The IRS Audit Blog

Archive for December, 2007

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Sunday last day to claim donations on tax forms

An IRS deadline for Haiti relief contributions is near. Taxpayers who want to claim donations on this tax season’s returns must make contributions by the end of February, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

How to File Your Taxes Online : How to File Taxes Online at IRS.gov

Question: How to file address in Form 1040 under certain situations?

There is a temporary worker from Fulton county, GA came by himself to South LA to work on a poject to rebuild Louisiana. He lived in Jefferson Parish a short while.(4 months,7months or 12 months what ever) However, this worker has family in Fulton and he returned to Fulton after finished the project.
Questions:
1. When he filed income tax to IRS, should he put address in 1040 Form as Fulton?
2. Will it make the difference to for the filing if he stayed in LA for 4 months, 7 Months, or 12 Months? (about IRS, not state tax)
3. If he stayed a long time (over 12 months), should he register as the voter in Jefferson Parish.
4. If he registered as Jefferson Parish voter and he file jointly with his wife if Fulton, should the address in 1040 be in Fulton or Jefferson?

If anyone can answer the above questions or just give me a clue where I can find the sources about the above situations , I will appreciate it a lot!

Answer: 1. He should put whatever address he will be receiving mail at for the next few months or so.

2. Won’t make a difference to the IRS how long he stayed in a particular state.

3. He should register to vote if he will be staying there. If he’s only there temporarily for work, he should vote where his permanent address is.

4. He can file jointly with his wife regardless of where each of them live. They should use whatever mailing address is the most stable for receiving mail. (If his wife has an address she won’t be leaving anytime soon – use that on rather than an address that is temporary, and may be defunct in a few months)

MSU accounting students offer free tax help

Senior and graduate accounting students from Montana State University’s College of Business are offering free help preparing tax returns for MSU students and individuals who made less than $55,000 last year.

IRS Commercials: e-file_This is Don – January 2010

Haiti contribution is exception to charitable giving tax rules

Q: Dear Rick: I’m preparing my 2009 tax return. The instructions state in order to deduct charitable contributions you must make the contribution in that calendar year. I thought I read something that said you were allowed to deduct charitable contributions on your 2009 return as long as a contribution was made before February 2010. If this correct?

Was (Cash Gifting) a Bad Experience?(PRIVATE GIFTING) by Progress Dixon (718)395-2504

Question: Have already done and recieved 2008 tax return, I now want to amend for 8000 tax credit?

I am sitting here trying to figure out how to fill the 1040x form. The ONLY thing that has changed is that I just closed on my new house and want to claim the credit now.

I have completed the revised 5405 form, that was easy…

The 1040x is confusing.

Do I skip lines 1-33 and only state in PART II the explanation of changes?

OR, is there a line(s) that I have to insert a number?

Since I have already recieved my refund, and now I want to amend for the 8000 tax credit, what needs to be done on this form?? grrr….

From what I have read I only need to send in the 1040x and 5405 to the IRS, right??

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer: When you complete the 1040X, first you will fill out the heading along with lines A and B. When you get to the Income and Deductions section, you will copy from your original tax return all the information in column A and in column C, down to line 14. You should be able to identify the information by each line description. When you get to line 15, enter the amount from the 5405 in column B and C. Just read each line after this to end up with the amount of your refund on line 23.

Next you will go to part II on page 2 to add a description of the changes you made on this amended return. Also note you are going to attach the form 5405 with the 1040X.

The form seems difficult, but just look at your original return and you should be able to fill out the lines just fine.

Good Luck,

Laura H – H&R Block – Senior Tax Advisor 5
**This advice was prepared based on our understanding of the tax law in effect at the time it was written as it applies to the facts that you provided.

IRS pulls plug on some E-filers

If you’re claiming the first-time home buyer credit, you’ll have to file the old-fashioned way: by paper.

Question: Paying taxes on short term disability payments?

My husband recieved about $1300.00 short term disability payments while out after surgery. we got the 1099 form that was reported to IRS. While reading thru instructions on this It says that if HE pays for the insurance-he doesn’t have to count it as income. Does anybody know anything about this

Answer: That is correct. It is not income if He paid for it.

The IRS’s ‘Dirty Dozen list of tax scams

The Internal Revenue Service issued its 2009 “dirty dozen” list of tax scams, including schemes involving phishing, hiding income offshore and false claims for refunds. The 2010 list will be out this spring.