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Personal Finance From a Biblical Perspective

The IRS Has Over $1.1 Billion In Unclaimed Refunds

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The IRS has more than $1.1 Billion in unclaimed refunds for nearly 1.1 million people who did not file an income tax return for 2007. Many taxpayers may have chosen not to file a return because they did not earn enough income to require filing an income tax return, even though they had taxes withheld from their income. There are many reasons for you to file a return even when you are not required to do so.

How To Get Your Unclaimed Refunds

In order to recover your unclaimed tax refunds, you must file a return for tax year 2007. Taxpayers are given 3 years from the due date of a return in order to file – there are no late-filing penalties charged when a refund is due. Since the tax return deadline has been extended, you have until April 18, 2011 to file your 2007 return.

You may not feel like going through the trouble of filing an old return for a couple of dollars (I probably wouldn’t either), but…

The IRS estimates that half of these potential 2007 refunds are $640 or more.

If you fail to file a 2007 return by the deadline listed above, the money becomes property of the U.S. Treasury. Here is another lost benefit that you need to consider:

By failing to file a return, people stand to lose more than a refund of taxes withheld or paid during 2007. In addition, many low-and-moderate income workers may not have claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The EITC helps individuals and families whose incomes are below certain thresholds, which in 2007 were $39,783 for those with two or more children, $35,241 for people with one child, and $14,590 for those with no children.

There are a few things that you must know when filing a return for tax year 2007:

  • You will not be able to file an electronic return, although you will be able to request direct deposit
  • If you did not file a tax return for 2008 or 2009, your 2007 return will not be released to you
  • Your 2007 refund will be used to satisfy any outstanding debts owed to the IRS, unpaid child support, and any delinquent federal student loans

    • To be honest, if you any of the outstanding debt mentioned above, collecting an unclaimed refund from 3 years ago would be a great way to pay it off! This way, you don’t have to worry about taking out any unsecured loans! If you don’t have any of the above, then take a look at the IRA contribution limits and prepare yourself for retirement!

    Here is some final guidance that the IRS issued in order to make this process as easy as possible:

    Current and prior year Internal Revenue Service tax forms and instructions are available on the Forms and Publications page of IRS.gov or by calling toll-free 1-800-TAX-FORM (1-800-829-3676). Taxpayers who are missing Forms W-2, 1098, 1099 or 5498 for 2007, 2008 or 2009 should request copies from their employer, bank or other payer. If these efforts are unsuccessful, taxpayers can get a free transcript showing information from these year-end documents by ordering on-line, calling 1-800-908-9946, or by filing Form 4506-T, Request for Transcript of Tax Return, with the IRS.

    It may be helpful to look at your last year tax return as well.

    Hopefully, a few of the 1.1 million people who are due money will read this before the deadline – be sure to share this article with everyone that you know before then 😉 !

    photo by Salvatore Vuono

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    What You Need To Know About Tax Exemptions And Dependents

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    Some tax laws and guidelines affect every person who may have to file a return – this includes rules governing tax exemptions and dependents. Ever since I became involved in preparing taxes, I have noticed a lot of confusion regarding exemptions and dependents.

    Apparently, so has the IRS. Therefore, they have released a bulletin outlining six facts regarding tax exemptions and dependents that will help you when you file a tax return:

    Tax Exemptions And Dependents:

    1. Exemptions reduce your taxable income. There are two types of exemptions: personal exemptions and exemptions for dependents. For each exemption you can deduct $3,650 on your 2010 return.

    2. Your spouse is never considered your dependent. On a joint return, you may claim one exemption for yourself and one for your spouse. If you’re filing a separate return, you may claim the exemption for your spouse only if they had no gross income, are not filing a joint return, and were not the dependent of another taxpayer.

    3. Exemptions for dependents. You generally can take an exemption for each of your dependents. A dependent is your qualifying child or qualifying relative. You must list the social security number of any dependent for whom you claim an exemption.

