in Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax and Form 1040-V, both available at www.irs.gov or by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

Daniel Stoica Accounting Professional

1. Even if you can’t pay everything you owe right now, go ahead and file your return on time and pay as much as you can with the return. These steps will eliminate the late filing penalty, reduce the late payment penalty and cut down on interest charges. You may mail a check payable to the United States Treasury or check out the electronic and credit card options for paying. IRS.gov.

2. You may want to consider obtaining a loan or even paying by credit card. The interest and penalties that are imposed by the IRS may actually be lower than the interest rate and fees charged by a bank or credit card company.

3. Ask for an installment payment agreement. You do not need to wait for the IRS to send you a bill before requesting a payment agreement. Options for requesting an agreement include:
• Using the Online Payment Agreement application and
• Completing and submitting IRS Form 9465-FS, Installment Agreement Request, with your return. The IRS does charge a user fee to set up your payment agreement. See www.irs.gov or the installment agreement request form for fee amounts.

4. As part of the IRS Fresh Start Initiative for tax year 2011, qualifying individuals may request an extension of time to pay and have the late payment penalty waived. To see if you qualify visit www.irs.gov and get form 1127-A, Application for Extension of Time for Payment. But hurry, your application must be filed by April 17, 2012.

5. If you receive a bill from the IRS, please contact them right away to discuss payment options. The worst thing you can do is simply ignore the bill.

If you can’t pay in full and on time, the key to minimizing your penalty and interest charges is to pay as much as possible by the tax deadline and the balance as soon as you can.

Daniel Stoica Accounting Professional

Will the IRS lower your tax debt through “negotiation”? Tax resolution firms would like you to believe they can talk the IRS down on your behalf.

But the IRS likes to talk about just two things: Dollars and cents.

Under new IRS guidelines introduced in 2011, the IRS has a program that is designed to calculate your ability to pay your back tax debt. There is no “negotiation.” The forms for this program will take you through a detailed Financial Disclosure, documenting your income, expenses, assets, and debts. No matter how you ultimately settle your IRS tax debt, you will have to provide a full financial disclosure. This will involve gathering up all your bank and account statements, documentation for all your sources of income, monthly bills, loans, mortgage or lease paperwork, and even documentation for the market value of your assets including vehicles and valuables.

When I settled my own IRS debt for $1, I worked directly with the IRS examiners themselves. They weren’t intimidating; they were actually a pleasure to deal with! They told me what information they wanted and how they wanted it sent in with the IRS forms. I put everything I learned into my ebook, Lower Your IRS Debt with step by step, easy to follow instructions based on my own successful experience with this IRS program.

I owed $42, 564.25 but I settled for $1! Start gathering up your financial paperwork and grab a calculator. Follow along with my ebook to fill out the forms for yourself and find out if YOU could Lower Your IRS Debt!

Daniel Stoica Accounting Professional

Here are the facts about how your tax refund may be used to offset certain types of debts:

1. If you owe federal or state income taxes, your refund will be offset to pay those taxes. If you had other debt such as student loan debt or child support debt, the FMS will apply as much of your refund as is needed to pay off the debt and then issue any remaining refund to you. This won’t be a surprise to you, because you will receive a notice if an offset occurs. The notice will include the original refund amount, your offset amount, the agency receiving the payment and its contact information.

2. Contact the agency shown on the notice, not the IRS, if you believe you do not owe the debt or you are disputing the amount taken from your refund.

3. You’ll need to file IRS Form 8379, Injured Spouse Allocation, if you filed a joint return and you’re not responsible for the debt but you are entitled to a portion of the refund. You’ll need to attach Form 8379 to your original Form 1040, Form 1040A, or Form 1040EZ or file it by itself after you are notified of an offset. Form 8379 can be downloaded from the IRS website at www.irs.gov.  You can file Form 8379 electronically. If you file a paper tax return you can include Form 8379 with your return, write “INJURED SPOUSE” at the top left of the Form 1040, 1040A or 1040EZ. IRS will process your allocation request before an offset occurs.

