Your Social Security Number could be the ticket for a fraudster seeking to claim a false tax refund or worse, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). A fraud expert offers some tips for preventing such crime - or at least catching it early.

Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA, CVA, is vice president and program director for the Austin, Texas-based Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). With nearly 75,000 members, the ACFE is the world's largest anti-fraud organization and premier provider of anti-fraud training and education. Dorris offered the following tips for staying ahead of would-be identity thieves during tax season:

1. File as soon as possible. When it comes to filing taxes, those who put it off until the last minute face greater risk. "Fraudsters may try to claim a refund using your identity before you have a chance to submit a legitimate claim," Dorris said. "By filing early, you can beat them to the punch - at least this year."

2. Don't trust that phone call or email. A common scam involves a fraudster contacting the victim, claiming to be from the IRS and asserting that the taxpayer owes money and must pay immediately. They ask for bank account, credit card or other financial information. "This isn't the way the IRS operates, and no one should provide such information over the phone or via email," Dorris said.

3. Check your credit history. Free credit reports are available at annualcreditreport.com. Information in your report can indicate whether a tax fraudster has used your identity for nefarious purposes beyond just refund fraud. "Reviewing your credit report will tip you off if anyone has been opening lines of credit in your name," Dorris said. "Make sure all of your information is accurate and includes only those accounts and transactions you have authorized.

4. Report anything suspicious. Emails purporting to be from the IRS, strange phone calls, odd things on your credit report - any of these can be telltale signs of attempted fraud. Also, "if you receive a notice from the IRS that you filed more than one tax return or someone has already filed using your information, that's a big red flag," Dorris said. "If you are informed that you have a mysterious balance due or that you received wages from an employer you have not worked for, it's time to contact the IRS." Call their Identity Protection Specialized Unit at 1-800-908-4490.

5. If you've been a victim, create an Identity Theft Report. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), an Identity Theft Report will help you deal with credit reporting companies, debt collectors and businesses that gave the identity thief credit or opened new accounts in your name. "If you have been the victim of identity theft, having a record on file will help you repair the damage to your credit report and deal with any creditors who are attempting to collect on fraudulent charges," Dorris said. "It will also place an extended fraud alert on your credit report, which can help prevent further fraudulent activity moving forward."

More tips? Hass Associates Accounting may help you. Hass Associates Accounting was at first doing business as the Tax Center and was then evolved to an accounting industry concerning about income tax preparation. Years thought us many things, introduced us many people and their walks of life.

THIS savvy pensioner was a step ahead of scammers who tried to access his details through a fake tax email.

Former railway worker Ken Fuller, 80, received an email claiming to be from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, inviting him to claim a 'tax refund' of £469, following 'annual calculations of his fiscal activity'.

To claim his rebate, all he had to do was fill in the attached refund form and submit it by the following day.

Like most scams, it sounded too good to be true, and it was. Mr Fuller, of Grimsby, suspected all was not as it seemed, and called HMRC which confirmed it was a fake.

Ken, of Timberley Drive, said he wanted to warn others to be vigilant against such scam attempts, so people don't fall victim to their cons.

He said: "It came out of the blue. I was just checking my e-mails on my computer when I saw it had come through.

"It looked bona fide. It had the exact logo that you get on tax letters. But something about it wasn't right, I was immediately suspicious.

"I contacted HMRC the next morning and they asked me to send it to their 'phishing' email address, so they could take a look at it."

The tax office sent a reply confirming it would never contact people via email about being eligible for a repayment or to ask for personal information or payment.

According to consumer site Money Saving Expert, clicking on the attached link risks uploading a virus to the person's computer.

Often, these are designed to steal your banking and other sensitive login details.

Figures show that during 2013, customers reported more than 91,000 phishing e-mails to HMRC.

Ken said: "It's sad to know someone is out there trying to deceive you. There are a lot of scams out there, you are always hearing about them, but this was an unusual one.

"I'm not particularly computer savvy but I suspected something wasn't right about it.

"It did look very official though. I know because I normally fill out my tax reconciliation at the end of each financial year.

"It definitely makes you more wary about what you are receiving. It came out of the blue for me."

