Tax Help

Do you need help filing or paying your income taxes? Well, here is some information and links to tax professionals who might be able to help you.

IS THE IRS HOLDING YOUR REFUND BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T UPDATE YOUR ADDRESS?

The Internal Revenue Service is looking for 4,606 Los Angeles County taxpayers who are due to receive a combined $5.2 million in undeliverable tax refunds. These are refund checks that were returned to the IRS by the U.S. Postal Service due to mailing address errors. Nationally, IRS is looking for 107,831 taxpayers who are owed a combined $124 million. In addition, more than 15,000 California taxpayers are owed $16.6 million, or about 13% of the total. All a taxpayer has to do is update his or her address once. Some taxpayers are due more than one check.

“We are eager to get this money into the hands of taxpayers, so don’t delay if you think you are missing a refund,” said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. “The sooner you update your address information, the quicker you can get your refund.” Average undeliverable refunds rose by 16 percent this year to $1,148 from $990 last year. The vast majority of checks mailed out by the IRS each year reach their rightful owner. Only a very small percent (.29% this year) are returned by the U.S. Postal Service as undeliverable.

You can get help from the IRS through its website at IRS.gov or by calling 1-800-TAX-1040.

IRS GOING AFTER EBAY SELLERS

We've been hearing about this for a couple of years now, but now it is official. Congress has passed a new law allowing the IRS to go after eBay sellers. If you use eBay to sell just a couple of small items each year, you don't have to worry about the IRS knocking on your door or following your transactions. But if you have an eBay business the IRS wants to see how well you do.

Remember that you are obligated under the tax law to report profitable sales. If you have a garage sale and sell a used TV or used clothing for less than what you paid for it, you do not have to report this to the IRS. But if you have a collectible or an autograph book that you sell in your garage sale or on eBay for profit, that profit can be taxable income and should be reported.

If you have one garage sale a year, or two, and don't make a profit on any items, don't worry about the new law or regulations. But if you are a regular eBay seller or operate a garage sale or flea market booth regularly, watch out-- the IRS wants to know how well you are doing.

AN EMAIL ABOUT AN IRS TAX REFUND?

Don't believe any emails you get saying you are due an IRS tax refund. The fact is, the IRS does not send out these emails -- only scammers send out emails. Look at the email I just got:

"After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of 63$.

"Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 3-9 days in order to process it.

"A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons. For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.

"To complete your tax refund you need to click on the fallow link (link removed because I don't want anyone to lose money to these scam artists) and enter valid MASTERCARD or VISA credit/debit card to get it."

Can you believe this? The scammer is actually asking me to enter my credit card information. Yikes. And the worst part of it, is that some people will fall for this scam. Don't you fall for it. If you have a refund coming, the IRS will let you know by U.S. Mail. You can check on your own refund status by going to the IRS' web site at www.IRS.gov.

And just for laughs, there was one more indication that this was a scam: the text of the email gives the refund amount as 63$. Well, in this country, and with the IRS, we write out "sixty-three dollars" as $63 and not 63$.

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