Can a person receive a tax refund if they are currently in a payment plan for prior year's federal taxes?
As a condition of your agreement, any refund due you in a future year will be applied against the amount you owe. Continue making your installment agreement payments as scheduled because your refund is not considered as a substitute for your regular payment due. You may not get all of your refund if you owe certain past-due amounts, such as federal tax, state tax, a student loan, or child support. IRS will automatically apply the refund to the taxes owed.
What is a split refund?
A split refund lets you divide your refund, in any proportion you want, and direct deposit the funds in up to three different accounts with U.S. financial institutions.
What should I do if I made a mistake on my federal return that I have already filed?
It depends on the type of mistake that you made: Many mathematical errors are caught in the processing of the tax return itself. If you did not attach a required schedule the service will contact you and ask for the missing information. If you did not report all your income or did not claim a credit, you are entitled to file an amended or corrected return using Form 1040X (PDF), Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.
Is there an age limit on claiming my children as dependents?
Age is a factor in the qualifying child test, but a qualifying relative can be any age.
As long as the following dependency exemption tests are met, you may claim him or her:
1. Qualifying child or qualifying relative test
2. Dependent taxpayer test
3. Citizenship or resident test
4. Joint return test
If I claim my child as a dependent because he is a full-time college student, can he claim himself as a dependent when he files his return?
If you claim your child as a dependent on your income tax return, he cannot claim himself on his income tax return. If an individual is filing his or her own tax return, and the individual can be claimed as a dependent on someone else's return, the individual cannot claim his or her own personal exemption. In this case, your child should check the box on his return indicating that someone else can claim him as a dependent.
How much does a student have to make before he or she has to file an income tax return?
If you are an unmarried dependent, you must file a tax return if your earned and/or unearned income exceeds certain limits. To find these limits refer to Filing Requirements for Dependents in Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction and Filing Information.
Even if you do not have to file, you should file a federal income tax return to get money back if any of the following apply:
1. You had income tax withheld from your pay.
2. You qualify for the earned income credit.
3. You qualify for the additional child tax credit.
For head of household filing status, do you have to claim a child as a dependent to qualify?
In certain circumstances, you do not need to claim the child as a dependent to qualify for head of household filing status, such as when the qualifying child is unmarried and is your child, grandchild, stepchild, or adopted child.
How do I know if I have to file quarterly individual estimated tax payments?
If you owed additional tax for the prior tax year, you may have to make estimated tax payments for the current tax year. You must make estimated tax payments for the current tax year if both of the following apply:
* You expect to owe at least $1,000 in tax for the current tax year, after subtracting your withholding and credits.
* You expect your withholding and credits to be less than the smaller of:
90% of the tax to be shown on your current year’s tax return, or
100% of the tax shown on your prior year’s tax return. (Your prior year tax return must cover all 12 months.)
There are special rules for:
Certain taxpayers with higher adjusted gross income
Farmers and commercial fishermen
Aliens
Estates and Trusts
How do I request a copy of my tax return for last year? (See Dottie's note below)
If you need an exact copy of a previously filed and processed return and all attachments (including Form W-2, you must complete Form 4506, Request for Copy of Tax Return, and mail it to the IRS. Use the address provided in the instructions to the form. Submit a check or money order for $57, per tax year, made payable to the "United States Treasury." Copies are generally available for returns filed in the current and past 6 years. In cases where an exact copy of the return is not needed, tax return and transcripts may be ordered.
The tax return transcript shows most line items contained on the return as it was originally filed, including any accompanying forms and schedules.
In most cases, a tax return transcript will meet the requirements for lending institutions for mortgage verification purposes. The transcript can be ordered by completing a Form 4506-T or calling 800-829-1040 and following the prompts in the recorded message. There is no charge for the transcript and you should receive it in 10 business days from the time we receive your request. Tax return transcripts are generally available for the current and past three years.
If you need a statement of your tax account which shows changes that you or the IRS made after the original return was filed, you must request a "Tax Account Transcript." This transcript shows basic data including marital status, type of return filed, adjusted gross income, taxable income, payments and adjustments made on your account.
Tax return and account transcripts are generally available for the current and past 3 years. Form 4506-T can also be used to get proof from the IRS that you did not file a tax return for a particular tax year.
(DOTTIE'S NOTE: I keep copies of any taxes prepared for my clients up to 7 years, so they don't have to go to IRS, wait, and spend the $$$ for copies!)
How do I get government forms?
Forms can be ordered by calling 800-829-3676
or
Forms can be downloaded at:
IRS Formsl
Some of the Forms are:
Individual Tax Information Forms
Business Tax Information Forms
Charity and Non-Profit Tax Information Forms
Retirement Plan Tax Information Forms
all information on this page was found on www.irs.gov