A spokesman for HMRC said: "We only ever contact customers who are due a tax refund in writing by post. We don't use telephone calls, e-mails or external companies.

"Anyone who receives an email claiming to be from HMRC should send it to phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk before deleting it permanently."

Ken reiterated the message that other people should be extra careful when responding to e-mails claiming to be from reputable origins..

"It's really important that people are aware," he said.

"If I can help one person from getting scammed and getting into hassle, then I'll be happy."

Gareth Lloyd, head of digital security at HMRC, said the organisation was working to track and down close the rogue websites responsible for such scams.

"HMRC never contacts customers who are due a tax refund via email - we always send a letter through the post," he said.

"We can, and do, close these websites down, and do all we can to ensure taxpayers stay safe online by working with law enforcement agencies around the world to target the criminals behind these scams."

If you have experienced long hold times and inefficient service from the IRS, please know that you aren't alone. Even professionals have sat on hold for lengthy periods.

Just a few years ago, tax experts could usually count on speaking with a human almost immediately after dialing the agency. That's no longer the case.

IRS customer service personnel are not happy with the situation either. Budget cuts have led to staffing limitation, and existing workers are feeling the impact. The situation not only creates stress for IRS employees, but also for taxpayers who must tolerate what feels like an endless wait to get a resolution of their tax problems.

A great part of this problem came from the agency's 2013 $618 million budget cut. As a result, customer service was vastly reduced and employee compensation was reduced by $276 million. This included furloughing employees for three days.

Enforcement personnel and audit staff also received cuts. Audits went down 5% and individual return audits declined to 1,404,931 from 1,481,966 in full year 2012. Collection activities such as "taxpayer liens, levies, and property seizures declined from 3,669,663 in FY 2012 to 2,457,647 in FY 2013, an approximately 33 percent decrease," according to Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).

But all of that is about to change.

President Obama has revealed his proposed 2015 budget, which includes a $1.2 billion increase to $12.5 billion from the current $11.3 billion-an 11% increase.

At the end of April, TIGTA said the IRS wants to focus on improving customer services, increase compliance and combat fraud. "The IRS's role is unique within the Federal Government in that it collects the revenue that funds the Government and administers the Nation's tax laws. It also works to protect Federal revenue by detecting and preventing the growing risk of fraudulent tax refunds and other improper payments," TIGTA said in the statement.

The IRS is tasked with enforcing the Affordable Care Act's penalties and policing its subsidies. The president's signature legislation requires most Americans to have insurance by March 31 for 2014 or face a penalty of $95 a year or 1% of their income for failing to comply.

Several years ago, the IRS received a budget increase but the monies were allocated primarily to systems modernization (computers) and enforcement. In fact, customer service received a cut to their operations at that time. However, the allocation tables for 2015 show a different story. Customer service will receive an injection of 7.5% increase to their budget. Article source.

EXCLUSIVE: IRS Stonewalling FOIA Request Surrounding Correspondence With Democratic Members of Congress

On May 21, 2013 the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent the IRS a Freedom of Information Act request asking for "any and all documents or records, including but not limited to electronic documents, e-mails, paper documents, photographs (electronic or hard copy), or audio files," related to correspondence from January 1, 2009 and May 21, 2013 between thirteen different Democrat members of Congress and top IRS officials. Those officials include former IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman, former Commissioner Steven Miller, senior IRS official Joseph Grant and former head of tax exempt groups Lois Lerner. Members of Congress named in the request include Sen. Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Reid (D-NV), DSCC Chair Sen. Bennet (D-CO), Sen. Landrieu (D-LA), Sen. Pryor (D-AR), Sen. Hagan (D-NC), Sen. Begich (D-AK), Sen. Shaheen (D-NH), Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO), Sen. Franken (D-MN), Sen. Warner (D-VA), Rep. Braley and Rep. Peters (D-MI).

Since that request was received by the IRS nearly one year ago, IRS Tax Law Specialists Robert Thomas and Denise Higley have asked for more time to fulfill the request six times.

"I am responding to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request dated May 21, 2013, and received in our office on May 30, 2013," Higley wrote in a letter to NRSC Attorney Megan Sowards last year. "I am unable to send the information requested by June 27, 2013, which is the 20 business day period allowed by law. I apologize for any inconvenience this delay may cause."

