Taxes

Congratulations!

You finally got your tax return done and it’s ready to be mailed except for one small thing. You owe a shipload of money and have nothing in the bank. What do you do?

File anyway and send what you can. There’s a penalty for filing late in addition to the interest and penalty for not paying what’s due.

Then run to your bank and borrow against your home equity. Interest on a home equity loan up to $100,000 is tax-deductible, regardless of what you do with the money. But, what if you have no equity in your home?

Then grab a copy of Form 9465 (get it from the IRS Web  site) and request an installment agreement to pay the IRS over time.

Here's a tax season newsflash that's no longer news to anyone: Many Filers Confused by Stimulus Tax Credit.

I've heard this complaint all filing season from readers and tax professionals (and my own family!).

Sadly, the cliche that no good deed goes unpunished is never more evident than when Congress creates a new tax law and the IRS implements it.

By Joe Mont, TheStreet

The tax deadline is three days away, but for the 2.48 million wealthy American families, the pain of higher taxes and increased scrutiny by the government is only starting.

President Barack Obama's proposed budget lets many of the tax cuts enacted by the Bush administration expire, a move benefitting the middle class at the expense of the richest Americans. Tax increases, including those included as part of health-care reform, will hurt those earning more than $250,000 a year, defined as "wealthy" by the IRS.

High-income earners can protect themselves. Here are three major tax changes, with a longer review and action plan following.

Time is running out and you still haven’t filed your tax return.

You tried doing it yourself but every time you attempt to translate the tax form instructions they come out as a stream of incomprehensible syntax strung together without logic or meaning.

Have you seen the tax changes in President Obama’s health care bill?

Get ready to cough up a lot more to feed the federal trough.

Singles with an adjusted gross incomes of more than $200,000 ($250,000 on a joint return) will be hit by an additional 0.9% more tax on wages and self employment income. That’s your income before any deductions for medical expenses, taxes, interest, charitable contributions, casualty deductions and miscellaneous itemized expenses. That’s your income before any deductions for exemptions.

As millions of us are staring down April 15, the big question we have is how do we pay Uncle Sam as little as possible?

Some folks have that answer totally figured out.

One-third of individuals who last filing season submitted a 2008 return paid no tax whatsoever, according to the Tax Foundation. The Tax Policy Center estimates 47% of Americans won’t pay taxes for 2009.

OK, where’s my refund? I filed early, as the IRS requested, but I still haven’t gotten my check.

If you’re in this situation, what do you do?

You can start by calling 1-800-829-1954. If you filed more than four weeks ago, call 1-800-829-4477.

But, the IRS really doesn't want to talk to you. They’d prefer you go to www.irs.gov and click on “Where’s My Refund.” If you e-file, you can get refund information 72 hours after the IRS acknowledges receipt of your return. If you file a paper return, the IRS doesn’t post refund information until three to four weeks after the return has been mailed.

The federal tax filing deadline is less than two weeks away, but some taxpayers who have other things on their minds, such as coping with recent storm damage, are getting a bit of a break from the IRS.

The tax agency has decided to give some victims of March's severe storms and flooding in West Virginia, Rhode Island and Massachusetts more time to get their taxes done.