Tax Matters - The Top Tax Defenders Blog

You may have breathed a sigh of relief as this year's tax season passed. As tempting as it may be to forget about your financial specifics right now, the time has never been better to start preparing for next year's taxes.

People who work as tipped employees must report both their regular income and their tips from each shift as income. If you work as a waiter or waitress, a casino poker dealer, a valet, bus boy, or as another commonly tipped worker, it is important that you know how and when to report your tips to your employer and to the IRS.

The tax man comes for everyone, even people who are wealthy and famous. In fact, despite having more money that most people in the country, the rich and famous run afoul of the IRS just as often as everyday people. Hollywood heavyweights must follow the U.S. tax codes just like everyone else and sometimes find themselves being audited for violating U.S. tax codes.

You have the right to representation before the IRS. Depending on the specifics of your case, you may benefit by allowing someone to advocate for you and to take charge of complicated processes for which you lack skill and comprehension. While you do have the right to argue for yourself in IRS matters, you may find it more advantageous to allow one of the permitted representatives to assist you in your case.

Getting a letter in the mail from the IRS is not necessarily reason to panic. In fact, you most likely have very few reasons to fear what the letter communicates if you take the proper steps to resolve any issue the IRS has with your returns. If you think to ignore the letter entirely, you should be aware that disregarding it could result in serious legal and financial consequences.

Business owners typically hope to yield more profits than losses each year. When they do lose more money than they gain, they incur what is known as a net operating loss, or NOL. NOLs can have different tax implications for business owners because the IRS typically will refund some or all of the losses. It is important that they understand how to determine any NOLs their businesses sustained and what to do with these losses after they file taxes.

The IRS allows cash-strapped taxpayers several different options to resolve their back taxes. They can either make an Offer in Compromise, or OIC, or they can request that their accounts be put in a Currently Not Collectible, or CNC, status. You can determine which of these options is best for your own delinquent tax situation by learning the basics of both choices.

After you submit your tax return, you may wonder what you should do with all of the documents needed to file your taxes. You realize that some paperwork should be kept on hand for while, but you may not know what documents to keep and for how long you should retain them. You can simplify your record keeping and avoid compiling heaps of unneeded paperwork by using these guidelines after filing your taxes each year.

Like many taxpayers, you may wonder what it is going to cost you to file your taxes this year. The expense associated with filing a return can depend on a number of different factors. You may be able to anticipate your own expenses by knowing what circumstances most commonly affect taxpayers' tax filing costs.

People who owe the IRS money often find that they owe more than they can pay in one lump sum. Rather than allowing their wages to be garnished or their assets to be seized, debtors can now take advantage of one of the IRS' installment plans.