Thomas and Higley have sent six letters with the same language and different dates to Sowards requesting more time to locate information in order to fulfill the FOIA request. Most recently, the IRS has asked for a deadline of August 1, 2014 to produce information.

Earlier this week Judicial Watch released documents showing Democratic Michigan Senator Carl Levin was in contact with former Deputy IRS Commissioner Steven Miller repeatedly throughout 2012 and was working with the agency on how conservative groups, specifically those working against his reelection, could be targeted through IRS rules and regulations. Last month we learned the staff of Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee Elijah Cummings had been in touch with the IRS about voter fraud prevention group True the Vote, despite direct denials from Cummings any contact with the IRS had ever occurred.

Credit Suisse pleaded guilty to Federal criminal charges Monday, for helping clients avoid tax payment by sending money overseas. The global banking giant will pay a total of $2.6 billion in penalties

The Swiss bank Credit Suisse pleaded guilty Monday to helping U.S. citizens commit tax evasion over the course of several decades, the Department of Justice announced. Credit Suisse will pay the Department of Justice, the Federal Reserve and the New York State Department of Financial Services a total of $2.6 billion in penalties, the largest payment ever in a U.S. criminal tax case. The banking giant is the first global financial institution to face a criminal conviction from U.S. authorities in more than a decade, Bloomberg reports.

Credit Suisse bankers aided thousands of wealthy Americans in concealing their money from U.S. authorities, the Department of Justice said. The bank helped American clients set up shell accounts to shuttle their money overseas and then solicited false IRS documents to make the accounts seem legitimate. According to a U.S. Senate subcommittee report released in February, Credit Suisse recruited new clients at bank-sponsored events, like golf tournaments in Florida and a gala in New York. In one instance, a Credit Suisse employee handed a client secret bank statements hidden in a copy of Sports Illustrated during a breakfast meeting. Credit Suisse had 22,000 U.S. customers with about $13.5 billion in their Swiss accounts in 2006, the "vast majority" of which was undeclared to U.S. authorities, according to the report.

"This case shows that no financial institution, no matter its size or global reach, is above the law," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a release announcing the conviction. "Credit Suisse conspired to help U.S. citizens hide assets in offshore accounts in order to evade paying taxes. When a bank engages in misconduct this brazen, it should expect that the Justice Department will pursue criminal prosecution to the fullest extent possible, as has happened here."

As part of its deal, Credit Suisse must disclose its cross-border activities and cooperate in requests for account information from the U.S. government. The bank must also provide info about other banks that helped transer funds into secret accounts and close the accounts of Americans who improperly report their assets to the U.S. government.

The move comes as part of an overall crackdown by the Department of Justice on offshore bank accounts. As part of the same investigation, the Department of Justice has indicted eight Credit Suisse executives since 2011. Two of them have pleaded guilty to criminal acts.

Hass and Associates Accounting Tax Preparation New tax test on foreign takeovers

FOREIGN investors face a new hurdle as Joe Hockey declares he will take their tax affairs into account when considering their Australian deals amid a global crackdown on corporate tax avoidance.

Alarmed at the potential loss of federal revenue, the Treasurer warned that tax arrangements would become a major factor in foreign investment approvals, given their growing impact on the national interest.

Mr Hockey, who has the final say on all big foreign investments, took the new stance as he stepped up the case for global action on the "significant risk" to revenue from profit-shifting by large companies.

The comments to The Australian are an important signal on foreign investment rules, given the Treasurer's wide discretion to veto transactions and advice from Treasury about the revenue at stake.

"The risk is significant, not just because the digital economy helps to facilitate tax minimisation or tax liability shifting to other jurisdictions," Mr Hockey said in an interview. "It has an impact on other decision-making. Ultimately, it will have some impact on foreign investment decisions."

The Abbott government is pushing ahead with curbs on "base erosion and profit-shifting" as chair of the G20 this year, hosting a summit in Sydney last weekend that approved global measures to tackle the problem.

