A recent report from the Associated Press revealed that 47% of American households pay no taxes.  None.  Zip, zilch, nada.

In fact, if you are in a family of 4 making less than $50k per year, you end up owing nothing.

If this fact has you a bit peeved after stewing over your taxes for the last several weeks, keep reading, it gets better.

The bottom 40% of households will actually make money off Uncle Sam this year.  Put another way, they don’t pay taxes, yet they still get a check in the mail from the U.S. government.  It’s really not a refund, since they don’t have anything withheld to return.

So all the infrastructure that we all take advantage of (military, interstate, national airspace system, postal service, etc), regardless of income; 50% of American households pay not only for their share, but the other 50% of households share as well.

Think about this: If you owe money this year, you may as well give half of what you owe to your neighbor.  He’ll get it anyway.

An ugly era in our country is right around the corner.  Spending is out of control.  The misunderstanding of our own Constitution by our own representatives is reprehensible.

If fact, it’s become apparent that our representatives really aren’t representing any longer, they simply vote to keep their jobs.

In that light, please let me send a bit of a warning to our fellow Americans in Washington.  When the taxpayer no longer sees their money as being spent frugally, they stop paying taxes.  Laws be damned.

Our government is one of the most corrupt in the World.  It should become obvious when labor unions sway votes even though the general public doesn’t want legislation.

As I’ve mentioned in ad nauseam, I hate paying taxes.

This years tax results ended up more favorable than in years past.  I’m actually getting money back from the Fed this year, about $850 to be more precise.

To be honest, my goal is to break even.  If there’s anything worse than paying good money for bogus and frivolous spending in Washington, it’s giving Uncle Sam an interest free loan.

Adding an extra dependent helps (for a $1,000 tax credit) and I’m using all the money I’ve paid to the day care center to my advantage.

Then there’s the B.S. “making work pay” tax credit of $800.  I’ve got mixed feelings about this one, since I’m not really a fan of taking (or supporting) free handouts from our government.  On the other hand, if everyone else is getting the so called “tax break”, why not me?

If you take out that $800 credit, I basically broke even.

On a related note, if you’re tired of paying taxes to fund worthless government programs, maybe it’s time for a change.  Check out the Fair Tax proposition; it might be a worthwhile cause.

Anyone who’s followed this space for any length of time knows I despise tax season.  I don’t generally use the term “hate”, but in this rare case it seems to apply.

Hate,    –verb (used with object)

to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward; detest: to hate the enemy; to hate bigotry.

I’m not to the point of  “extreme hostility” yet, but the rest of the above certainly applies.

It’s not that I’m against paying taxes.  I understand the benefit.  Someone has to pay for the roads and highways we use, banking and aviation infrastructure, etc…

It’s the rest of the fraudulent and wasteful crap that my tax dollars spent on that really peeves me.

At any rate, corporate returns are due Monday, and I’ll be filing an extension.  Not because I’m not ready, I just don’t like being rushed.

More on how things turned out later.

While I’m not attending a tax day tea party today, I’ll certainly drink a cup of tea in honor of the idea.

The topic of taxes comes up about this time every year, and every y ear I grovel at the fact of actually writing the check.  I don’t mind paying taxes; I understand their value.  After all, someone has to pay for the highway system, post office, etc.  Services we all use.

It’s what my tax dollars are used for that really chaps my hide. Hearing about all the wasteful spending that’s going on in Washington, the bailouts, the TARP, the budget.  Yeah, I don’t mind paying taxes, but spend my money wisely, damn it!

And simplify the code!

After this years tax season I’m more adamant than ever about simplifying the tax code.  In my opinion, the whole thing needs to be scrapped.  Get rid of it.  Burn it.  Shred it.  I don’t care, just don’t use it any more.

We have to simplify the system; be it through a FairTax, a flat tax…  To consider either one of those ideas is a start.

Our current code is over 65,000 pages in length.  There is no way any citizen of this great country can be expected to read, understand and comply with this garbage every year.  It’s no wonder so many people are paying someone else to prepare their taxes.

It’s also no wonder that even our politicians can’t even get their taxes right.

I’m not giving them a pass, and I believe a number of them are willfully cheating the system, and they should be held accountable.

I’m a big fan of Glenn Beck’s program, as I think he provides a sensible voice of reality to today’s issues.  And I don’t think I could have made a stronger argument for a new tax code any better than in his “The One Thing” segment below.

Happy tax day.  And enjoy your tea!

Barack Obama announced the establishment of a new panel to look at overhauling the existing tax code.  Former Fed Chair Paul Volcker will be in charge of the review, with the goal of closing loopholes, simplifying the law and generating more revenue.

Under Volcker, White House senior economic adviser to Obama Austan Goolsbee will be the staff director, and report back to Volcker.

Obama plans to ask Volcker, Goolsbee and the panel for a package of recommendations to be on his desk Dec. 4, which would leave enough time for decisions to be made and included as proposals in the White House budget for fiscal 2011, to be submitted to Congress in February 2010.

A little history.

