Tips for Avoiding a 2012 Tax Bill

With the summer of 2012 coming to a close, it’s a good time to look at your tax payments you’ve made this year and see if you’re likely to accrue a tax liability for this year or not.

You should act soon to adjust yor tax withholding to bring the taxes you must pay closer to what you actually owe. If you’re ahead of schedule in terms of payments for the year, then you can reduce your withholding and actually keep more of your paycheck for the rest of the year.

Most people have taxes withheld from each paycheck or pay taxes on a quarterly basis through estimated tax payments. Each year millions of American workers have far more taxes withheld from their pay than is required. Many people anxiously wait for their tax refunds to make major purchases or pay their financial obligations. It is best, however, to not tie major financial decisions to your anticipated refund — especially if you owe back taxes for previous years, because the IRS is simply going to keep that refund, even if you filed an Offer in Compromise this year.

Here is some information to help bring the taxes you pay during the year closer to what you will actually owe when you file your tax return.

Employees

New Job? When you start a new job your employer will ask you to complete Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate. Your employer will use this form to figure the amount of federal income tax to withhold from your paychecks. Be sure to complete the Form W-4 accurately.

Life Event? You may want to change your Form W-4 when certain life events happen to you during the year. Examples of events in your life that can change the amount of taxes you owe include a change in your marital status, the birth of a child, getting or losing a job, and purchasing a home. Keep your Form W-4 up-to-date.

You typically can submit a new Form W–4 at anytime you wish to change the number of your withholding allowances. However, if your life event results in the need to decrease your withholding allowances or changes your marital status from married to single, you must give your employer a new Form W-4 within 10 days of that life event.

If you need help determining how many exemptions to claim on your new W-4, feel free to get in touch … Continue reading

[Free Book] “Tax Resolution Secrets” available free until Sunday

A few days ago, I learned that Amazon has a nifty little feature in their Kindle publishing system for authors that lets us offer our books for zero cost during any 5 day period once per quarter.

My book, Tax Resolution Secrets is both the #1 and #2 best-selling tax resolution book on Amazon (#2 is the Kindle ebook edition, #1 is the paperback). In order to celebrate this little achievement, I’d like to do this 5-day free offer that Amazon allows authors to do.

So, running through Sunday, you can download the Kindle edition of Tax Resolution Secrets at absolutely no cost. You don’t even need to own a Kindle device in order to read it — there are Kindle apps for most smartphones, and even a Mac and Windows application as well.

The book is 100% geared towards the lay consumer, not towards licensed professionals. However, if you’re new to the tax resolution side of things, you might actually get quite a bit out of reading the book. It discusses appeals, SFRs, Installment Agreements, penalty abatements, the OIC process, lien releases, and more. The book shows people how to handle these sorts of tasks on their own, so I think it would make a good reference book for tax professionals, also.

The other thing that you’ll see about the book is that I use it as a lead generation tool. By downloading the book for yourself, you’ll actually see HOW I use it to generate leads — it’s pretty obvious what I’m doing with it once you actually see it.

The only thing I ask is that you please write a review of the book for me on Amazon. I’ll be working on the second edition here in a few months, and your feedback can help improve the book for everybody else.

To download the book, as well as submit a review, just visit Amazon’s page for Tax Resolution Secrets Kindle Edition.… Continue reading

Let’s talk credit card debt

I realize that this is a blog about taxes, but if you have tax debt, I assume that you have other debts as well. It has only been within the last few months that the IRS has softened their stance on allowing you to claim your minimum credit card payments as an allowable expense, so it’s a topic worth addressing.

Credit card debt in general is one of the biggest problems in our society. If you rack up a lot of it, and can’t pay it, life starts to suck when the creditors start calling. Five years ago, when I was heading into bankruptcy, one of my favorite days was the day that Qwest cut off my phone service because I couldn’t pay the bill. That was when the credit collection calls finally stopped!

If you’re looking to address your credit card debt, and other consumer debts as well, there is a simple and often repeated formula for paying down and eliminating those debts. You’ve probably heard two variations of this before, but I think they’re worth hearing again now and then.

The process is pretty simple: Make a list of all your debts, and rank them by priority based on either interest rate from highest to lowest, or by debt amount from lowest to highest. Then, take any extra money you have each month and put it towards the first item on the list.

Mathematically speaking, it’s best to rank them by interest rate. Most of the time, if you owe the IRS money, they’re going to be at the very tippy top because the combined interest and penalty rate can exceed 60% APR. However, many personal finance experts suggest doing it a little different, and paying off your smallest balances first. The rationale behind this is largely psychological, because paying off a smaller debt and being able to say, “It’s paid off!” gives a mental boost to the whole process.

After debt #1 is paid off, the money that was going towards it every month is now applied to debt #2. This accelerates payoff of that debt. Once debt #2 is paid off, the entire monthly amount from that goes to debt #3 until it’s paid off, etc. Eventually, everything is paid off.

While you’re making this debt paydown process, you’re generally making your minimum payments on your other credit cards. If you’re in a situation where money is extremely tight and you’re … Continue reading