The Top 5 Tax Secrets the IRS Doesn’t Want You To Know – Part 1
Believing you are all square with the IRS each year can be a little tricky sometimes. Most people file their taxes “in the dark” — not really knowing for sure if they have filed everything accurately. With life being so busy, who has the time (or wants to take the time if they had it) to actually keep up with the new tax law changes each year? Filing a relatively straight forward tax return correctly, is truly a Herculean task these days.
Should filing taxes be easier for regular middle income folks who own a home, run a small business or have some simple investments? Yes, of course!
However, there are MANY things that should be different in life, but they are not. Filing your personal or business tax return SHOULD be on the list of things our country needs to get fixed to help out ordinary tax paying citizens like you. (But … don’t hold your breath!) You see, we can have a discussion ‘til we’re blue in the face about what should be different about Uncle Sam and the tax code. But at the end of the day, we all still have to fill out our tax forms and file by the IRS deadline or we’re in for a heap of trouble …
Don’t Be Embarrassed … It Is NOT Your Fault!
Hi. My name is Bernadette. I save taxpayers like YOU time, money and IRS aggravations for a living. You might be a doctor. You might own a construction business. You might even be making money on the side from your once hobby, now small home-based business. That means chances are really good you are competent in 101 different things from your job or profession that I would never dream of trying to do on my own.
And that’s the point. You are good at what you do for a living and when it comes to taxes, I’m pretty darn good myself. I live and breathe taxes … eating tax audit notices from the IRS for breakfast! You should not be embarrassed about not feeling “peace” when filing your taxes. If most people were honest with their true feelings, the majority of your friends, neighbors and co-workers would say the same thing.
So please, don’t beat yourself up for not knowing for sure if your taxes have been filed completely and accurately.Truthfully, it is costing you too much time and aggravation to mess with filing your taxes alone anyway. (I’ll explain more about this in a minute.)
The Top 5 Secrets Guaranteed To Save You Money And Reducing Your Stress!
TAX SECRET #1
FILE ALL IRS REQUIRED TAX RETURNS ON TIME!
This might sound brain-dead simple, but when people don’t have the money to pay their taxes, a large percentage of taxpayers delay and do not make the IRS filing deadline. Even if you don’t have the total amount due, send a $1.00 and file your taxes on time!
So many people do not realize that the IRS charges you a penalty of up to 25% FOR JUST FILING YOUR TAX RETURNS LATE. That’s right, 25% of what you owe. This includes Individual tax returns and payroll tax returns.
What people do not know is if they file their tax returns on time they can avoid the 25% penalty even if they do not send in the money, which is owed on their tax returns. Sending “as much as you can” is better than nothing and shows a little good faith. But definitely do not “not file” …the IRS doesn’t forget and they will come back to contact you later and you’ll owe a lot more.
Of course you will get a follow up notice in the mail from the IRS for not sending in the money owed, but so what, you would have avoided a 25% penalty!
As a tax professional, I see THIS problem so often each tax season. It sounds simple, but I could have saved people many thousands of dollars over the years in penalties if they just knew this one thing. So, in the future, if this happens to you — no matter what is going on in your life, take the extra time to file all tax returns on time, even if you do not send in the money owed with the return.
Stay tuned for Part 2…..
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Tags: IRS, Tax Secrets, Taxes
