Bank finance articles and tips

The IRS is increasing its oversight over claims for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and is demanding help from paid tax preparers. The EITC is a refundable credit, meaning that it's payable to a taxpayer even if it exceeds tax liability. When the EITC is higher than a person's amount of tax, the result is a credit that's refunded to the individual.

Over 26 million people received nearly $59 million of EITC payments for the 2009 tax year. IRS audits have determined that a substantial percentage of EITC claims are illegitimate. Consequently, tax return preparer study provides a number of due diligence requirements when dealing with taxpayer qualification for the EITC....

A law enforcement career is demanding enough without having the additional complication of detailed IRS tax preparation rules. Several tax-deductible employee expenses are common for police officers. Keeping an organized record of receipts for work-related items is sufficient for law enforcement personnel to maximize the advantages of hiring a paid tax preparer professional.

Employee expenses are one of the categories of miscellaneous itemized deductions. Taxpayers who itemize deductions are eligible for incremental tax savings with each additional deductible item....

It appears that a few well-off Americans paying unusually low taxes to Uncle Sam are not alone; they are in the good company of corporate America. This is the shocking disclosure of a corporate study that was prepared by the Citizens for Tax Justice.

As anticipated, some companies were quick to cry foul disputing the findings while stating that it had undervalued their tax payments by omitting differed taxes that they may well pay in the future.

A comprehensive study found out that 280 of the biggest publicly traded American companies faced federal income tax bills amounting to 18.5 percent of their profits in the last three years. This is a little more than half of the 35 percent official corporate rate. It is also lower than what most of their competitors in industrialized nations pay....

Those in the trucking business know what a burden it can be to file a Heavy Vehicle Use tax form 2290 each year. There are long lines to stand in and lots of paperwork to fill out. This can be annoying, especially when you have big rigs that need to be driven, offices that need to be managed, and employees that require constant supervision.

Time is always an important element in a trucker's life. If you cannot meet delivery schedules, then expect to deal with irate customers as soon as you reach your destination. Back in the day, filing a form 2290 for trucks was done at the nearest Internal Revenue Service office. That all changed in 2008 when the electronic tax form 2290 was born....

Paying for tax preparation services is especially valuable to people who itemize deductions. Itemizing normally requires the tax deductions that accompany home ownership. The itemized deductions for home mortgage interest and real estate taxes are normally the largest categories.

However, once someone has enough deductions to itemize, every addition provides extra money in the taxpayer's pocket. Consequently, a significant contribution of professionals with registered tax return preparer training is digging for types of deductible items that individuals often overlook....

A registered tax return preparer course will mention some important facts about amended tax returns that deserve attention. Despite traditional placement in the final chapter of an RTRP exam study guide, amending tax returns is a common activity in the tax profession.

A newly licensed tax professional will commonly expect experienced colleagues to prepare amended tax returns. However, the only way to gain experience is to tackle amendments that are certain to arise in the tax preparation industry....