Tax Matters - The Top Tax Defenders Blog

Tax deductions reduce the amount of taxes you owe to the IRS and ease the financial burden you face when you file your returns each year. However, some of the most lucrative eligible deductions are overlooked simply because most taxpayers do not know about them. You could lower your tax obligation and even get a refund by claiming these deductions if you are eligible for them. 

Preparing to Prepare – Get Ready to File Your Taxes

Get ready for Tuesday, April 17, this year’s deadline for filing federal taxes with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The preparation required to put together your return can be a headache and a chore. You’ll spend time getting receipts in order and collecting tax paperwork received in the mail. Making sure you have everything needed to sit down and prepare your taxes or hand them to a professional is often just as much work as preparing the tax return. Here are some tips for getting ready to file your taxes.

Each tax season brings changes about which you may have questions and concerns. You wonder if these new rules will cause you to owe more money or get a bigger refund. 

The damage inflicted by natural disasters can be far reaching and last for weeks or months. While you scramble to rebuild your normal life, you still must worry about handling routine tasks like filing your taxes. 

Hurricane Harvey has proven to be one of the country's worst natural disasters. Millions of home and business owners continue to put their lives back together and attempt to regain some sense of normal. 

As you work to rebuild your home or business, you may wonder how you can meet important upcoming tax filing deadlines. You can meet your tax filing obligation without adding worry or stress to your recovery efforts by utilizing the Hurricane Harvey tax relief options available to you today.

Thanks to massive public awareness campaigns, the American public has become more aware about the benefits and promise of renewable energy. Both home and business owners realize that they can power their buildings for less money without negatively impacting the environment.

Every year, as the end of tax season approaches, last minute filers are looking for the easiest and fastest ways to file and submit their returns. Instead of going to a CPA or a tax prep service, many are using mobile applications. Discover the pros and cons of tax apps and whether they can help you file your taxes on time this year.

The IRS offers a variety of credits and deductions designed to ease people's tax burdens. Out of all of them, the Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC, many times proves to be the most lucrative. You can determine if you can use the EITC on your tax returns this year by learning the key facts regarding this credit and for what purpose the IRS makes it available.

Taxpayers generally want to owe the IRS as little money as possible after filing their taxes. They use a number of different options to offset their tax liabilities and lower the amount that they are expected to pay to the government each year.

One of the newest ways to lower your tax burden involves opening a Health Savings Account, or HSA. An HSA offers you several unique benefits about which you should know before you prepare your tax return this year.

New tax laws put higher income earners at risk of having to pay more taxes. If your income is above $250,000, you could face higher tax bills because of the new ACA law, as well as several others passed by Congress recently.

However, you can lower what you will inevitably owe to the IRS by taking several proactive steps now. These tactics should be on your checklist when you aim to save money on your 2015 taxes.