My CFO on the Go!

The IRS Stimulus payments are going out. Most single people are getting $600, married couples are getting $1,200 and there is an extra $300 per child under the age of 17. So a married couple with 2 children can expect a stimulus payment of $1,800. If you were expecting your stimulus payment by direct deposit you should have it by now. Paper check payments are being mailed weekly according to the last two digits of the primary filers social security number. You can look at this schedule of stimulus payments to see when you should expect your check. But not everyone is getting what they expected, and some people are surprised to find that they are getting nothing! Here are some of the reasons why your tax stimulus payment may be delayed or missing.

You may not have gotten the full amount of your payment because:

Read more… »

This year Tax Freedom Day arrived on Wednesday, April 23, 2008. What is tax freedom day? That is the day that Americans stop working for the government, and start working for themselves. Just think about it, all the money that you have earned up until last Wednesday, went to pay taxes. Not just federal income taxes, but state income taxes, payroll taxes, corporate taxes, sales taxes and property taxes.

Every year The Tax Foundation calculates Tax Freedom Day. They ask “What price is the nation paying for government?” The answer is shocking. Americans pay more for taxes than for food, clothing and housing combined. About 33% of all income goes towards maintaining the government.

Read more… »

Free Business Classes

There is more to starting a business than having a great idea. Just to get started you need to learn about marketing, taxes, and accounting. Then you will find you want to know more about developing a website, writing a business plan, and how to get federal grants. Hiring employees or contractors opens another can of worms! You could go to college and get your MBA which is expensive and time consuming. You could purchase countless books, and spend hours reading about moving cheese without finding what you need, or you can take advantage of a couple of resources available to anyone with an internet connection. The IRS and the SBA! Yes! Your tax dollars actually provide some useful services. Now is a good time to take advantage of these free business classes and feel like you are getting some benefit from the taxes you are paying.

The Small Business Administration

The Small Business Administration is familiar to most people because of their small business loans. But they also have an excellent online education system. The Small Business Training Center is designed to “enrich, empower, and educate small businesses”. At first I thought this would be full of dry, government issued type courses, but it is not! While many of the courses are SBA courses, several are provided by private enterprises. My favorites are the mini courses provided by Trump University. Yes, you can learn from The Donald for FREE! Topics include “How to Write a Business Plan”, “How to Find Start-Up Funding” and even “How to Start a Business on a Shoestring Budget”.

Business Tax Classes at the Internal Revenue Service

Now that The Donald has filled your head with how to make money, now you need to go over to the IRS site and learn how to hold onto it! The IRS will teach you how to pay less tax. They have a number of different classes on taxation available at all levels. I recommend most business owners start with the Online Small Business Workshop. There you will learn everything you need to know about what taxes your business needs to pay and how to pay them. Then go to the Link and Learn section. This is where the IRS trains its volunteers and you have free access to the same information. There are all levels of tax instruction, plus special sections for military and overseas taxpayers.

Business Classes on TV at Small Business TV

Once the IRS has turned your brain to mush, you can watch news and information about business on SBTV. (Please note this is online TV and the audio starts right away. Be prepared to turn down your speakers!) SBTV has hundreds of videos on business how-tos, news, and business success stories. Today, April 7, 2008 they are featuring Jack Canfield on
7 Ways to Boost Your Business Just by Asking. SBTV also has a whole section on Tech Tactics, Making Technology Work For You After spending the weekend struggling with technology that is sounding like a very interesting topic to me!

One of the lesser known tax credits out there is the Saver’s Credit. A credit is a dollar amount that reduces your taxes. It is better than a deduction, that reduces your taxable income. The Saver’s Credit allows lower to middle income taxpayers to take a credit based on the amount the taxpayer has contributed to a retirement plan. This is in addition to any other benefits you may get from contributing to your IRA or employer’s 401(k) plan. The credit can be as high as 50% of your retirement contribution. So say you Contribute $2,000 to your IRA account during the year. You will get to deduct $2,000 from your income, and that will save you at least $200 on your taxes. In addition, you may qualify for up to a $1,000 Saver’s credit. That is another $1,000 off your taxes. So the $2,000 IRA contribution really only cost you $800. The other $1,200 you would have paid in taxes if you hadn’t put it in your IRA. This is a really sweet deal. Anyone who’s income is under $26,000 if single, or $52,000 if married should look into this credit. And remember, you can make a 2007 IRA contribution as late as April 15, 2008.

