Income Tax Tag: irs

Form SS-4 Application for Employer Identification Number is used by employers, corporations, partnerships, sole proprietors, trusts, estates, churches, government agencies, Indian tribal entities, certain individuals and others to apply for their federal EIN tax ID number. That sounds like a whole lot of employers for just one form, but Form SS-4 line 9a asks you to check one box that best describes your entity type.

Form SS-4 Application for Employer Identification Number

Please note that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) now has an online EIN application The online EIN application replaces the need for Form SS-4. The online EIN application asks you the questions necessary to process your form and you will get your EIN immediately upon completion. See the EIN online application link below for more information.

Form SS-4 Application for Employer Identification Number

• Form SS-4
• Form SS-4 Instructions

Apply for Employer Identification Number (EIN) Online

• EIN Application Online

Form 5405 First Time Homebuyer Credit and Repayment of the Credit is used by eligible taxpayers who buy a home and qualify for the first time homebuyer credit. The Homebuyer Assistance and Improvement Act of 2010 signed by the President in July effectively extended the closing deadline from June 30 to Sept 30 for any eligible purchase that was entered into before April 30.

The IRS says in their July notice that those who entered into a purchase contract on or before April 30 but closed after that date should attach a copy of a signed contract showing all the parties names, signatures, property address, purchase price, and the date of the contract, attach to their tax return.

• Form 5405
• Form 5405 Instructions

Please read the IRS Form 5405 Instructions for more information about the First Time Homebuyer Credit. More printable income tax forms can be found on our site.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has created a special web page for those who are unemployed and struggling to pay their taxes. On this special web page titled “Tax Center to Assist Unemployed Taxpayers” is a list of resources that you can scan through to see if they related to your particular tax issue.

Why the special web page? Life changing events can impact your income tax return and any tax debt that you owe to the IRS. Loss of a job, forgiveness of debt by creditors, using your retirement funds to pay bills, are just a few examples. If your income decreases, you might also become eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit.

The IRS recommends that if you have trouble paying your tax bill to contact them immediately.  They also recommend that you file your tax returns even if you are unable to pay to avoid additional penalties. For information related to Free Tax Help, and the What Ifs of an Economic Downturn visit this special IRS page for unemployed taxpayers.

Federal Tax Form 1040-ES is used by individuals who are required to make estimated tax payments. Individuals are generally required to make estimated payments when they have taxable income that is not subject to withholding. Earnings from self-employment, interest, dividends, rents, and alimony are examples of taxable income for which taxes are not withheld.

Tax Form 1040-ES

Form 1040-ES Payment Vouchers are used to submit 4 estimated tax payments per calendar year, due on the following dates:

1. April 15
2. June 15
3. Sept 15
4. Jan 18

If you don’t make estimated tax payments and you are required to do so, you may owe a penalty to the IRS. A tax penalty notice will generally be mailed to you from IRS after they receive your Form 1040 for the calendar year. Since penalties are based on the number of days the tax due remains unpaid, it’s generally a good practice to send in your payments as soon as you can, even if you miss one of the above dates.

In order to figure out how to calculate and pay your estimated tax, you will need to read and print Form 1040-ES. Form 1040-ES includes payment vouchers that you can print and mail to the IRS.

Waiting for your W-2 forms so that you can file your 2009 income tax return? W-2 forms are the standardized statements of income that each employer must provide to their employees before January 31, 2010 for the 2009 income tax year. Depending upon the size and policies of your company’s payroll department, you may get your W-2 form early or late in January. Lucky employees get their W-2 forms the second week of January just about when the IRS begins to accept efile of income tax forms. The IRS begins to accept e-files on January 15, 2010.

Tax Form W-2 for 2009

IRS begins the 2009 income tax return season this month and has announced that IRS efile opens on January 15, 2010. IRS efile as we discuss on our web site is the process of filing out your federal income tax return and sending it to the IRS electronically versus sending your income tax return to the IRS through the mail.

According to the IRS web site, the efile service rolled out nationally in 1990 and delivered 4.2 million income tax returns. Last year the IRS efile service delivered over 95 million income tax returns or about 66% of all filed tax returns.