Behind the international agenda is a domestic fear, including within Treasury, that big takeovers would lead to changes in tax arrangements that could wipe out billions of dollars in revenue.

Mr Hockey did not refer to any specific proposal before the Foreign Investment Review Board but sent a clear signal to investors about how he would decide on future deals.

"If you're advised that an Australian company is a major taxpayer and if it is purchased by someone overseas and therefore its tax liability would be reduced domestically to zero, that feeds into a decision about what is contrary to the national interest," he said. "You'd lose potentially a substantial lick of revenue. And that does have an impact on the national interest."

The G20 communique released on Sunday promised global action on the tax leakage by insisting "profits should be taxed where economic activities deriving the profits are performed".

OECD tax director Pascal Saint-Amans outlined two tranches of changes to be decided in September this year and September next year.

Labor has welcomed the G20 progress but challenged Mr Hockey to live up to the communique, noting the government had abandoned some of former treasurer Wayne Swan's actions to close tax loopholes.

"Three-quarters of a billion dollars have been dropped because the government wasn't willing to go hard on multinational profit-shifting," opposition assistant Treasury spokesman Andrew Leigh said. "So that's $700 million, around the cost of a new hospital.

"The government is walking away from good moves on multinational profit-shifting and they're walking back on transparency of multinational tax paid, which has really got to leave you asking the question: how serious are they about making sure that all companies pay their fair share of tax?" KPMG national corporate tax leader David Linke said the G20 agenda was significant for all businesses operating across borders and the biggest concern was avoid countries going it alone in ways that led to double-taxation of companies.

"Generally tax reform takes a decade and here they're trying to get it done in two years, so the time frame is challenging."

Treasury has warned the government in recent years about the danger to the tax base from large transactions, particularly when BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto contemplated a merger of their iron ore interests in 2010.

Rio estimated its Australian tax liability at $9 billion last year, and Treasury feared the bulk of that could be lost if the iron ore merger had gone ahead.

Another transaction, the 2009 sale of Myer by private equity owners, triggered a court case when the Australian Taxation Office tried unsuccessfully to collect tax on the $1.5bn repatriated to offshore tax havens.

The policy guiding the FIRB requires the agency - which operates within Treasury - to consider the impact of a takeover on the government's revenue.

However, foreign investment counsel for King & Wood Mallesons Malcolm Brennan said tax had not been one of the central considerations until now. "It is rare to see tax gaining the heaviest weighting in measuring the national interest impact," he said. "It is more what is the effect on the community, on jobs, on management and wanting to see Australian involvement maintained rather than the impact on government revenue."

Mr Hockey's stance may cause concern for the US, which argued it should not be a national interest consideration when it was negotiating the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement.

Mr Brennan said US multinationals wanting to reorganise subsidiaries in Australia often had to seek FIRB approval, even though there was no change in ownership, because the government wanted to vet tax implications. He said the threshold for US takeovers was raised to more than $1bn under the FTA so that US companies would have greater latitude to reorganise their operations without involving the ATO in foreign investment approval.

Mr Brennan said a growing number of African-based mining companies were listing on the Australian Securities Exchange, despite having no assets in Australia. They pay tax here, but if taken over by a foreign company the tax would disappear.

Mr Hockey has demonstrated a willingness to risk political and industry criticism by rejecting takeover proposals, vetoing a $3.4bn bid for Graincorp by Archer Daniels Midland in November.

While Australia hosts the G20 talks on the tax agenda this year, Mr Hockey was cautious about acting unilaterally to fix the tax leakage, when speaking to The Australian before last weekend's summit of finance ministers and central bank governors.

"Domestically I think we've got to keep working away on it, but I want to see where we get to on a global level first so that we don't create an inconsistent regime," he said. "Given we're in the box seat globally, there's a great opportunity to get a closer, better understanding of where it's heading."
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Hass and Associates Accounting Tax Preparation What the New Obamacare Taxes Mean for Your Return

We all knew the Affordable Care Act was going to affect more than the type of medical insurance we can have, and if you are in one of the top two tax brackets, you're among the lucky ones paying for much of the ACA through two new taxes. The new Medicare tax is an additional 0.9% taken from the paychecks of everyone who earns more than the threshold amount, and the tax on Net Investment Income (NII) takes an extra 3.8% on profits from investments. (The latter is in addition to the higher capital gains tax that upper-income taxpayers are already paying.)