    4. If someone else claims you as a dependent, you may still be required to file your own return. Whether you must file a return depends on several factors including the amount of your unearned, earned or gross income, your marital status, any special taxes you owe and any advance Earned Income Tax Credit payments you received. [Find out if you need to file an income tax return]

    5. If you are a dependent, you may not claim an exemption. If someone else – such as your parent – claims you as a dependent, you may not claim your personal exemption on your own return.

    6. Some people cannot be claimed as your dependent. Generally, you may not claim a married person as a dependent if they file a joint return with their spouse. Also, to claim someone as a dependent, that person must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. resident alien, U.S. national or resident of Canada or Mexico for some part of the year. There is an exception to this rule for certain adopted children. See IRS Publication 501 (opens a PDF),  Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information for additional tests to determine who can be claimed as a dependent.

    Hopefully, these guidelines have helped you to develop a better understanding of exemptions and dependents. If you need more assistance, visit out tax help page. There you will find guides, articles, and other reference material related to this and other subjects!

    Once you are ready to prepare a return, be sure to contact us to set up an appointment for tax preparation. If you decide to file your own taxes, we recommend using TurboTax to do so.

    Be sure you are aware of the tax filing delay, as well as the fact that the tax filing deadline has been extended this year. To get the most out of your financial situation in 2011, you should know the IRA Contribution Limits, 401k Contribution Limits, and the Income Tax Rates for 2011!

    photo by jscreationzs

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    Why You Should File A Tax Return Even If You Are Not Required!

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    In a previous article, we discussed the fact that many people are not required to file an income tax return. However, there are some instances when you may want to file a tax return even though you are not required to do so.

    Why You Should File A Tax Return:

    Recently, the IRS gave seven reasons for doing so:

    1. Federal Income Tax Withheld – You should file to get money back if Federal Income Tax was withheld from your pay, you made estimated tax payments, or had a prior year overpayment applied to this year’s tax.

    2. Making Work Pay Credit – You may be able to take this credit if you had earned income from work. The maximum credit for a married couple filing a joint return is $800 and $400 for other taxpayers.

    3. Earned Income Tax Credit – You may qualify for EITC if you worked, but did not earn a lot of money. EITC is a refundable tax credit; which means you could qualify for a tax refund.

    4. Additional Child Tax Credit – This refundable credit may be available to you if you have at least one qualifying child and you did not get the full amount of the Child Tax Credit.

    5. American Opportunity Credit – The maximum credit per student is $2,500 and the first four years of postsecondary education qualify.

    6. First-Time Homebuyer Credit – The credit is a maximum of $8,000 or $4,000 if your filing status is married filing separately. To qualify for the credit, taxpayers must have bought – or entered into a binding contract to buy – a principal residence located in the United States on or before April 30, 2010. If you entered into a binding contract by April 30, 2010, you must have closed on the home on or before September 30, 2010. If you bought a home as your principle residence in 2010, you may be able to qualify and claim the credit even if you already owned a home. In this case, the maximum credit for long-time residents is $6,500, or $3,250 if your filing status is married filing separately.

    7. Health Coverage Tax Credit – Certain individuals, who are receiving Trade Adjustment Assistance, Reemployment Trade Adjustment Assistance, or pension benefit payments from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, may be eligible for a Health Coverage Tax Credit worth 80 percent of monthly health insurance premiums when you file your 2010 tax return.

    Well, there you have it…seven reasons why you should file a tax return even if you don’t have to do so.

    If you have determined that you have to prepare a return, then be sure to contact us to set up an appointment for tax preparation. If you decide to file your own taxes, we recommend using TurboTax to do so.

    Be sure you are aware of the tax filing delay, as well as the fact that the tax filing deadline has been extended this year. Also, you should know the IRA Contribution Limits, 401k Contribution Limits, and the Income Tax Rates for 2011!

    photo by JD Hancock

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