Tax Matters - The Top Tax Defenders Blog

It’s October. Do you know what that means? If you filed for a tax extension earlier this year, it’s time to file your taxes. And If you haven't spent the last few months doing so, you need to get all your supporting documentation together, get your taxes calculated, and file the whole thing by the middle of this month to avoid penalties and additional interest.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 created significant changes in exemptions, deductions, and credits for your federal taxes. One change you may not have noticed is the way alimony is treated.

If you weren’t one of the taxpayers caught off-guard by a smaller than expected tax refund last spring, or worse, received an unexpected tax bill, the IRS has a tool for you.

It seems as though the IRS doesn’t let a day go by without making announcements sure to put fear into the American taxpayer. Including the ones in this post, the IRS has launched 59 campaigns to date. 

As easy as technology has made it to file taxes quickly and get that all-important rebate deposited right into your bank account, it has also made it easier for thieves to steal your identity to commit tax fraud. Tax professionals are on the hook as well. They must follow scrupulous security procedures to ensure their clients’ data isn’t exposed.

Did you file for a tax extension for your S-corporation last March? Guess what. September 15, the deadline for filing your taxes after an extension is almost here. You have been getting your stuff together for this, right?

Uh oh. You have a letter from the Internal Revenue Service. Why, oh, why? What did you do, or not do (as the case may be)?

In the case of Letter 6174-A, it just means that the IRS believes you may have messed up your taxes because you didn't correctly report cryptocurrency transactions. That's all it means. If you did everything correctly, you don't even need to respond. 

Still, what is all this about?

Identity theft is a serious disruption to the life of anyone it touches. Your credit score, bank account, and more are at risk. What you may not realize is that someone could file a fraudulent tax return using your information. 

As if the U.S. tax code wasn't complicated enough, the IRS also wants its share of your Bitcoin transactions. The problem is, of course, that you may not have written down every single taxable event you created with your Bitcoin, probably because you never knew you were doing it.

Taxes become more complicated every year, and it doesn’t look like that trend will end anytime soon. We have gathered some of the most popular posts of the last tax year so you can get an idea of the kind of problems people are trying to solve and to put some of our most valuable advice in one spot.