What's more, because the threshold amounts for both the additional Medicare tax and the NII tax are not going to increase based upon inflation, like the Alternative Minimum Tax, more taxpayers will find themselves subject to these new taxes as time goes by and incomes rise.
The additional 0.9% Medicare tax applies once your income from a job ("wages") exceeds a certain amount:

"A lot of people didn't fully understand the new tax laws," says Karen Goodfriend, a CPA and Personal Financial Specialist (PFS) who works in Los Altos, Calif. "It's complicated. There are new taxes and new thresholds."
As more and more Americans are completing their 2013 tax returns, they are waking up to just how big a bite these taxes can have.

The additional 3.8% Net Investment Income tax applies if: a) you have net investment income, and 2) your modified adjusted gross income exceeds the following thresholds. Note that with the exception of "qualifying widow(er) with dependent child," these are the same dollar amounts as above.

Note: the thresholds for both new taxes are not indexed to increase with inflation.
Reducing the impact of the additional Medicare tax is difficult unless you're your own boss. One advantage of being self-employed is that you can often control the timing of your income. If you're able to push income into the following year, you might be able to keep your wages from exceeding the threshold for your filing status. If you work for someone else, then the best you can hope is that your company gives you some flexibility to delay receipt of your bonus until Jan. 1.

By law, your employer must automatically withhold the extra Medicare tax when your income exceeds the threshold. The problem is that if you and your spouse both work outside the home and neither of you individually earns more than the threshold, you will still be liable for this tax if your joint income is more than $250,000. If you haven't had this taken out of your paychecks, you'll need to write a check for this amount when you file your tax return. Additionally, you might be subject to a penalty for underpaying your taxes for the previous year. To avoid this, the American Institute of CPAs recommends you increase your payroll withholding or make quarterly estimated tax payments.

Max Out Your Retirement Contributions
Since money you contribute to your employer-sponsored retirement plan is deductible, you might be wondering if this is a way to reduce your wages so they are below the level where the additional 0.9% Medicare tax kicks in. Nice try. Medicare and Social Security taxes are calculated before your retirement plan contributions are taken into account.

But that's no reason to slack off on your 401(k). Contributions to company-sponsored plans as well as traditional IRAs will still reduce your taxable income. And, that will impact whether you are subject to the Net Investment Income tax.

"The sooner you make a contribution to a tax-deferred retirement account, the better. Not only does this reduce your taxable income, it helps build retirement income," says John Sweeney, executive vice president at Fidelity Investments. If you have a 401(k), 403(b) or 457 plan through work, in addition to the maximum amount you can contribute is $17,500. However, if you are age 50 or older, the maximum is $23,000 thanks to the $5,500 "catch-up contribution."

The most you can contribute to a traditional or Roth IRA is $5,500, plus another $1,000 if you qualify for a catch-up contribution.

Last Hope (for 2013)
At this point, says Sweeney, "you can't do a lot to affect your 2013 return other than make an IRA contribution." But instead of waiting until this time next year to come up with the money for your 2014 IRA contribution, he suggests you get started now. "Put a couple of hundred bucks a month in [your IRA]." Virtually every mutual fund company has a free, automatic investing plan and will deduct whatever amount you specify from your bank account on a certain date each month.

The benefit of this approach, called "dollar cost averaging," is two-fold: not only do you reap whatever gains the markets deliver throughout this year, you also start to live on less income. "You figure out how to make small adjustments so you are saving 10-15% of your income," says Sweeney. He maintains that if you can learn to live on 85% to 90% of what you earn, "you'll be better off in the long run. By the time you're retired, your spending level will be adjusted lower and you'll have a nice nest egg."