4. If you are filing Form 8379 by itself, it must show both spouses’ Social Security numbers in the same order as they appeared on your income tax return. You, the “injured” spouse, must sign the form. Do not attach the previously filed Form 1040 to the Form 8379. Send Form 8379 to the IRS Service Center where you filed your original return.

5. The IRS will compute the injured spouse’s share of the joint return. Contact the IRS only if your original refund amount shown on the FMS offset notice differs from the refund amount shown on your tax return.

6. Follow the instructions on Form 8379 carefully and be sure to attach the required forms to avoid delays. If you don’t receive a notice, contact the Financial Management Service at 800-304-3107, Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Central Time).

My guest blogger today is Dagny Kight. She has an upcoming ebook called Lower Your IRS Debt which will help individuals with a step-by-step process to determine on their own if they can settle their tax debt for a lower amount.

Are you old enough to remember when we bought magazines through the mail in the hopes that the Prize Patrol would show up with a giant check? The marketing strategies of the famous publishing house sweepstakes are perhaps best remembered by the tagline, “You may have already won!” The ambiguous catchphrase led many people to believe they were indeed the lucky winner!

Tax resolution firms make heavy use of direct mail. You may have already started receiving their letters, particularly if the IRS has filed a Federal lien against you. The envelope will be made to look official. You will be urged to “Respond Immediately! Important Information About Your Tax Debt!”

When you open the letter, in many cases it will be from a company with a generic name like “Tax Resolution Specialists” or “Tax Settlement Department.” They will get the amount of your tax debt from public records so it will look like the letter was written just for you. The letter may claim your IRS debt can be lowered to maybe a third or even a quarter of what you owe. When you’re faced with an IRS tax debt, you may want to rush to the phone and call right away for a deal that good!

The ads are very persuasive because tax resolution firms try to charge thousands of dollars. If their fee and the amount of savings they claim they can get for you are many thousands of dollars less than your total IRS debt, wouldn’t you be tempted to sign on the dotted line? That’s what tax resolution firms are counting on!

Remember these two important facts:

1. NO ONE can “estimate” what your tax savings might be without calculating your complete financial disclosure.
2. NO ONE can guarantee how the IRS will decide when they review your complete financial disclosure.

I have an upcoming ebook, Lower Your IRS Debt, which will help you calculate your own financial disclosure and submit an application to the IRS for review. No matter how you ultimately complete your tax settlement, a complete financial disclosure will be required. I’ll take you step by step through the process I used successfully to lower my IRS debt from $42,564 to $1!

Daniel Stoica Accounting Professional

Are you stressed about tax time?

1. Don’t put off doing your taxes until the last minute. When you rush, you are more likely to make mistakes. You may even make mistakes that could cost you money.  So start them now if you haven’t already.

2. Use the IRS website. There were more than 300 million visits to www.irs.gov last year. Go to the “1040 Central” to check for the latest news and find answers to your questions about tax filing.

3. Use Free File. Free File is available exclusively at www.irs.gov. Everyone can find an option to prepare their tax return and e-file it for free. If you made $57,000 or less, you qualify for free tax software that is offered through a private-public partnership with manufacturers. If you made more than $57,000 and/or are comfortable preparing your own tax return, there’s Free File Fillable Forms, the electronic versions of IRS paper forms. Visit www.irs.gov/freefile for options.

4. Try IRS e-file. The majority of taxpayers now use IRS e-file, which is the safest, easiest and most common way to file a tax return. If you owe taxes, you can file immediately and pay later (by the April 17 tax deadline). Best of all, when you combine e-file with direct deposit  the IRS can generally issue your refund in as few as 10 days.

