If you have been procrastinating about filing your 2023 tax return or have not filed other prior year returns, you should consider the consequences, including the penalties, interest, and aggressive enforcement actions. Plus, if you have a refund coming for a prior year you may end up forfeiting it.
Under federal law, taxpayers must pay taxes during the year as they earn or receive income, or they can find themselves falling victim to substantial underpayment penalties. Even worse, they may have spent the money, and when tax time comes are unable to pay their past taxes and spiral into financial distress.
To facilitate the pay-as-you-earn concept, the government has provided several means of assisting taxpayers in meeting that requirement. These include:
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In 2022 alone, there were approximately 15.4 million layoffs in the United States as per one recent study. About 6.9 million of them happened in the last half of the year, from August to December. It’s also worth noting that this is certainly nothing new. It has been estimated that about 40% of people have been laid off (or fired) from a job at least once in their lifetime, and about half the country experiences full-blown layoff anxiety on a regular basis.
Whether you are laid off or fired, the chances are high that you will quickly find yourself on unemployment. While this can absolutely provide some much-needed financial relief at an important part of your life, there are some things about potential tax implications that you’ll definitely want to be aware of moving forward.
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The word “audit” tends to strike fear in the hearts of American taxpayers, but the truth is that not every audit is a result of a problem, or that the Internal Revenue Service suspects you of wrongdoing. There are several reasons why the IRS might want to audit your taxes and financial information, and there are several steps that you can take to make the process as painless as possible.
In light of an uptick in identity theft scams involving tax audits and returns, we want to take a moment before delving into this topic to stress that the IRS will never institute an audit process via telephone or email. Taxpayers are always alerted of an upcoming audit by U.S. mail.
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When you got married, you and your spouse pledged your love for each other and promised to stand together through good times and bad, sickness and health. But what happens if your spouse turns out to be a tax cheat, and you signed a joint tax return without realizing it. Can you be held responsible?
Finding out that your spouse has dragged you into their tax evasion is a twofold problem. There’s the emotional aspect that surrounds your relationship and your marriage, and the more pragmatic issue of whether their actions make you subject to fines or penalties, as well as whether you’ll have to pay for their taxes. Though we have no advice for you on the former, there’s good news on the latter. You’re probably eligible for what is known as Innocent Spouse Relief.
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