The IRS Audit Blog

Archive for April, 2007

In this article, I am going to be talking about the county offices. Today county courthouses are the means to provide the ever important need for information. The need to understand the basics for what goes on in the courthouse is a MUST for any serious real-estate investor; how the records are kept, how they are protected, what laws affect us and how to determine ownership is knowledge not only important, but essential. The real point here is that the real estate professional has certain questions concerning a property such as: ‘Who owns it?’ ‘Who financed it?’ ‘Are there any liens or judgments against the property?’ ‘What type of property is it?’ Real estate investors then go to the county courthouse to get the answers.

There are two offices of the county that have the information that we need: 1) The county assessor’s office and 2) The county recorder’s office. The county recorder’s office is sometimes called the register of deeds or even the land title office. These are generally open from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. in most parts of the country. However, many investors are unable to go down to the courthouse during these hours to look up the records. Therefore, this requires that the person can find out if these county records can be found using his/her home computer. A simple call to the assessor’s office will let you know if they are online and how you can access that information. Keep in mind that sometimes they do charge a fee to obtain that information, but it is a tax deduction.

The records that the assessor has on file are for public view; they have information sheets on every property in the county that is accessible by knowing the name of the owner, or the address of the property, or the legal description of the parcel and the parcel number. Any one of these should bring up the information desired. The investor should be aware that the property information will list the property size, the owner of record, the address of the owner, the legal description of the property, the improvements on the property (like buildings), the value for tax purposes, which is called the assessed value and sometimes you’ll get a picture of the property.

The parcel number is of significant importance to the active investor looking for information at the recorder’s office because it accesses the original loan documents that were recorded, who actually owns the property, who financed the purchase (whether it is the seller or the lender) and whether there are judgments or liens against the property. It also will show if there are any liens by the IRS – a word of advice – investors should have no involvement with properties with IRS liens until there is a certified copy of the paid receipt that the lien has been cleared.

Hopefully this article has helped determine where to find the records before buying a foreclosed property. In another article, I will address where you might want to get your Pre-foreclosure information that is reliable and accurate. In the interim, please feel free to visit my website for a FREE, immediate access, 7-day course on how to make money with bank-owned foreclosure properties:

http://www.bankforeclosuremoney.com

Thanks for your time! Stephanie Jewett, RN, MBA

2009: The things I want to forget

For some, the end of the year is a time to think back on all the memorable moments from the previous 12 months. I prefer to continue my contrarian tradition of performing a mental cleanse, removing from my internal hard drive all the things that should no longer be cluttering my mind.

Ron Paul promises to abolish IRS first week in office if elected president.

Question: Residential energy credit(form 5695) delay. IRS has not accepted my return. Still waiting.?

Has anybody had any problems getting their energy credit form 5695 accepted. I know there was a delay in january bacause I tried and it was rejected the same day for missing forms. Now I filed the federal only and it has been a week and no word. Does anybody know when It should work, or is anybody having the same problem. I have read some places that it works now. Should it be taking this long? Thanks

Answer: Have you called the IRS to confirm whether they received the return. If they haven’t you may have to re submit the return, If it continues to reject the return you should first contact the software provider to see what the issue could be, If it can not be corrected you may have to mail the return in

Taxpayers may see some new perks for the 2009 tax season

Because of President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan, people may see several new perks for the 2009 tax-filing season. R&R Income Tax Service Manager Tain Carwile said the new changes might allow ta…

Recovery: Home Energy Credit – June 09

Question: Using form 1099-Misc for Auto racing?

My husband is an auto racing spotter with, for 2006, two separate teams. He received the 2 separate 1099 Misc forms. I understand that he is considered by the IRS as having his own business, and he got these forms due to no W-2 being completed (as he is considered “part time, weekend” employment by the teams). I am doing our taxes on TurboTax, but not really wanting to mess it up before actually filing. I need to know if the income should show up in both the “Business income schedule C” and the “Income from Form 1099-Misc.” spaces on the “your income Summary” page. When I only enter the amounts in “Income” and do not enter anything in “Sched. C” it shows a refund – - when entered in both sections, this changes to a MAJOR payment to the IRS. I understand no taxes were taken out of his paychecks, but I don’t understand this huge difference of refund vs. federal payment owed?? Any help is appreciated!

Answer: You MUST file Schedule C or C-EZ to account for the income and any legitimate business expenses. You must also file Schedule SE to calculate the Self-Employment tax. That’s what’s killing you as there is a 15.3% SE tax on the net profit from SE income.

If this activity continues, he’ll either have to start making quarterly estimated tax payments on Form 1040ES or adjust the withholdings from his W2 job so that enough tax is withheld to cover the liability next year.

If you don’t pay in enough tax either by withholding from wages or by estimated payments, there can be a penalty and interest charges for underpayment of taxes.

Create, Search, Revise, Print and E-file Payroll 1099-misc and W2 Forms to the IRS and the States Anytime of the Year

All businesses and organizations are required to file W-2 or 1099-misc forms to the IRS, SSA or States at the end of every year. C&S Technologies (eSmartPayroll) released two dedicated online tools that enable users to manage the tasks conveniently, effectively and accurately.

Another week of GW News, January 24, 2010 [A Few Things Ill Considered]

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor . Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week’s Global Warming news roundup Read the rest of this post… | Read the comments on this post…

Question: stimulus check frustrations

I live in Oregon. so my stimulus check was supposed to be mail around june 14th, I did my taxes at h&r Block and got the anticipated loan on an emerald card when i was registered at a different address. I filed a change of address at the post office when i moved and called 2 weeks after i didn’t not receive my stimulus check on got the hot line where i enterd my information and it said there was no info at this time. it also said that there was delays,I heard rumor that, people who did the anticipated loan when receive their checks 2 weeks later than scheduled but its been nearly two months and still nothing. would the post office forward it to my current address? the irs office in bend is a no communications office or some bs like that so i cant really expect to get any info out of them. and i always get some hotline when i try to call the main line can anyone help me out?

Answer: checks are not fowarded it will be returned to the IRS try calling & good luck

Weather-related closings, delays

A list follows of weather-related closings and cancellations for Monday

NH: IRS civil disobedience 9/18/07