Category Archives: Tax Preparation

After a lot of debate and some last minute shenanigans, the American Taxpayer Relief Act (or “ATRA” for short) was signed into law by President Obama on January 2, 2013. This new law makes the changes made by the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act that was enacted in December 2010 permanent with regard to federal estate taxes, gift taxes and generation skipping transfer taxes, with one notable exception. Below is a brief summary of what this relief plan provides with regard to these types of federal taxes for 2013.

At this point you should have received your W2, 1099 and any other applicable tax documents. With all of these in hand, you are ready to complete your taxes. If you know how to prepare your own taxes then you’re ahead of the game. But if you happen to be like the 80% of Americans who use either a paid tax preparer or purchase tax software to submit their taxes, you prefer someone else to crunch the numbers for you and there’s nothing wrong with that.

But if you are someone who prefers to have a live human helping you with your taxes, you need to be sure that choose wisely. Here are 5 tips to help you pick a trustworthy tax preparer:

If you’ve ever filed taxes before, you know that your filing status is one of the largest determining factors when it comes to your federal income tax return.

According to the IRS, there are five filing statuses for an individual tax return: single, married filing jointly, married filing separately, head of household and qualifying widow(er) with dependent child.

Your filing status has a huge impact on your tax return. It determines your standard deduction, your ability to claim certain tax credits and additional deductions, and your correct tax amount.

If you’ve recently married or experienced a life-changing event, your filing status may have changed — or you may qualify for more than one status. Here are four quick facts about the most common filing statuses that will help you choose the best option for you individual situation.

1. Your marital status on the last day of the year (12/31) determines your marital status for the entire year.

2. If more than one filing status applies to you, claim the one that gives you the lowest tax obligation.

3. Single filing status generally applies to anyone who is unmarried, divorced or legally separated according to state law.

4. If your spouse died during the year and you did not remarry during 2011, you can usually still file a Married Filing Jointly return with that spouse for the year of death.

5. A married couple may decide to file their returns separately. In this case, each person’s filing status would generally be Married Filing Separately, not Single.

6. Head of Household generally applies to taxpayers who are unmarried. You must also have paid more than half the cost of maintaining a home for you and a qualifying person to qualify for this filing status.

7. You may be able to choose Qualifying Widow(er) with Dependent Child as your filing status if your spouse died during 2009 or 2010, you have a dependent child, have not remarried and you meet certain other conditions.

If you have further questions on your filing status, or prefer a professional tax preparer file your tax return this year, Beaton Accounting can help. All of our tax preparers are experienced tax professionals to ensure the accuracy of your filing and the maximization of your return.

Call us today for a FREE consultation!

631-921-6894

Have a question or certain topic you’d like to see addressed in our next blog post? Just leave a comment, or email us at [email protected]

Does your tax preparer explain if you take standard or itemize your deductions? If not, you could be wasting your time compiling data that is unnecessary.

Do I file back taxes first before current year? How do I resolve issue? Where to go from here? Should I not pay?

If you have thought these questions , you are not alone. Many Americans have past due debts but worst thing to do is procrastinate. Inquire at website under tax preparation for further help.