The IRS is open for business … sort of

Just before Trump’s shutdown of the government, a spokesman for the IRS said,

“The IRS is making great progress moving towards the opening of the filing season. Each year, we test our programming and make sure we have the right guidance and instructions ready to go for a successful launch of the filing season.

“We are on track to be able to do that between January and February, and of course as soon as we have completed all of our testing, we’ll come out with a formal announcement for the opening of the filing season.

“The IRS is positioned along with Treasury to have the right personnel and staff available for us to continue with our on-time plans to be able to deliver and open the filing season, so right now we are tracking very well to have another successful filing season in 2019 as we did in 2018.”

Sending refunds and providing taxpayer assistance, however, is a different story …

In late November, the agency came up with a Lapsed Appropriations Contingency Plan for what they’d do if Trump shutdown the government.

9,946 IRS employees are considered essential and would continue working. The balance of the 79,868 would be sent home, without pay.

How could this affect you?

During the shutdown, the IRS will stop:

·       Issuing refunds

·       Processing Form 1040X amended returns

·       All audits

·       Processing paper tax returns that include payments

·       Answering your questions

Needless to say, none of this is good in the light of recent tax law changes and filing season days away.

#IRS, #incometax, #filingseason

I’d rather give up s_ _!

Amy Winehouse, Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, Sonny Bono are just a few celebrities who died without a will.

Prince is the latest. Now it’s up to the court to sort things out.

According to The Virtual Attorney, 32% of Americans said they’d rather give up sex for a month, do their taxes, or get a root canal than create or update their will.

How about you? 

Congress passes permanent charitable giving incentives

Tax filing time is right around the corner. And Congress has passed the PATH Act making two laws that had expired on January 1, 2015, permanent thereby giving you greater incentives to donate to charities this year and beyond:

·       You are now allowed to donate real property for conservation purposes

·       If you are older than 70½, you many now make charitable donations from your IRA directly to a qualified charity, without being taxed on the distribution amount up to $100,000

Interested in more ideas to reduce your income and estate tax bills while helping your favorite charity? Then download a copy of A Donor’s Guide to Planned Giving. 

Will you give more in 2016?

Charitable giving is expected to increase by 4.1 percent this year and 4.3 percent next year, according to researchers at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Those increases would exceed the five-, 10- and 25-year annualized average rates of growth in total giving, and would fall just below the 40-year average growth rate of 4.4 percent.

The main forces driving this growth are: the projected growth in the U.S. stock market, the rise in personal income, the change in demographics, and the increase in net worths for households and nonprofits.   

To find out who is looking to use their wealth to create a social impact and the tools nonprofits are using to engage these donors, click here for a comprehensive overview and a link to the full report. 

And for ideas on how to give to your favorite charities while saving a bundle on income and estate taxes, download a copy of A Donor’s Guide to Planned Giving for just $8.95.  

Is your state taxing you fairly?

How do you feel about paying state and local taxes? I’m talking about income taxes, sales and excise taxes, property taxes, and more.

There’s a good chance you think you’re treated unfairly. And you might be right. On the other hand, compared to residents in other states you might not have it too bad. 

To see where your state ranks on the tax-fairness scale, check out this survey by Wallethub.