The free tax software found on our web site can be used to efile your IRS tax forms online or through the purchase of premium software. To get your income tax refund as fast as possible, choose the direct deposit option. The leading income tax software providers H&R Block, Turbo Tax, and Tax Act are quoting 8 days as the number of days to receive your IRS tax refund using the direct deposit option. The IRS states “in as few as 10 days” on their web site.

In contrast if you are planning to mail in your IRS tax refund and receive an IRS refund check by mail, that could take up to 6 weeks! For sure it is much faster to efile.

Tax Form 8822 is used to notify the IRS that you have changed your address. For most taxpayers, you do not have to notify the IRS if you move, however, it is good practice to notify the IRS each time you move in case they need to correspond with you by mail. The following are the most common ways that you can change your address with the IRS.

• Correct the address on the mailing label that comes with your income tax filing package.
• Write your new address in the appropriate box on your tax return.
• Mail in Form 8822 Change of Address at any time during the year.

Remember that if you don’t file Form 8822 Change of Address during the year, it’s possible that your income tax forms and publications will not arrive at your new address come January. If this is of great concern, visit your local postal service office and complete a change of address with forwarding to ensure that all your mail will be forwarded to your new address. Use this link to get the IRS Form 8822. Instructions and forms are printable.

Turbo Tax Free is now available to tax payers filing their 1040EZ IRS federal income tax refund. That’s Free as in $0.00 free Turbo Tax software that you can use online to efile your 1040EZ tax refund fast. Turbo Tax currently states that if you efile online and select the direct deposit option, you can receive your income tax refund in as little as 8 days.

Turbo Tax Free is fully functional income tax preparation software online. Turbo Tax Free asks you simplified questions then puts your answers on the right forms including forms 1040EZ, 1040A and 1040 long form. The Turbo Tax Free edition does have income restrictions and does not cover tax schedules C, D, E and F, however you can upgrade to Turbo Tax Deluxe or other Turbo Tax editions if you need more forms or prefer any advanced features.

If you like Turbo Tax Free, try also Quicken Free which is personal finance software made by the some company.

TaxAct Free is now available to those who want to efile their federal 1040EZ tax refund online, and, TaxAct Free is also available to everyone else who files federal taxes including 1040A and 1040 long forms!

TaxAct has been providing free IRS tax filing for the past 10 years.  No matter your income tax situation, married, single, easy, or complex, TaxAct Free IRS federal tax return preparation software has you covered. Free TaxAct means that you can:

• Prepare your IRS tax return FREE
• Print your IRS tax return FREE
• Efile your IRS tax return FREE
• No income restrictions

Upgrade if you like to TaxAct Deluxe or TaxAct Ultimate editions, however, TaxAct Free edition is fully functional, includes the Deduction Examiner and walk-through videos. It costs nothing to try out TaxAct Free online, and this tax software is also available for download and CD by mail. Visit our TaxAct Free web page to learn more or to get started.

IRS today confirmed the opening of their e-file program for 2008 federal income tax returns. The official IRS e-file open date is January 16, 2009.

IRS e-file program began as a pilot project in just 3 cities back in 1986 with just 25,000 tax returns filed electronically that year. Each year the number of tax payers choosing e-file continues to grow, with almost 90 million IRS tax returns e-filed last year according to published IRS statistics.

Among a dozen other things, the IRS also said the following today:

“…the error rate is so low for e-filed returns. In fact, the error rate is significantly reduced from 20 percent with paper returns to about 1 percent with e-filed returns.”

“Taxpayers who use e-file and who choose direct deposit can receive their refund in as few as 10 days. That’s because with e-file, there’s no paper return going to the IRS. And with direct deposit, there’s no paper refund going to the taxpayer.”

So not only does e-file deliver your income tax refund money faster than mail in tax forms,  those who e-file usually don’t make any errors. No doubt that income tax preparation software is partly responsible for the reduction in tax form errors. And we must note also that Turbo Tax and Tax Cut are quoting “in as few as 8 days” as the number of days for which you can receive your IRS income tax refund.