Tax Tips & News: Tax Tips (16)

Is 'Friending' in Your Future? Better Pay Your Taxes First

4 minutes read

Tax deadbeats are finding someone actually reads their MySpace and Facebook postings: the taxman.

State revenue agents have begun nabbing scofflaws by mining information posted on social-networking Web sites, from relocation announcements to professional profiles to financial boasts.

In Minnesota, authorities were able to levy back taxes on the wages of a long-sought tax evader after he announced on MySpace that he would be returning to his home town to work as a real-estate broker and gave his...

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Congress Gives Buyers of New Cars a Break

2 minutes read

If you’re planning to buy a new car this year, you might also be eligible for a shiny new tax break.

Part of a recently enacted economic-stimulus law allows many taxpayers who buy a new “passenger vehicle” this year to deduct the state and local sales and excise taxes on their 2009 federal income-tax returns, to be filed next year, the Internal Revenue Service says.

Car buyers are allowed to take this special new deduction whether or not they itemize their deductions. That’s an important point...

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States Try to Tap High Earners

3 minutes read

The governor and Democratic lawmakers in New York will attempt to patch an $18 billion budget deficit by imposing much higher taxes on the richest residents, joining several states considering such a move this year.

Under a proposal by Gov. David Paterson, New York would follow California and Maryland in pushing its top earners into higher tax brackets that are several percentage points more than what most earners pay. And New Jersey is considering raising its top-tier income taxes even higher,...

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State Amnesty Plan Lets Delinquent Taxpayers Catch Up

4 minutes read

Howard Weitzman and state officials are expected to announce a not-so-new, limited state tax amnesty program that forgives those who pay what they owe and promise to pay on time in the future.

But the key to the program — and what may well make it unique — is that you can’t participate in it if you don’t confess to a nonpayment of which the state is unaware.

The Voluntary Disclosure and Compliance Program has been in effect since September but, despite $50 million that is being collected from...

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Upside of Down? Selling Stocks for Tax Losses

7 minutes read

Hidden in the market’s hideous performance is a unique opportunity for investors to cut their tax bills for years to come.

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IRS has $1.3 Billion for People Who Have Not Filed a 2005 Tax Return

3 minutes read

WASHINGTON — Unclaimed refunds totaling approximately $1.3 billion are awaiting over a million people who did not file a federal income tax return for 2005, the Internal Revenue Service announced today. However, to collect the money, a return for 2005 must be filed with the IRS no later than Wednesday, April 15, 2009.

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Add this to tax bill: $207 and a day of work

4 minutes read

WASHINGTON – Tax season became a little more taxing this year, with the average person spending more than a day and more than $200 collecting, calculating and compiling those numbers for the tax man, according to a report based on Internal Revenue Service figures.

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State asks more filers to prove they deserve credits they claim

3 minutes read

ALBANY — In an effort to catch more tax cheats, the state is doubling the number of reviews it is doing on people seeking tax credits on their 2007 returns.

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Web bugs may break state law, Online Filers Beware!

6 minutes read

Looks like potential privacy violations aren’t the only problem with the use of so-called Web bugs to track people’s actions as they file online tax returns.

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