Tag Archive for Milton Boothe

How Secure Is Your Sensitive Personal Information After You Leave It With Your Tax Preparer?

Probably not very secure! Do they leave your paperwork lying about the place, accessible to all, after they have completed your taxes? Are their computers adequately protected by firewalls and effective anti-virus software? Is there adequate background checks done on their employees, who obviously will have unlimited access to your sensitive personal information? The honest truth is that you really don’t know.

Also, you need to be really concerned about hackers. These criminals have been successful in hacking into supposedly very secure government computer systems; the Office of Personnel Management, and even the IRS itself come to mind immediately. These people know that they will have access to a treasure trove of personal information if they were to hack into the computers of H&R Block, Liberty Tax, or any CPA or other tax Read More

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Are Lower Income Taxpayers Taking Full Advantage Of The Earned Income Credit?

The earned income credit (EIC) is a major tax credit that is specifically designed for lower income working families and individuals. The amount of the credit varies depending on your level of income and how many dependents you support. You can claim this credit with or without qualifying children, but greater tax credit is given to those who have qualifying children. This credit can be valued at over $6,000 if you have three or more qualifying children. The earned income credit is a refundable credit, which means that you will receive a tax refund whether or not you had any taxable income.

As the name implies, the earned income credit is provided as an incentive for individuals to work. Consequently, to qualify for this credit, you must have some form of earned income during the year. Earned income includes wages you get from working, and Read More

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Claiming The Additional Child Tax Credit

Child Tax Credit - Milton Boothe

If you cannot claim the entire amount of your child tax credit because it exceeds your tax, don’t be discouraged, because you may be able to claim the unused portion as an additional child tax credit. The additional child tax credit is a refundable credit, and is available to you whenever you cannot claim the entire amount of the child tax credit.

The amount of the refund, however, may differ depending on your total earned income. It may also be affected by the amount of Social Security and Medicare taxes that were paid.

Figuring and Claiming the Credit:

The amount of the additional child tax credit that you can claim on your income tax is the lower of: Read More

Written by | Posted in Income Tax • Tax Credit

Choosing the Correct Filing Status – Single

Choosing the correct filing status is very important, and is really the first step that you take in ensuring that you will end up with an accurately prepared tax return. You are required to file Single if any of the following conditions apply to you:

• You are unmarried on the last day of the tax year.
• You are divorced or legally separated under a separate maintenance decree on the last day of the tax year.
• You are widowed before the first day of the tax year and have not remarried during the tax year.

You normally file Single if you do not qualify for any other filing status, but there are some Read More

Written by | Posted in Income Tax • Individual

Choosing The Correct Filing Status

An individual’s tax refund or tax liability depends primarily upon two variables: the individual’s filing status and the taxable income.

Choosing the correct filing status, therefore, is very important, and is really the first step that you take in ensuring that you will end up with an accurately prepared tax return. You need to appreciate this, because your filing status determines a number of very important things, such as; filing requirements, tax deductions, tax credits, tax rate, and ultimately, your correct tax refund or tax liability. In general, filing status depends on whether a taxpayer is considered unmarried or married, and this is determined based on your marital on the last day of the tax year. For federal tax purposes, a marriage means only a legal union between a man and a woman as husband and wife. The word “spouse” Read More

Written by | Posted in Income Tax • Individual • IRS

The Concept of Being Married, But Considered Unmarried For Tax Purposes

The general rule for married taxpayers filing their tax returns is that they can only file Married Filing Jointly (MFJ) or Married Filing Separately (MFS). There is, however, a very important exception to this rule. If you are married and separated from your spouse, under tax law you may be considered unmarried if certain conditions are met. This means that you could qualify to use the Head Of Household filing status instead of MFS, and will not be subject to the disadvantages associated with the MFS filing status.

Under tax law, you can be considered unmarried if you meet all the following tests:

• Obviously, you must intend to file a separate return from your spouse.
• You must have paid more than half the costs of keeping up a home for the tax year. Read More

Written by | Posted in Income Tax • Individual • TaxConnections

Tax Professionals Benefit From New Marketing Technology

Watching tax professionals reputations grow with higher visibility and authority in tax services is very exciting. Allow me to share the stories of tax professionals who are utilizing new marketing technology only available on www.taxconnections.com.

We focus on powerful native advertising strategies developed with TaxConnections proprietary software. For those of you who are unfamiliar with native advertising, it is a way to market your tax services without people realizing it is an ad about your tax services. We spent years developing this technology and we are delighted to see our members gaining new clients and authority for their tax expertise every day.  Allow me to introduce some of our members and how they are accelerating their tax reputations. Read More

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Tax Advantages of Investing In Real Estate

As the economy shows signs of improvement, with the stock market rebounding and unemployment falling steadily, it is only reasonable to believe, all thing being equal, that the housing market will also rebound, and will once again become a very viable investment vehicle. There are a number of distinct tax advantages to be derived from investing in real estate, and this article will look at some of these advantages. For both middle and high-income individuals alike, the tax advantages of investing in real estate can be substantial. Some of the advantages are as follows:

Depreciation:

The IRS allows investors to depreciate (deduct from rental income) the cost of a residential rental building over a period of 27.5 years, and 39 years for nonresidential Read More

Written by | Posted in Capital Gains • Real Estate

The IRS Does NOT Make Threatening Telephone Calls—Beware of The Scammers!

As the tax season heats up, so does the activity of the scammers. These scammers, who feed on people’s innate fear of the IRS, use this opportunity to place themselves right at the top of their game. I have heard of many instances of people receiving calls from individuals purporting to be IRS officers, who are making demands for payment of taxes on underreported income, and threatening imprisonment and/or seizure of assets if you do not comply with their demands. Also, they seek to obtain your personal information in the process.

Allow me to state categorically that these people are NOT IRS officers! When the IRS raises an assessment, they NEVER contact you initially by telephone. The typical MO of the IRS is to send you a written notice in the mail. This notice gives you the opportunity Read More

Written by | Posted in IRS • Tax Fraud/Evasion/Crimes • Tax Tips

A Dozen Plus Reasons Why You Should Do Your Own Taxes

Scott Brown (not his real name), an associate of mine, is the owner of a single member LLC. Scott who files a Schedule A, Schedule C, Schedule D (stock trading), and Schedule E, has previously had his taxes done at H & R Block. But Scott became quite disappointed with Block’s services, when I pointed out to him that he was not receiving his annual depreciation deductions. Consequently, I encouraged him to purchase a copy of the e-book “Doing Your Own Taxes is as Easy as 1,2,3,” for tax year 2013. Disgruntled with his tax preparer, Scott finally decided to take the plunge and do his own taxes.

Scott also purchased a popular tax software, and using it in conjunction with the e-book, he quickly realized that doing his own taxes was not quite as difficult as he’d always perceived it to be. Read More

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