Tax Returns – When You Haven’t Filed in Years
Feb 24, 2010 Taxes Relief
Sooner or later, most people get off the tracks. When it comes to taxes, this usually refers to people who for whatever reason haven’t filed tax returns for a few years. The question they face is what to do if they want to get back on board? Let’s take a look.
The filing of a tax return is a key event in the world of taxes for obvious reasons. There is also a less obvious reason that most taxpayers do not know. The filing of a return starts the clock running on when the IRS can pursue audits and investigations. The general statute of limitations is three years from the date of the filing of the return unless there is under reporting of income or fraud which then extends the period significantly.
Why does any of this matter? Well, the clock does not start running if you never file a return. This means most non-payers are a sitting target for the IRS. The agency can levy anything the taxpayer owns. The agency can just swoop in and take all the money in your bank account any day it chooses. Have a job? The IRS can come in a garnish your wages. It is pretty much the stuff of nightmares.
If you haven’t filed tax returns for a few years, there are a couple of steps you need to take. The first is to get professional help. A CPA would be best. The next is to get together all the information you can find on your finances for the lost years and have the CPA prepare tax returns for each year. The returns should then be filed with the IRS. Assuming you owe money, the CPA should contact the IRS to work out a payment plan. You will then need to stick to that plan and pay of f the debt.
This approach will get you back in the system with a minimum of fuss, something both you and the IRS will be happy to achieve.
Tags: Taxes Relief
The Privilege of Paying Property Taxes
Feb 10, 2010 Taxes Property
Property taxes-ugh! You can ask just about anyone and this will not be their favorite thing to talk about…or it will start a rant that you will be very sorry you every started.
Simply put, property taxes, a.k.a. millage tax, is an ad valorem tax, which is Latin for according to value and is based on the value of real estate or personal property. I’m assuming the Latin translation is included to show that this has been going on from the beginning of organized government, be it in the form of an elected king, a dictator or a democracy. In the ‘olden’ days this tax was more often in the form of bounty of some kind. For example, a farmer paid tax on his land by giving up a portion of his crops, or the proceeds thereof, in exchange for the privilege of farming that land. Yep, he put in all the hard work, he plowed and planted and harvested and fed the ox and maintained the wagon…yet he had to pay for the privilege of working his fingers to the bones.
Has it changed much? Nope, except that if you are a farmer you cannot get away with giving the tax man a bushel of wheat. Instead you better be paying what you owe, on time, or your property is liable to have an auction sign out in front and the sheriff waiting to evict you from your land.
So, you get to bear the cost of maintaining your home, so the roof doesn’t fall down around your ears or the sewage doesn’t back up in your basement. You get to mow and edge and fertilize and spend gobs of money on landscaping so you can briefly forget that you live in the concrete and mortar world of the suburbs. You keep your property clean so that the health department isn’t knocking on your door or taking you to court for the dandelions that you are growing to make wine with. You go to work day in and day out and sometimes on the weekends to meet these expenses and still be able to make your mortgage payment…and still…you get to pay for the privilege of owning your own home and you get to pay that amount every year and once in awhile the tax man cometh and decides that you have to pay more, because now that you’ve put all that work into making sure your neighbors and the health department are happy and you have added that built in swimming pool to defray the cost of belonging to the Y, your house is now worth more money and you get to pay for the privilege of paying to make your home your castle.
Tags: Taxes Property