5. Don’t put off filing your taxes if you can’t pay. If you can’t pay the full amount of taxes you owe by the mid-April deadline, you should still file your return by the deadline and pay as much as you can to avoid penalties and interest. More than 75 percent of taxpayers eligible for an Installment Agreement can apply using the web-based Online Payment Agreement application available at www.irs.gov. To find out more about this simple and convenient process, type “Online Payment Agreement” in the search box at www.irs.gov.  You can also contact the IRS to discuss your payment options.

6. Request an extension of time to file – but pay on time. If the deadline clock is ticking, you can get an automatic six-month extension through Oct. 15. However, this extension of time to file, which must be filed or postmarked by the April 17 deadline, does not give you more time to pay any taxes due. If you have not paid at least 90 percent of the total tax due by the April deadline you may also be subject to an estimated tax penalty. You can obtain an extension through Free File at www.irs.gov/freefile. Or, file Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, available for downloading at www.irs.gov or by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676) to have a paper form mailed to you. Allow at least 10 days for mailed forms and publications.

Daniel Stoica Accounting Professional

Here are the expenses that generally qualify for an itemized deduction:
• Business travel away from home
• Business use of your car
• Business meals and entertainment
• Use of your home
• Education
• Tools
• Supplies
• Miscellaneous expenses

If you are going to record business expenses as deductions, you must keep records as proof.

For more information on keeping records for your tax filing, see IRS Publication 552, Recordkeeping for Individuals available on the IRS website at www.irs.gov, or call 1-800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

You should report  expenses that are not reimbursed on IRS Form 2106 or IRS Form 2106-EZ and attach it to Form 1040. Deductible expenses are then reported on IRS Schedule A, as a miscellaneous itemized deduction subject to a rule that limits your employee business expenses deduction to the amount that exceeds 2 percent of your adjusted gross income.

For more information see IRS Publication 529, Miscellaneous Deductions, which is available on the IRS website at www.irs.gov, or by calling 1-800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

Daniel Stoica Accounting Professional

Part of this Fresh Start initiative allows some unemployed taxpayers to have their failure-to-pay penalties waived. Penalties are one of the biggest factors a financially distressed taxpayer faces on a tax bill. The Fresh Start Penalty Relief Initiative gives eligible taxpayers a six-month extension to fully pay 2011 taxes. Interest still applies on the 2011 taxes from April 15, 2012 until the tax is paid, but you won’t have failure-to-pay penalties if you pay your tax, interest and any other penalties in full by Oct. 15, 2012.

Here is more information about this initiative:

1. Penalty relief, as mentioned above, is available to two categories of taxpayers:

* Wage earners who have been unemployed at least 30 consecutive days during 2011 or in 2012 up to this year’s April 17 tax deadline.

* Self-employed individuals who experienced a 25 percent or greater reduction in business income in 2011 due to the economy.

To qualify for this penalty relief, your adjusted gross income must not exceed $200,000 if married filing jointly or $100,000 if your filing status is single, married filing separately, head of household, or qualifying widower. Your 2011 balance due can not exceed $50,000.

Taxpayers who qualify need to complete a new Form 1127A to request the 2011 penalty relief. The new form is available on www.irs.gov or by calling 1-800-829-3676 (TAX FORM).

2. An installment agreement is a payment option for those who cannot pay their entire tax bill by the due date. The Fresh Start provisions give more taxpayers the ability to use streamlined installment agreements to catch up on back taxes and also more time to pay.

The new threshold for requesting an installment agreement has been raised from $25,000 to $50,000. This option requires limited financial information, meaning far less burden to the taxpayer. The maximum term for streamlined installment agreements has been raised to six years from the current five-year maximum.

If your debt is more than $50,000, you’ll still need to supply the IRS with a Collection Information Statement (Form 433-A or Form 433-F). You also can pay your balance down to $50,000 or less to qualify for this payment option.

With an installment agreement, you’ll pay less in penalties, but interest continues to accrue on the outstanding balance. In order to qualify for the new expanded streamlined installment agreement, you must agree to monthly direct debit payments.

