Get Your Billions Back, America: 2014

[JohnnyCash]

Get Your Billions Back, America

9 - TAXES

Next is the Taxes Examiner questions (summarized below) to determine if you're liable for any other odd taxes. Of interest here is the Self-employment tax. If you have income from "self-employment" then you'll owe SS & Medicare taxes on it so it's advantageous to avoid having such "income."

Alternative minimum tax
Excess advance premium tax credit repayment
Self-employment tax
Unreported social security and Medicare tax
Additional tax on qualified plans
Taxes for household employees
Repayment of first-time homebuyer credit
Individual shared responsibility payment
Additional Medicare tax
Net investment income tax
Other taxes

[JohnnyCash]

We have some reports of TaxACT not presenting the "Student Status" and "Can you be claimed as a dependent on someone else's return?" questions under the Basic Info tab in the "Personal Info" area. May be a glitch in the program. If you experience this, go Back to the first screen in this section and remove the "Date of Birth" entry; should fix it.

[JohnnyCash]

Get Your Billions Back, America

10 - Miscellaneous Examiner

The final Federal Q&A section is Miscellaneous. Most folks have no reason to deal with anything here. But take a look and see if anything applies.

Lump-sum payment of social security benefits
Excess farm loss
2015 estimated tax payments
Underpayment penalty
Reduction of tax attributes due to discharge of indebtedness (Form 982)
Claim for a refund due a deceased person (Form 1310)
Multiple support declaration for claiming a dependent
Release/Revocation of release of claim to an exemption
Injured spouse relief
IRS installment payment plan request
Third party designee
In care of (To have your refund sent in care of another person)
Combat zone
Disaster designation

[JohnnyCash]

Get Your Billions Back, America

11 - Summary

Finishing the Miscellaneous Examiner will bring you to the Summary section as show below.
Click "Continue" if everything looks good here. That will bring you to State Q&A. TaxACT automatically transfers your federal info to your state forms. Most state returns rely on Federal return data and are fairly simple to do once the Federal return is complete. Since we're mainly concerned with Federal here in this demo, we'll skip the State Q&A for now and click the Review tab.

[JohnnyCash]

Get Your Billions Back, America

12 - Review

Taking a few minutes to review your return now can save you time and hassles later. TaxACT Alerts review your tax return and identify any missing or incorrect information. You will also be alerted to possible tax saving opportunities you may have missed. It'll try to sell you on TaxACT Deluxe, which I declined. Three types of Alerts:

Red Alert - The message will identify information which is incomplete or inconsistent. If left uncorrected, the subject of a Red Alert will prevent calculations from being completed or may result in post filing inquiries by the IRS or State agency.
Yellow Alert - The message will identify potential problems or prompt you for additional actions required on your part.
Green Alert - The message will identify opportunities for potential tax savings. These messages are for your information and consideration.

I ran all alerts. It may find things ranging from missing or inappropriate numbers to messages like: "Explanation: Contribution to an IRA - Looking for ways to lower your tax? Taxpayer is eligible to contribute up to $6,500 to an Individual Retirement Arrangement (IRA). IRA's are a great way to .. blah blah blah"
Alerts Completed

I said "No Thanks" to the Tax Audit Defense

Finalizing Your Return - Are you interested in seeing all of your payment and refund options? YES or NO? YES brings you to ...

Consent to Use Form

We want to show all your eligible refund methods or payment options. The IRS requires that you must give consent to see all options that we offer.
I authorize TaxACT to use the information I've entered while preparing my 2014 tax return(s) to determine whether I qualify for services to pay for my tax preparation fees from my refund amount or receive my refund on a prepaid card.

NO (what I do) will bring you to:

Prior Year Comparison
- Comparing this year's return to last year's return is a great way to find possible errors. Differences could result from an incorrect entry or overlooked information that needs attention. If you would like to complete the comparison, you'll need to have your 2013 tax return available to provide 2013 information and to help reconcile any differences. I said No.

