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You may be expecting a windfall back from the IRS. Or, most likely, you're one of the "lucky ones" and you OWE money.
Between the latest tax law changes AND the fact that the typical tax preparer often overlooks items that could be extremely beneficial to your return, it's a war out there!! We're here to help you win that war and avoid those costly mistakes!
Your "Professionally-Prepared" Tax Return May Be Costing You Money!
Here's some alarming news: In a recent study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), there were errors in 100% of the tax returns they studied. 100%! Not only that, but only TWO of the completed returns actually tallied up the right amount (whether it was a refund or money owed).
In five cases, returns showed overblown refunds of nearly $2,000 each. THAT kind of mistake may mean penalties… for your tax preparer AND you.
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For more than 20 years, Ken and Daria Dolan have given the "Straight Talk" on how you and your loved ones can live money-smart, debt-free and cash-rich.
Here is a small sampling of where you may have seen them on TV:In two other cases, the taxpayers "owed" $1,500… when, in fact, they should have owed NOTHING! If that were you, that would be money out of YOUR pocket!
Keep in mind — these were returns prepared by outside commercial tax preparers and, granted, the study sample was small… BUT that's certainly enough to give us pause when it comes to the precautions we all need to take when filing our returns.
Bottom line: Be proactive. Don't count on the "professionals" to know and do it all. Know the latest tax laws. Also know your rights as a taxpayer and always, ALWAYS, be ready for an audit.
This report will help you do all that… to prepare you (and your returns) for this coming April 15th and beyond. Starting with…
9 New Tax Laws That Could Benefit
You and Yours
You know the folks in Washington — they can't leave well enough alone! Actually, by law, inflation dictates how much tax provisions need to be adjusted each year. The poor inflation numbers in recent months may mean good news for us taxpayers. Some of the latest tax changes could actually help alleviate our tax burden when all is said and done… that is, IF we make sure they're applied to our 2007 returns! Here, in a nutshell, is a quick breakdown of the tax changes you don't want to miss:
PMI deduction. This is an excellent one because for years, homeowners who bought a home with less than a 20% down payment had to not only purchase private mortgage insurance (PMI) to protect the lender against default — they also had zero tax benefits for those payments (which could
add up to hundreds, and even thousands, of dollars
over the course of just a few years)! Starting with
any new mortgages from January 1, 2007, you can
deduct this PMI expense along with your usual
mortgage interest from your income tax. Recently, legislation was passed so this will apply for any new mortgages through 2010. However, your family income needs to be less than $100,000 per year — if it's higher, your mortgage insurance won't be 100% tax deductible. For each $1,000 of annual household income earned in a year, the deduction is reduced by 10%. Once a family's income is over $109,000, the PMI deduction will not apply.
Higher personal exemptions. The value of each personal and dependency exemption is $3,400 for 2007 — up $100 from 2006.
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Tax bracket thresholds increase for each filing status in 2007? For example, for a married couple filing a joint return, the taxable-income threshold separating the 15% bracket from the 25% bracket is $63,700 — up from $61,300 in 2006. |  |
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Standard deduction increase. The standard deduction for married couples filing a joint return is up $400 to $10,700. For singles and married individuals filing separately, the deduction is now $5,350 — up $200. (For heads of household, it's $7,850, or up $300.)
Higher income limits for deductible IRAs and Roth IRAs. You can now take a full IRA deduction if you're covered by a retirement plan at work if your modified adjusted gross income is less than $83,000 (married, filing jointly) or $52,000 (single or head of household). You can also take a partial deduction up to $103,000 for married filing jointly or $72,000 for singles and heads of households.
To find out if you're eligible to contribute to a deductible IRA (and how much you may contribute), plug your income, work status and age into this speedy online tool here: IRA Calculator.
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