Hello again.
We did not go away for my husband’s birthday due to, yes, rain again. There is no point in going to outdoor market when a good chunk of the outdoor vendors will not be, especially if one is going to travel 3+ hours each way and pay over $20 in tolls to go there.
I have been busy finishing up client’s tax returns and have only one left to do and I am waiting for the information to do it. So I started on our personal and business returns. Money goes back and forth between us and the business - something is on our credit card for the business or vice versa, so the first thing I have to do is make sure what the business owes us is the same amount on the business’s books and on our books. Sometimes I post something on one set of books and forget to post it on the other. That took 2 days to work out - and the end of 2015 I got it to match, so the differences were all last year - finally both the business and our books agree.
Next week is holiday time - Monday night is the start of Passover and next Friday is Good Friday, followed, of course, by Easter Sunday. If you are having people in for the holidays - do you have your house ready? Now is the time to start. Try to do better than throwing everything in that extra room with door that stays closed when people are over. - You thought I didn’t know about that? I started doing this when I was a kid - cleaning my room meant throwing everything in the bottom of the closet - this would result in my finding the leftover Halloween candy sometime the following August - luckily I never had bugs or other little visitors as a result of that. Try to actually toss out some items - or take them for donation. (I took 5 suitcases today for donation - one hard side rolling bag and the rest were soft bags that I managed to fit into the rolling bag. - a little more room in a closet for other stuff.) Plan out your menu if you doing the cooking or assign who will bring which dish if you have an arrangement where everyone brings part of the dinner. I keep my recipes for the holidays on the computer. They used to be in a cooking program (technically they still are, but it needs a parallel printer to print them out and that means running cables...) I printed them out and scanned them (remember I posted last October about how great and important it is to have a scanner and a printer - this is one example) into the computer. Now I can print them out when needed. I print the recipes I will use and throw them out as they are finished with - easy to see what still needs to be done. Even if you not are not going to be responsible for the hosting or cooking - make sure that everyone’s clothes will be ready for them to wear for the holidays.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
Income taxes (here in the U.S.) are due April 18, a week from this coming Tuesday. There is still time to get them finished. If you find that you will not have them done - whether because you are too busy to do them, can’t find info, or did not get info from someone needed to prepare them, you can file for an extension of time to FILE. It is not an extension of time to pay - so make sure you have paid in enough for your taxes - from withholding or by filing estimated taxes - to be at least as close as possible. If your income is the same as last year as far as you know -then make sure you have paid in at least the same in taxes as your taxes were last year - 110% of last year’s if you have a high income.
There is a form from IRS to file to get the extension - it is automatic and you will have until October 15, 2017 to file. Depending on your state you might also have to file a form for an automatic extension or it might just be automatic. Again, this is an extension of time to FILE the return, not to pay the taxes.
If you do get an extension try to prepare and file your returns as soon as possible so if you do owe additional taxes you will pay as little in possible in any penalties and interest for paying late - and if you are getting a refund, don’t you want the money as soon as possible?
If you have not filed your taxes in the past - get them filed also. The April 18 date may be important for you too. If a return is filed more than 3 years late you will lose any refund due you and if you owe money on the returns you are adding penalties and interest to what you owe - every month and if you have not filed a return - then IRS (and the state’s) 3 years to go after you for taxes owed does not start to run and they can come after you until you file a return (then they have 3 years) or forever.
If you get a large refund you might want to change the amount withheld for taxes or pay less in estimates - a refund may be exciting, but IRS and your state is using your money. If you can pay less in advance without underpaying the taxes that is money in your pocket (or even better your bank account) during the year on which you can make (the current tiny rate of) interest or you can pay down a bill and pay less interest.
If you owe money - file your returns even if you cannot pay the amount due. Pay as much as you can and attach a letter explaining. Depending on how much you owe, a payment plan from IRS (state) maybe easier than you think to get - but you are paying interest (and will pay penalties for underpaying your taxes) until the amount due is paid off.
Another reason for paying your taxes is that there is a scam in which someone calls you and rather threateningly tells you that they are from the IRS (state) and you owe taxes - which won’t worry you if you know you don’t owe any taxes. In case you haven’t heard this - IRS (state) will not call you for payment of taxes without having mailed something to you first. Don’t fall for this scam. (Or similar ones claiming that if you do not pay immediately with a gift card your utilities will be shut off.) One thing to remember is that IRS, states, utilities will never tell you to buy gift cards to pay off an amount owed - especially not Apple gift cards. They will not want you to wire money to them. (There are postal laws that can be used against fraudsters, so they want they want the money otherwise sent to them - by wire, UPS, FedEx, etc.- to avoid the postal laws.) They will want payments by check. (They may also take credit cards and charge you a fee for using same.) Also if anyone ever calls claiming to be from the government or a utility and threatens you for payment. If you are unsure, ask if you can call them back - a refusal to allow you to do so is another indication that they are not legitimate. Call the government agency or the utility directly and ask them if this was a legitimate call. If you have a tax preparer - you should be able to call them for help. But again - if one is not delinquent, then one knows that one does not owe the money. Personally I do not talk to anyone who calls. We have our answering machine on all the time and we screen our calls (originally as we did not want to have to tell all the people who thought we were a pizza place, a doctor, or an eyeglass store that they were wrong, but now it is so we don’t talk to any of these con men). IRS has a link on the first page of their site to information about current scams.
I do have to give you a bit of disclaimer. I am not a CPA, just a garden variety of accountant and tax preparer. The information I have given (other than the fraud warnings) may or may not apply to you. It is always a good idea to use a legitimate tax preparer (IRS has a directory of tax preparers who meet certain education standards and have a good history of no problems with returns on their website). You can also find free help depending on your return and circumstances through various programs - check at your local library for these programs. IRS’s website is irs.gov
And don’t forget - it is never too early to start preparing for next year’s returns.
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