Scam Phone Calls Continue; IRS Identifies Five Easy Ways to Spot Suspicious Calls WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service issued a consumer alert today providing taxpayers with additional tips to protect themselves from telephone scam artists calling and pretending to be with the IRS. These callers may demand money or may say you have a refund due and try to trick you into sharing private information. These con artists can sound convincing when they call. They may know a lo

TurboTax from Intuit has turned off e-filing for state tax returns accross the US today due to concerns about rampant fraud. This is the latest setback for TurboTax this year. Users have experience undisclosed price hikes. Even more disturbing is Intuit, the maker of Turbo Tax maintains a database of customer data including Social Security Numbers, Names, and OTHER Personal Data even if you buy the desktop version. See the story TurboTax's Database knows your Secrets. Check

Whether you’re getting ready to file your taxes, planning on taking them to your CPA, or want to organize your papers from past filings, there are a few documents that you need to have and keep handy. Here are some of the items that you should keep with your tax returns, or prepare for future tax returns: W-2 Your W-2 informational return lets you know what you made at work and what you paid in taxes. You’ll need it to file your taxes and to get a mortgage. 1099 Forms Wheneve

Personal Documents To Keep For One Year While it’s important to keep year-end mutual fund and IRA contribution statements forever, you don’t have to save monthly and quarterly statements once the year-end statement has arrived. Personal Documents To Keep For Three Years Credit Card Statements Medical Bills (in case of insurance disputes) Utility Records Expired Insurance Policies Personal Documents To Keep For Six Years Supporting Documents For Tax Returns Accident Reports an

Business Documents To Keep For One Year Correspondence with Customers and Vendors Duplicate Deposit Slips Purchase Orders (other than Purchasing Department copy) Receiving Sheets Requisitions Stenographer’s Notebooks Stockroom Withdrawal Forms Business Documents To Keep For Three Years Employee Personnel Records (after termination) Employment Applications Expired Insurance Policies General Correspondence Internal Audit Reports Internal Reports Petty Cash Vouchers Physical Inv

In 2013 the tax bill reduced your deduction for medical costs, including health insurance for 2014. We will see very few deductions available for medical costs now unless you have substantial bills. The amount of your medical expenses in most cases must now be more than 10% of your income before we can deduct anything, so weigh carefully whether to go to the trouble of summarizing these costs. If you are self-employed, we still need to know how much you paid for health insur

In 2010, when Congress passed the Affordable Care Act (commonly called Obamacare), the effects seemed far away to many of us. Now that 2014 is here, there will be several direct effects upon every American, with the requirement that all Americans of all ages obtain qualified health insurance for the entire year. The requirement to obtain health insurance applies to you individually as well as to anyone you claim as a dependent on your return. Several new forms will be issu