Got HSA?
If your employer gives you the choice of contributing to a Health Savings Account, this can also help reduce your taxable income. Think of an HSA as an IRA for medical expenses. It reduces your current tax bill because contributions are deductible and it reduces your future taxes because withdrawals are tax-free, provided they are used for qualified medical expenses. If you are still working and can afford it, Sweeney recommends not using your HSA account to cover smaller medical expenses such as prescriptions and co-pays. The less you withdraw from your HSA today, the more money you'll potentially have in the future. Medical expenses tend to increase as you age. When you're retired and no longer getting a paycheck, he says your HSA represents "a pool of money that has grown tax-free."

Think of the Kids (or Grandkids)
While it won't have any impact on the amount of income that is currently subject to tax, Goodfriend encourages clients--many of whom come from the wealthy Silicon Valley area--to consider a 529-college savings plan. The money invested inside these accounts grows tax free if it's used for qualified expenses and as she points out, "you minimize the income that can be subject to investment income tax" in the future.

Give It Away- Smartly
If you are charitably inclined, don't write a check! Instead, donate appreciated property to the charity instead of selling it yourself. This prevents you from being pushed into a higher tax bracket and potentially over the threshold for the investment income tax. And, since a charity does not pay tax when it sells securities, it receives all of the proceeds--not just the after-tax amount.

Ms. Buckner is a Retirement and Financial Planning Specialist and an instructor in Franklin Templeton Investments' global Academy. The views expressed in this article are only those of Ms. Buckner or the individual commentator identified therein, and are not necessarily the views of Franklin Templeton Investments, which has not reviewed, and is not responsible for, the content.
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Hass and Associates Accounting Tax Preparation Goodbye National Insurance. Hello Earnings Tax


National Insurance, a 100-year old charge on employers and employees, will be renamed "earnings tax", the Chancellor has signalled.
The change, which will be proposed in legislation to be published on Tuesday, is the first step towards merging income tax with National Insurance.
Ben Gummer MP, a rising star Tory backbencher who has been campaigning on tax transparency, will propose the change in a Commons Bill on Tuesday.
The plans have Treasury backing. A source told The Daily Telegraph that George Osborne, the Chancellor, "is attracted to the idea".
Mr Gummer said: "I am very pleased the Government is interested in the idea. They have been very receptive to trying to make the tax system more transparent.

"This would be a really good step forward in making what the Government takes from taxpayers clearer and simpler."
Mr Gummer said he hoped the name change would begin the process of merging National Insurance with Income Tax into one single charge.
He said: "The most important part is changing the name so in the public mind we can begin the two as the same, which they are. This is a first step."
National Insurance, which is charged on top of income tax, was first introduced in the National Insurance Act by Lloyd George in 1913 as a way for workers and employees to contribute towards certain benefits, such as a state pension.
Unlike income tax, MPs are not allowed to vote on whether it should be levied every year. Instead they are only asked to approve level of the charge.

National Insurance rakes in billions every year for the Treasury. Anyone who is employed and earns between £149 and £797 a week pays 12 per cent of their income in National Insurance. A further 2 per cent is paid on all earnings over that level.
People who are self-employed pay National Insurance at a flat rate or as a percentage of the individual's annual taxable profits.
Hass and Associates Accounting Tax Preparation Goodbye National Insurance. Hello Earnings Tax
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Hass and Associates Accounting Tax Preparation
Bättre hjälpa Business Bureau Tips för att välja skatt förberedelse

STATELINE (WIFR)--Förväntade skatteåterbäring kan orsaka konsumenter att rusa för att få sina skatter arkiveras så snart som möjligt. Dock att vara vårdslös om du väljer skatt förberedelse hjälp kan försena en förväntad återbetalning, och också kan öppna upp konsumenterna att bedrägerier och ID-stöld. BBB uppmuntrar skattebetalare att vara försiktig när du väljer en utanför skatt beredare.

"Många konsumenter söker någon form av stöd vid inlämning av sin avkastning," sa Dennis Horton, direktör av Better Business Bureau Rockford. "Inte grundligt forska skatt beredare kan orsaka problem med allt från mindre olägenheter till stora bekymmer. Böter, extra avgifter och en hel del krångel kan bli resultatet."

Horton påminner konsumenterna att även om skatt beredare är klar att skattedeklarationen, det är den skattskyldige som är ytterst ansvarig för riktigheten av pappersarbete och tidsfristen för inlämning.

