It’s late February and some people are already experiencing intaxification and all the excitement (and vacation planning, shopping, paying off debt, etc.) that comes with it. If you watch television you may be experiencing intaxification envy.

Are you scratching your head wondering what this is? Well, some people have received their federal income tax refunds (intaxification) and the green bow-tie guys (you’ve seen them pushing money out the back of the airplane) are advertising how cash floats down from the sky when using their services (intaxification envy).

Investopedia explains intaxification as, “The feeling of satisfaction and joy that a tax refund creates in a person.” Think about it; what are you really receiving? A refund of non-interest earning money that you paid. It’s a check for overpayment!

As I say, Be Tax Advantageous, plan, prepare, and don’t pay a dollar more than you should. Notice that nothing was said about tax planning for 2015 to ensure that you had more money in every paycheck.

Call Rhonda to Be Tax Advantageous.

It’s certainly not our favorite thing to do but sometimes we must.

Its been said that, “paperwork rules the world.” No, not really, but when it comes to dealing with the government and paying federal taxes the IRS is making it easier – paper checks are no longer required nor is the lengthy EFTPS registration process.

IRS Direct Pay offers an online presence for paying your 1040 return. http://www.irs.gov/Payments/Direct-Pay

IRS Direct Pay at a glance:

• IRS Direct Pay is for paying 1040 tax returns (up to 20 years in arrears)
• Identity verification uses one of your prior year return information
• You must verify your identification each time you use Direct Pay
• Payments take two days to process
• A payment confirmation number will be issues
• Payments can be scheduled up to 30-days in advance
• Only one payment at a time can be scheduled
• A U.S. bank account is required (Payments require routing and account numbers)
• IRS Direct Pay is different from EFTPS. Direct Pay does not require a registration process.
• The service has been tested with a combination of computer operating systems and Internet software (Internet Explorer on Windows XP, Safari 7 on IOS).

Important to know:

• Write down and keep your confirmation number
• An message will be posted on the home page if the site is down for maintenance
• If you run into technical difficulties make sure to try again for your payment is still required by the deadline

Updates are scheduled to include the addition of other tax forms, adding a Spanish version, registration with a login/password combination. All in all I see this as an improvement to the process.

​Most of my business has been comprised of word of mouth referrals. However, on occasion, I have a “cold call”.

Today I was busy, but had a cold call. A woman came in, having moved from LA telling me she needed a new accountant.

She had no prior year returns, and very scant current records. She gave me her paperwork and proceeded to take a phone call about a rental property she owned.

After she ended her call, I asked her if she’d like to tell me more about the rental property. She told me that it wasn’t under a management company and it was a “cash deal” and, therefore, no need to report anything. I then asked her if she was asking me to file a fraudulent tax return. She quickly changed her mind, gave me a very small amount of income with many deductions.

With all her deductions, her refund was barely $500. In the end, she walked because my bill was larger than the $200 she had in mind and she really expected a $2000 refund. I wished her luck.

Why? Because my name is on that return and I get along well with the IRS agents I do deal with. They know that my returns are above board and generally not subject to scrutiny. Agents do talk, and I do not want to be the topic of conversation at the water cooler.

Each year there are tax shoppers out there. Often they are people that either try to prepare their own returns and can’t figure out how to manipulate the costs, or they are people who go from preparer to preparer until they learn how to present their information and get the result (read as refund) they desire.

Hey tax shopper—yes you! I have news for you, tax professionals talk too. After you left a memo went out to several professionals I know. Your name wasn’t mentioned, but they will be looking out for you.