Tax tips on the web
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credit: Beatrice M
With almost 90 pages of instructions to follow for the basic 1040 Form alone, everyone could use some guidance when it comes to filing their taxes.
A good place to start is the IRS website. After all, these are the people who look over your returns and interpret the rules. In fact, the IRS has a couple of helpful pages:
- Frequently Asked Questions: Chances are, you’re not the first taxpayer to want to know a particular piece of information. Questions are organized by category, sub-category and keyword.
- Tax Topic Index: There’s a topic for every line on the income tax return as well as information on how to pay your taxes, how to appeal your tax examination, where to file, who has to file and how to amend your return, among other topics.
- 1040 Central: The place to go to download forms, plus resources for taxpayers such as what to do if you can’t pay your taxes, the IRS withholding calculator, and information on who qualifies for the Earned Income Tax Credit.
MarketWatch from Dow Jones features tax advice ranging from whether married couples should file separate or joint returns, to 5 stupid tax mistakes, to when children should files tax returns. There are also articles on tax scams, maximizing medical deductions and links to other web resources.
Tax guide for investors: This resource from Fairmark.com offers tax tips–such as how to file a free return, regardless of income–along with the latest tax news and free guides for investors, including:
GovSpot Tax Center is a portal for government information. From here you can get links to government resources and news stories on state and federal taxes. Also links to e-filing sites and individual state departments of revenue.
The Motley Fool’s Tax Center provides links to various resources, including e-file locations and IRS sites along with tax news and tips, such as how to make your return audit proof, or failing that, how to survive an audit. Tax Time Tips & Tricks breaks down tax-related articles into six categories to make tax paying understandable for everyone from first-time filers to tax veterans.
- Tax Basics covers issues such as getting your withholding right and figuring out your tax bracket.
- How Investments Get Taxed covers capital gains, what investors need to know about taxes, and what to do with worthless stocks, among other topics.
- Tax Savings for Everyone has tips for everyone, be they homeowners, high earners or just regular Joes.
- Taxes and Your Family covers daycare, life and family changes, children’s taxes.
- Avoiding Tax Problems covers audits as well as how to choose a tax preparer.
- Retirement Saving and Taxes has information on IRAs, Roth IRAs and pensions.
Uncle Fed’s Tax Board divides its tax information into three categories.
- Tax forms and tax help links to IRS and state tax forms.
- IRS problems and solutions gives information on the Taxpayer Bill of Rights and articles on how to protect yourself from the IRS.
- Research tax documents links to IRS bulletins and news releases.
Yahoo!Taxes offers how-to guides on topics such as tax strategies for retirees and claiming tax credits. Calculators allow you to determine the tax savings generated by your mortgage or the tax advantages of an annuity. You can also download forms here and consult a number of tax tip articles from a variety of sources. Articles range from 10 things your tax preparer won’t tell you, to the 13 most overlooked tax deductions, to tax blunders to avoid.
Investopedia Tax Guide from Forbes provides definitions for tax terms such as capital gains, marginal tax rate and alternative minimum tax. The page also provides answers to the most popular tax questions, such as Should I put my money into a retirement account even if it isn’t tax deductible? Tax tip articles include how to get a six-month extension, a tax primer for homeowners and 10 steps to tax preparation.
Taxes from About.com covers everything from planning to tax basics to filing.
The taxes and audits resource center from Nolo covers three topics in detail: Filing taxes, IRS audits and appeals and dealing with high tax bills. FAQs are provided for each topic in addition to individual articles. The site also features advice on saving business taxes and estate taxes as well as information on how long to keep tax papers.
WorldWideWeb Tax has answers to general tax questions in addition to a glossary of tax terms, tax tables and links to forms and tax discussion groups.
MSNBC’s Tax Page includes a message board moderated by tax attorney Jeff Schnepper, author of How to Pay Zero Taxes. The site also features tax tip articles, a glossary of terms, financial calculators and links to tools like Intuit’s deduction finder.
Smart Money’s Tax Guide has worksheets to calculate stock options, the nanny tax and the marriage penalty as well as a host of tax tip articles. Articles are divided into sections:
- Investment-related taxes covers capital gains, write-offs, wash sale rules, among other topics.
- Filing your taxes includes articles on new tax rules, forms, estimated taxes, tax credits and finding a tax professional.
- Work and business taxes looks at home-office deductions, solo 401(k)s and year-end tax planning.
- Taxes and retirement accounts has stories on inheriting IRAs, IRAs from kids and unusual IRA investments.
- Home and family taxes looks at the kiddy tax, homeowner tax breaks and health savings accounts.
1040.com provides links to tax news and tips articles and links to web resources. The site also has a number of nifty financial calculators that help you calculate your federal income tax, self-employment taxes and capital gains or losses. IT has a number of fillable supplemental forms, and a short guide to filing your federal taxes.
State income taxes vary from state to state. Payroll-Taxes.com provides links to state and local tax sites listed alphabetically by state. As does Taxsites.com.
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[…] Rachel Sawyer wrote an interesting post today on Tax tips on the webHere’s a quick excerpt1040 Central: The place to go to download forms, plus resources for taxpayers such as what to do if you can’t pay your taxes, the IRS withholding calculator, and information on who qualifies for the Earned Income Tax Credit. … […]