Konsumenterna bör också vara medveten om att vissa skatt förberedelse företag är öppna för bara några månader varje år. Det kan vara svårt att spåra beredare om det finns problem efter en skatt servicekontor stängs.

Internal Revenue Service har också utfärdat varningar om online skatterelaterade system som kan stjäla skattebetalarnas identiteter. Till exempel bluff e-postmeddelanden kan påstå det finns ett problem med en återbetalning, att skattskyldige är granskas, eller att det finns en fördröjning i bearbetning av inkomstdeklarationen. Länkar i e-post gå brukar till webbplatsen för en bedragare som kommer sedan be för personnummer, bankkonto- eller kreditkortsuppgifter.

"IRS inte kontakta skattebetalarna via e-post," noterade Horton, "och det kommer inte att begära personlig eller ekonomisk information eller informera dig om en revision av e-post antingen."

Här är några tips för att välja en skatt beredare:

* Fråga runt. Få remisser från vänner och familj om som de använder, och kolla BBB tillförlitlighet rapporterna om skatt förberedelse tjänster på www.bbb.org

* Leta efter referenser. Din skatt beredare bör helst vara auktoriserad revisor, en skatt advokat eller inskrivna agent. Alla tre kan företräda dig innan IRS i frågor, inklusive en revision. Också, ta reda på om beredare är associerat med en professionell organisation som håller sina medlemmar till en etisk kod.

* Inte faller för löftet om en stor återbetalning. Var försiktig med någon skatt förberedelse tjänst som lovar större bidrag än konkurrenterna, och undvika någon skatt utgivare som grundar sin avgift på en procentsats av bidragsbelopp.

* Tycker om tillgänglighet. Många skatt förberedelse tjänster endast inrättat butik för månaderna fram till 15 April. Om IRS hittar fel, eller vid en granskning, kan du behöva kunna kontakta din skatt beredare under hela året.

* Läs igenom avtalet noggrant. Läs skatt förberedelse servicekontrakt noga för att se till att du förstår frågor som hur mycket det kommer att kosta för tjänsten, hur kostnaden kommer att påverkas om förberedelse är mer komplicerat och tidskrävande än förväntat, och om skatt beredare ska företräda dig vid en revision.

* Kontrollera din retur. Innan du registrerar tillbaka, Läs det över för att kontrollera för misstag. Be beredare att förklara vad du inte förstår och glöm inte att underteckna den.

Hass and Associates Accounting Tax Preparation Bättre hjälpa Business Bureau Tips för att välja skatt förberedelse
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National News: Tax Tip: Tips for Preparing to File Your Taxes Online OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Market wired - Feb. 10, 2014) - Did you know? Filing your taxes online is increasing in popularity as Canadians discover how fast, easy, and secure filing online really is. Last year, over 74% of Canadians filed their income tax and benefit return electronically. Are you ready to join them? Get ready: following these steps will make filing your taxes easy! * Go to www.cra.gc.ca/getready to find out about non-refundable credits you might be eligible for to reduce your taxes this year. * Gather all your information slips and receipts (T4s, T5s, etc.), as well as a copy of last year's return to use as a reference for this year. No need to send your receipts in with your return! If we need to see them, we will let you know. * Have your social insurance number and date of birth on hand. * Sign up for direct deposit to receive your refund faster and any benefit or credit payments owed to you, deposited directly into your bank account. Go to www.cra.gc.ca/directdeposit to learn how to sign up for direct deposit. * To file online, you need to complete your return using certified software or a certified web application. This may even help you identify benefits and credits that you may have missed if you filed on paper! The CRA has a list of software options-some that you have to buy and some that you can use for free-at www.netfile.gc.ca/software. Accounting Tips by Hass Associates Individual and Business Tax Preparation

