Tax Matters - The Top Tax Defenders Blog

Getting a letter in the mail from the IRS is not necessarily reason to panic. In fact, you most likely have very few reasons to fear what the letter communicates if you take the proper steps to resolve any issue the IRS has with your returns. If you think to ignore the letter entirely, you should be aware that disregarding it could result in serious legal and financial consequences.

Business owners typically hope to yield more profits than losses each year. When they do lose more money than they gain, they incur what is known as a net operating loss, or NOL. NOLs can have different tax implications for business owners because the IRS typically will refund some or all of the losses. It is important that they understand how to determine any NOLs their businesses sustained and what to do with these losses after they file taxes.

The IRS allows cash-strapped taxpayers several different options to resolve their back taxes. They can either make an Offer in Compromise, or OIC, or they can request that their accounts be put in a Currently Not Collectible, or CNC, status. You can determine which of these options is best for your own delinquent tax situation by learning the basics of both choices.

After you submit your tax return, you may wonder what you should do with all of the documents needed to file your taxes. You realize that some paperwork should be kept on hand for while, but you may not know what documents to keep and for how long you should retain them. You can simplify your record keeping and avoid compiling heaps of unneeded paperwork by using these guidelines after filing your taxes each year.

Like many taxpayers, you may wonder what it is going to cost you to file your taxes this year. The expense associated with filing a return can depend on a number of different factors. You may be able to anticipate your own expenses by knowing what circumstances most commonly affect taxpayers' tax filing costs.

People who owe the IRS money often find that they owe more than they can pay in one lump sum. Rather than allowing their wages to be garnished or their assets to be seized, debtors can now take advantage of one of the IRS' installment plans.

People who work as employees have the good fortune of their employer withholding and paying in taxes for them. All they have to typically do is await their W-2s in the mail each year, file a simple 1040 form, and await any refund that might be owed to them.

You need your W-2 to file your income taxes. Your employer has until January 31 to get it into the mail to you. It typically will arrive in your mailbox just a few days later.

Taxpayers typically want to do everything in their power to avoid an IRS audit. Because the IRS is not entirely forthcoming about how some returns are chosen over others, it can be difficult for you to know how to audit-proof your returns.

When the IRS finds questionable information on your tax return, it could decide to audit you. An audit could lead to you paying more money or incurring expensive penalties and fines. Using these five important strategies, you can file your taxes and make your returns as audit-proof as possible.