Here is more on the Saver’s credit from the IRS.

If you make eligible contributions to an employer-sponsored retirement plan or to an individual retirement arrangement, you may be able to take a tax credit.

The Savers Credit formally known as the Retirement Savings Contributions Credit applies to individuals with a filing status and income of:

• Single with income up to $26,000

• Head of Household with income up to $39,000

• Married Filing Jointly, with incomes up to $52,000

To be eligible for the credit you must be at least age 18, not a full-time student, and cannot be claimed as a dependent on another person’s return.

You may be able to take a credit of up to $1,000 (up to $2,000 if filing jointly) if you make eligible contributions to a qualified IRA, 401(k) and certain other retirement plans.

The credit is a percentage of the qualifying contribution amount, with the highest rate for taxpayers with the least income.

When figuring this credit, you generally must subtract the amount of distributions you have received from your retirement plans from the contributions you have made. This rule applies for distributions starting two years before the year the credit is claimed and ending with the filing deadline for that tax return.

The Retirement Savings Contributions Credit is in addition to other tax benefits which may result from the retirement contributions. For example, most workers at these income levels may deduct all or part of their contributions to a traditional IRA. Contributions to a regular 401(k) plan are not subject to income tax until withdrawn from the plan.

For more information, review IRS Publication 590, Individual Retirement Arrangements and Form 8880, Credit for Qualified Retirement Savings Contributions. The publication and form can be downloaded at IRS.gov or ordered by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

Remember that for the genuine IRS Web site be sure to use .gov. Don’t be confused by internet sites that end in .com, .net, .org or other designations instead of .gov. The address of the official IRS governmental Web site is www.irs.gov.

Links:

• Publication 590, Individual Retirement Arrangements (PDF 1401.9K)

• Form 8880, Credit for Qualified Retirement Savings Contributions (PDF 273.8K)

The official title from the IRS is the Economic Stimulus Payment, but most people still call it the Tax Rebate Check and it’s going out to over 130 million US households beginning in May.

3 Simple Requirements

You must have a social security number, an ITIN (individual taxpayer identification number) will not work.

You must have at least $3,000 in qualified income. For your ESp (Economic Stimulus Payment) Social Security Payments, some veterans Benefits, and Railroad Retirement payments count towards the $3,000.

You must file a 2007 Tax Return. This means that many people who would not otherwise file a tax return, because there income is too low, or is not taxable, like Social Security Benefits, should file a tax return this year. This last point is very important. If you think you are not getting a Tax Rebate Check because you are not required to file a tax return, you are wrong! As long as you have at least $3,000 in qualified income you will get a check as long as you file a tax return. If you don’t normally file a return, you should be able to file the short form 1040A which is not too complicated and most can manage on their own.

File a return, even if you are not sure you qualify. If you don’t owe anything it doesn’t hurt to file a return. If it turns out you don’t qualify, you simply won’t get a check. Don’t worry. Filing a return this year doesn’t make the IRS “expect” a return next year.

How Much Will You Get?

If you qualify you will get at least $300 and no more than $600 per person. The exact amount depends on the information on your tax return. Higher income taxpayers will have their ESP reduced or even eliminated. With phaseouts beginning at AGI’s $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for married couples.

Scam Alert

There is always someone wanting to take advantage. Here is a warning put out by the IRS.
If someone claiming to be from the IRS calls or e-mails you about the payments and asks you for a Social Security, bank account or credit card number, it’s a scam. The scammers are trying to get your personal and financial information so they can empty your bank account, run up charges on your credit card and more. Find out more — see IR-2008-11, IRS Warns of New E-Mail and Telephone Scams Using the IRS Name; Advance Payment Scams Starting.

If you have any questions you can leave a comment with the question, or you can visit the IRS Economic Stimulus Payment website.