Sunday, February 04, 2007

Previous Tax Subject Posts

I plan to write some new tax posts this year, just as I did last year. Looks like I am soon to reach a blogging anniversary. In the meantime, here are previous posts that might be of interest:

5 Tax Surprises and 5 Tax Don'ts
Get Organized for the 2006 Tax Season
Employed or Self-Employed
Tax Deductibility of Certain Types of Donations

More to come. Shavua Tov.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wonder if you are familiar with TaxACT? I was thinking of switching to it, because the e-file is so much less than the others. (I file 4 federal and 4 state returns, so it is not a minor amount)

Orthonomics said...

The only tax software that I am personally familiar with is the one I use professionally. However, tax software would be a great topic, so let me see what research I can do. :)

Anonymous said...

Good timing--- I filed our taxes last night! 9 days off from having 2 major tax deductions for 2006, dang! :) Oh well, we're still getting a small refund.

Orthonomics said...

Good job Mary Kay Gal. One of our brokerage accounts got an extension for their forms, so I've got everything done but one number.

Reb Yudel said...

I know you're not a tax advisor, but...

A couple of months ago I got a letter from the IRS saying I had miscalculated my 2005 filing, and owed $600. I called the number they gave me, and was told which form they didn't like... but couldn't get more clarification. I put off doing anything about it, and then yesterday I got a letter saying the IRS had reviewed my 2005 filing, and in fact owed me $500... and they sent along a check.

Now, I'm quite happy to (1) not have to puzzle out my mistake (2) not pay $600 and (3) deposit $500. But I really don't like the opacity of this process -- is there any way, short of scheduling a meeting with an IRS auditor, to find out what's going on?

Orthonomics said...

Reb Yudel-I actually do dabble in tax work and hope to really move into that field in the future as my kids get older.

I would have to know more about your situation to venture a guess of what happened, but it sounds familiar to what happened to a client of mine in the past. In short, she has to pay estimated payments for alimony (others pay because they are self-employed, have significant investments, rental property, or something else).

Her problem was at the state level. She received a letter from her state saying that she owed $500 and some odd dollars. After calling her bank, we found out that the state did NOT record an estimated payment that had been sent in and it ended up that nothing was owed. Unfortunately, she had sent a check without a voucher and it was understandable that the check wasn't recorded correctly.

Chances are there was a mis-calculation in the IRS office. Maybe something was recorded incorrectly and later corrected. And now instead of you owing money, they owe you money.

Just my guess.

If you want to get to the bottom of it (I would!), I would call the IRS hotline or march right into your local IRS branch and ask them what happened. Otherwise, schedule a meeting (and report back).

Goodluck.