Accounting Tips by Hass Associates Individual and Business Tax Preparation Tax season is officially underway (Jan. 31 - April 15) and while it may be a painful process for some, delaying it can only bring a bigger headache. John Ams, executive vice president for the National Society of Accountants (NSA) says whether you owe money or anticipate a refund, getting it done early can prove beneficial. If you are owed money, your chances of getting it faster are better when you file early. If you owe money, you will at least know how much you owe and can begin saving to pay for it, says Ams. Anyone who hopes to file an extension should remember, it is only an extension of time to file your return, not an extension of time to pay. "You have to file the extension and the money you think you are going to owe. If you substantially underpay, you get a substantial underpayment penalty," Ams says. Taxes are due on April 15, period. And yes, the IRS does charge interest. If your return is not fairly simply, you may want to consult a tax professional for help. You can spend a lot of time spinning your wheels on complex issues, Ams says. If you need tax-preparation help this coming season, you can find a qualified tax preparer in your area, on the NSA website at www.nsacct.org. Click on "Find a Professional" or call 800-966-6679. [Discover More] You can also ask friends or relatives for recommendations, but be sure to find someone with expertise that matches your own financial situation, Ams says. Any tax preparer you use should have a professional tax identification number which he or she uses upon signing your return. You may also qualify for free tax preparation assistance. Click to read

The Wall Street Journal's editorial staff (WSJ) disparages the Dodd-Frank Act and the leaders of the financial regulatory bureaus. I agree with many of those criticisms; but I distance myself from them on their horrified stance against the Act, saying that: "The regulation micromanages bank decisions down to the type and nature of loan." The Dodd-Frank Act prohibits a "type" of loan according to the innately deceptive "nature of [the] loan." The Act disallows liar's loans. The WSJ believes this ban so atrocious, so evidently an infringement of the divine right of banks, that it calls it "micromanage[ment]" and presumes that the word establishes the irrationality of prohibiting liar's loans.

As I have been discussing for more than twenty years, no truthful lender would make liar's loans. Here is George Akerlof and Paul Romer's clarification of the analytics in their well-known 1993 article in which they specifically alluded to my explanation. Notice the creepy manner in which they explain the explicit underwriting failures that characterized liar's loans ten years later.

"[An officer] who is betting that his frugality might in reality create a profit would never operate the way many thrifts did, with total disregard for even the most essential tenets of lending: keeping sensible records about loans, safeguarding against external fraud and abuse, counter-checking data on loan documentations, even striving to have applicants fill out loan forms for applications. 5

5. Black (1993b) vigorously makes this point" (1993: 4 & n. 5).
When a lender fails to observe "even the most elementary guidelines of lending" it will incur grave losses. The controlling officers, however, will be made rich by making sloppy loans. Indeed, Akerlof and Romer emphasized that accounting control fraud is a "sure thing" (1993: 5).

Here are the five most notable warnings of the mortgage industry's anti-scam unit (MARI) that the Mortgage Bankers Association sent to practically all significant mortgage lenders as early as the start of 2006:

* Stated income loans "are open invitations to con artists"
* Study: fraud occurrence is "90 percent"
* "[T]he stated income loan deserves the label utilized by many people in the industry, the 'liar's loan.'"
* "Apparently, many people in the industry have little … understanding of the mess produced by low-doc/no-doc products that were in fashion in the early 1990s. Those loans created hundreds of millions of dollars in losses…."
* "Federal regulators of insured financial agencies have voiced out concerns about safety and soundness regarding these loans…."

Even Ben Bernanke, the Nation's chief anti-regulator, used the Fed's distinctive statutory power under the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA) of 1994 to proscribe liar's loans in mid-2008. Bernanke deferred the effective date of the rule by 15 months because one would not want to give a deceitful lender a hard time.

Alan Greenspan disregarded Fed Member Gramlich's popular warnings about non-prime loans and also rejected his plea that Greenspan send the Fed's analysts into the bank holding company affiliates to uncover the real story. The Fed's supervisors were subjugated to the menial role of asking the systemically dangerous institutions (SDIs) what kind of loans they were making (a procedure that would definitely lead to significant understatement by the SDIs).

"Sabeth Siddique, [queried] large banks in 2005 …how many of which types of loans they were originating. Siddique discovered the data he obtained "very alarming," [N]ontraditional loans comprised 59 percent of originations at Countrywide, 58 percent at Wells Fargo, 51 at National City, 31% at Washington Mutual, 28.3% at Bank of America, and 26.5% at CitiFinancial.

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