Then you get some HealthWatch 2015 thing about ACA. "Continue" ... Copy of your return? I said No Thanks (at $8.99 I know how to use a copier)

[salsero]

9 - TAXES

Next is the Taxes Examiner questions (summarized below) to determine if you're liable for any other odd taxes. Of interest here is the Self-employment tax. If you have income from "self-employment" then you'll owe SS & Medicare taxes on it so it's advantageous to avoid having such "income."

Alternative minimum tax
Excess advance premium tax credit repayment
Self-employment tax
Unreported social security and Medicare tax
Additional tax on qualified plans
Taxes for household employees
Repayment of first-time homebuyer credit
Individual shared responsibility payment
Additional Medicare tax
Net investment income tax
Other taxes

For clarification, regardless of the LM demand or not on all checks received making up the entire income from Self-Employment minus deductions, Schedule SE is required and one must pay SS and Medicare taxes? The LM demand can not provide any reduction with FICA or Medicare and SS taxes? The LM demand reduction is only for federal income taxes. Also what is your recommendation, "to avoid having such self-employment income"? thanks

[Noah]

Got my state refund today! Don't think I ever got one this early. Did federal return on paper along with redeemed lawful money evidence and waiting on that. State offers a free e-File.gov so I started it but noticed it would not allow a negative amount for Other Income lawful money, so decided to just not include my LM receipts as income. Worked great.

Salsero, once I began redeeming lawful money i realized it changed the nature of my income. It wasn't federal income anymore, it wasn't "self-employment" income anymore and did not need to be included on tax return. Redeeming LM also changed my own nature but that's a whole nother story.

[TruthBearer]

My sister just got her Fed refund - in 7 days. After e-File. Nice to see what IRS Commissioner Koskiken warned of did not happen.

"Everybody's return will get processed," Koskinen said, according to AP. "But people have gotten very used to being able to file their return and quickly getting a refund. This year we may not have the resources, the people to provide refunds as quickly as we have in the past."

http://rt.com/usa/216087-irs-tax-refund-delays/

[Noah]

If you have a college age child, Taxact will ask "Do you want to complete the FAFSA Tax Summary Worksheet?"
I recommend doing this because it helps you complete the online application at http://FAFSA.gov

It's under the Review tab, then College Student Financial Aid. After filing I went back into the Taxact return to complete this.

[stoneFree]

Checked it out Noah and you are correct

the FAFSA site has a box: "student's Social Security Number" with a link next to it From a Freely Associated State?
which brings up this:

[allodial]

666? They have a sense of 'humor' no doubt?

[edward222]

For those who still have no idea about the form W-2, wage and tax statement,

This is what IRS said:

Every employer engaged in a trade or business who pays remuneration, including noncash payments of $600 or more for the year (all amounts if any income, social security, or Medicare tax was withheld) for services performed by an employee must file a Form W-2 for each employee (even if the employee is related to the employer) from whom:
Income, social security, or Medicare tax was withheld.
Income tax would have been withheld if the employee had claimed no more than one withholding allowance or had not claimed exemption from withholding on Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate.

Hope this also helps.

[Chex]

including noncash payments of $600 or more for the year

the form W-2, wage and tax statement,This is what IRS said: engaged in a trade or business who pays remuneration, including noncash payments of $600 or more for the year (all amounts if any income, social security, or Medicare tax was withheld) for services performed by an employee must file a Form W-2 for each employee (even if the employee is related to the employer) from whom: income, social security, or Medicare tax was withheld.
Income tax would have been withheld if the employee had claimed no more than one withholding allowance or had not claimed exemption from withholding on Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate. Hope this also helps.

People who do not have their taxes paid for them by their employer are required to keep up with their won tax debt. It must be reported yearly to the IRS and any taxes owed paid. It isn't illegal to pay in cash, just more hassle for the employee.


If you can make a notice and demand with no questions asked and have it honored like this,

[stoneFree]

Fortunately I'm no employer engaged in a trade or business and can ignore all that.
You can check the status of your lawful money tax refund here http://irs.gov/Refunds

[stoneFree]

What about signing the tax return ... "Under penalties of perjury?" I have seen them signed:

Legal Name
True Name
True Name dba Legal Name