Tax of America

03/23/2012

Did you know the Internal Revenue Service is expanding its “Fresh
Start” initiative to help more unemployed and financially stressed
taxpayers?

Under the new and expanded provisions, certain taxpayers who have been
unemployed for 30 days or longer will be able to avoid failure-to-pay
penalties. The IRS is also doubling the dollar threshold for taxpayers
eligible for installment agreements to help more people qualify for
the program.

01/30/2012

Thank you to all the tax consultants of Tax of America. One of the top 100 tax offices in the country!

01/30/2012

TPG is committed to helping our partners succeed by providing the necessary compliance training needed to offer bank products. The “Office of the Comptroller of the Currency”, who monitors banking partners like ours, requires that we conduct Mystery Shops during each tax season. The Compliance Excellence Award is being initiated to honor our tax professional partners that have demonstrated, through the “Mystery Shop Monitoring Program”, a perfect adherence to compliance guidelines (100%)! We appreciate the commitment to high industry standards, and maintaining excellence in compliance knowledge to better serve their bank product clients. We look forward to acknowledging our partners’ outstanding efforts at every opportunity.

Santa Barbara Tax Products Group LLC (TPG) compliance excellence award presented to tax professional partners that have demonstrated, through the “Mystery Shop Monitoring Program”, a perfect adherence to compliance guidelines.

01/24/2012

IRS Reminds Parents of Ten Tax Benefits

Your kids can be helpful at tax time. That doesn't mean they'll sort your tax receipts or refill your coffee, but those charming children may help you qualify for some valuable tax benefits. Here are 10 things the IRS wants parents to consider when filing their taxes this year.

1. Dependents In most cases, a child can be claimed as a dependent in the year they were born. For more information see IRS Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information.

2. Child Tax Credit You may be able to take this credit for each of your children under age 17. If you do not benefit from the full amount of the Child Tax Credit, you may be eligible for the Additional Child Tax Credit. For more information see IRS Publication 972, Child Tax Credit.

3. Child and Dependent Care Credit You may be able to claim this credit if you pay someone to care for your child or children under age 13 so that you can work or look for work. See IRS Publication 503, Child and Dependent Care Expenses.

4. Earned Income Tax Credit The EITC is a tax benefit for certain people who work and have earned income from wages, self-employment or farming. EITC reduces the amount of tax you owe and may also give you a refund. IRS Publication 596, Earned Income Credit, has more details.

5. Adoption Credit You may be able to take a tax credit for qualifying expenses paid to adopt an eligible child. If you claim the adoption credit, you must file a paper tax return with required adoption-related documents. For details, see the instructions for IRS Form 8839, Qualified Adoption Expenses.

6. Children with earned income If your child has income earned from working, they may be required to file a tax return. For more information, see IRS Publication 501.

7. Children with investment income Under certain circumstances a child’s investment income may be taxed at their parent’s tax rate. For more information, see IRS Publication 929, Tax Rules for Children and Dependents.

8. Higher education credits Education tax credits can help offset the costs of higher education. The American Opportunity and the Lifetime Learning Credits are education credits that can reduce your federal income tax dollar-for-dollar. See IRS Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education, for details.

9. Student loan interest You may be able to deduct interest paid on a qualified student loan, even if you do not itemize your deductions. For more information, see IRS Publication 970.

10. Self-employed health insurance deduction If you were self-employed and paid for health insurance, you may be able to deduct any premiums you paid for coverage for any child of yours who was under age 27 at the end of the year, even if the child was not your dependent. For more information, see the IRS website

01/22/2012

Year-Round Service
All of our customers have year-round access to our income tax return preparation locations. They’re available to help any time there’s a tax-related question or concern. We do not disappear after tax season. Please go to mytaxofamerica.com to find a location.

01/21/2012

Avoid preparers who base their fee on a percentage of your refund or those who claim they can obtain larger refunds than other preparers. Also, always make sure any refund due is sent to you or deposited into an account in your name. Under no circumstances should all or part of your refund be directly deposited into a preparer’s bank account.
Abusive return preparers frequently prepare bad returns for large numbers of taxpayers who, at best, are stuck with paying additional taxes and interest and at worse, depending on culpability, are subject to penalties and maybe even criminal prosecution.

01/21/2012

We will be open today!!

01/21/2012

Reputable preparers will ask multiple questions to determine whether expenses, deductions and other items qualify and remind clients that they need to keep careful and complete records in order to substantiate information on their tax return. By doing so, they have your best interest in mind and are trying to help you avoid penalties, interest, or additional taxes that could result from later IRS contacts.

01/21/2012

Double My Refund
Let Tax of America prepare your tax return for a chance to double the amount of your Federal tax refund. To enter just have your taxes prepared at a Tax of America office and have at least one qualifying referral to be entered into the drawing. Ten (10) prizes of doubled tax refunds will be awarded to the qualified entrant whose name is drawn. Winning entries will have their 2011 Tax Refund doubled (up to $5,000 maximum) and submitted by check to Winner, in Winner’s name. Winner is responsible for all federal, state and local taxes. Federal regulations require the sponsor to issue a 1099 Form to the winner for any prize valued above $500.00. Entries are not transferable. Double My Refund prize amount maximum is $5000 per Winner. Go to one of our locations for more contest details.
Good luck!!!!

01/16/2012

We are open!!!! Go to a location near you!! Mytaxofamerica.com

01/16/2012

We celebrate the life and dream of a man of faith, courage and leadership — Martin Luther King Jr.