You can set up an installment agreement with the IRS through the On-line Payment Agreement (OPA) page at www.irs.gov

3. Under the first round of Fresh Start in 2011, the IRS expanded the Offer in Compromise (OIC) program to cover a larger group of struggling taxpayers. An Offer in Compromise is an agreement between a taxpayer and the IRS that settles the taxpayer’s tax liabilities for less than the full amount owed.

The IRS recognizes many taxpayers are still struggling to pay their bills so the agency has been working on more common-sense changes to the OIC program to more closely reflect real-world situations.

Generally, an offer will not be accepted if the IRS believes that the liability can be paid in full as a lump sum or through a payment agreement. The IRS looks at the taxpayer’s income and assets to make a determination regarding the taxpayer’s ability to pay.

4. A series of eight short videos are available to familiarize taxpayers and practitioners with the IRS collection process. The series “Owe Taxes? Understanding IRS Collection Efforts,” is available on the IRS website, www.irs.gov.

The IRS website has a variety of other online resources available to help taxpayers meet their payment obligations.

Daniel Stoica Accounting Professional

Here are six requirements that will help you determine if you qualify for a home office deduction.

1. First of all, in order for you to claim a business deduction for your home, you must use part of your home regularly and exclusively:
• as your principal place of business, or
• as a place to meet or deal with clients, customers or patients in the normal course of your business, or
• in any connection with your trade or business where the business portion of your home is a separate structure not attached to your home.

2. The amount you can deduct generally depends on the percentage of your home that you use for business. However, your deduction for certain expenses will be limited if your gross income from your business is less than your total business expenses.

3. For certain storage use, rental use or daycare-facility use, you are required to use the property regularly but not exclusively.

4. There are special rules for qualified daycare providers and for persons storing business inventory or product samples.

5. If you are self-employed, use Form 8829, Expenses for Business Use of Your Home to figure your home office deduction and report those deductions on Form 1040 Schedule C, Profit or Loss From Business.

6. If you are an employee, additional rules apply for claiming the home office deduction. For example, the regular and exclusive business use must be for the convenience of your employer.

To get more information about the home office deduction, check out IRS Publication 587, Business Use of Your Home, available at www.IRS.gov or by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

You may also want to contact a tax professional to find out more about tax deductions for your home office.

Daniel Stoica Accounting Professional

1. The Non-business Energy Property Credit: If you installed energy-efficient improvements in your home, you may qualify for this credit. The 2011 credit is 10 percent of the cost of qualified energy-efficient improvements, up to $500. Qualifying improvements include adding insulation, energy-efficient exterior windows and doors and certain roofs. The cost of installing these items does not count. You can also claim a credit including installation costs, for certain high-efficiency heating and air conditioning systems, water heaters and stoves that burn biomass fuel. The credit has a lifetime limit of $500, of which only $200 may be used for windows. Please note that if you’ve claimed more than $500 of non-business energy property credits since 2005, you can not claim the credit for 2011. Qualifying improvements must have been placed into service in your principal residence located in the United States before January 1, 2012.

2. Residential Energy Efficient Property Credit: If you installed qualified residential alternative energy equipment, such as solar hot water heaters, solar electricity equipment and wind turbines, you may qualify for this credit, which runs through 2016. The credit is 30% of the cost of qualified property. There is no cap on the amount of credit available, except for fuel cell property. You may generally include labor costs when figuring the credit and you can carry forward any unused portions of this credit. Qualifying equipment must have been installed on or in connection with your home located in the United States; geothermal heat pumps qualify only when installed on or in connection with your main home located in the United States.

If you’re eligible, you can claim both of these credits on Form 5695, Residential Energy Credits when you file your 2011 federal income tax return. Also, note these are tax credits and not deductions, so they will generally reduce the amount of tax owed dollar for dollar. Finally, you may claim these credits regardless of whether you itemize deductions on IRS Schedule A.

You can find Form 5695 at IRS.gov or order it by calling 1-800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

Daniel Stoica Accounting Professional