Volcker served as Fed Chairman from 1979 to 1987 under Presidents Carter and Reagan, a time when inflation was running rampant leading Volcker to drive interest rates up to 20%; effectively choking off home-buying car purchases and other consumables.

Wages were driven down and corporate America was redefined through numerous strikes and high unemployment (over 11% in the early 80’s).  Arguably the economic mess, influenced by Volcker contributed to Carter’s defeat to Reagan, but interestingly enough, Reagan retained Volcker as Treasury Secretary throughout his presidency.

With striking irony, it was during this time period that the Democrats first bailed out the Chrysler Corporation as Carter provided loan guarantees in return for wage cuts by the UAW.

Fast forward to today.

With Volcker back in Washington, the game should seem familiar.  The Democratic President is in the process of bailing out the big three auto manufacturers while demanding wage concessions from the UAW.  In a round about way, Volcker transformed what was then a very dominant portion of America’s working class in to politically exploited labor group.

In addition it should come as no surprise that Obama touts Volcker as an ideal candidate for the “Economic Recovery Advisory Board”, considering the considerable amount of money (on the order of $2,500) Volcker contributed to Obama’s campaign.  It helps that Volcker’s historical decisions align well with Obama’s vision of “change” for the future.

Corner Office Comments

When I first read the headlines, I was elated.  Finally Obama was going to do something good for the country and simplify the tax code.  After paying $800 per year to have a professional prepare my taxes, resulting in nearly 150 pages of documents, you can understand why I’d be interested in this proposition.

After thinking about it though, Obama’s motive for revamping the tax code isn’t to make my life easier, it’s to bring in more money.  He really wants to close existing loopholes while sliding increased rates into the code, all under the guise of simplifying the code.

The fact that he brought Paul Volcker in to lead the team doesn’t bode well given Volcker’s experience raising interest rates (another suggestion that inflation is coming, with higher interest rates to follow).  In essence, it’s a match made in heaven: the guy who drove down wages through higher unemployment rates labor strikes in the auto and mining industry, teams up with the guy who strives to do the same, just on a much more grandiose scale.

I suspect that redefining the tax code will segue nicely with increasing interest and tax rates, while whitewashing the public into believing that it’s all part of his “hope and change” scheme… it’ll just require a lot of patience.

I’d like to see more proposals like the FairTax and the flat tax get more air time and be part of further discussion.  I particularly like the FairTax idea, which taxes consumption versus earnings.  More on the FairTax idea later…

The returns are in, and again, it’s not pretty.  All told, I owe just shy of $3,000 to the local and federal government, of which $2,400 of that goes to the IRS, headed by Tim Geithner who can’t even pay his own taxes.

I’m disappointed that even after having both our employers withhold the maximum amount allowable (i.e. claiming zero dependents on the W-4 form), having a whopper of a loss in the market last year, that I still end up owing a bunch of money to the federal government.

What irritates me the most though, is not so much that I owe money, it’s knowing that the money I send the government is pissed away by the inefficiencies and reckless spending in Washington.

Face it, there are government programs out there that we all benefit from and consequently should be required to pay for.  The interstate highway system, the postal system, etc.  I have no problem funding those types of programs.  It’s the bacon museum on the East coast that cost us, the taxpayers over $2 million, and all the other useless and wasteful crap that our politicians float into bills that evidently aren’t even read before they’re voted upon.

In all, I paid my home state just over $300, the state which I own rental property just $41, and the state in which I own oil production just under $100.  Effectively, it seems that my state tax obligations are well appropriated throughout the year through monthly deductions and tax payments… it’s just the federal money that’s stuck in my craw.

Maybe I should just jump on the Ed Barnett bandwagon and politely decline to pay taxes this year…

I’m always interested in how a leader at the top of an enterprise communicates with regard to his own business.  A lot depends on the corporate structure, however there are some leaders that can speak intelligently about any aspect of their company.  Others have a broad understanding for how their business works, and shy on details of minutia.

There are others that must defer every question to the resident expert for that topic.

It’s with that basis for which Barack Obama’s leadership is telling.  The fact that he uses teleprompters for every public communique suggests that while he can pen intelligent prose while sitting at his desk, he can’t speak off the cuff to those details of minutia that the public so dearly wants to hear.  The fact that he won’t answer pointed questions at press conferences reinforces that trait.

The lack of deep minded intelligence from the administration as a whole is also reflected in its policy.

Tim Geithner

Obama’s  Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner (see: Oh, I need to pay my taxes?) talked about the tax implications of Obama’s budget proposal on the oil and gas sector earlier this month, and he too revealed a lack of deep-level understanding of the energy sector.

On the tax breaks given to oil and gas companies, Geithner had the following comment while speaking to the Senate Finance Committee:

“We don’t believe it makes sense to significantly subsidize the production and use of sources of energy (like oil and gas) that are dramatically going to add to our climate change (problem). We don’t think that’s good economic policy and we think changing those incentives is good for the country.”

That’s good economic policy?  I think not.  That might be good environmental policy, if it were true.

It takes little critical thinking to realize that, if you believe in the money-making, man-made global warming, any and all contributions to global warming would come from the consumption of petroleum products, not the production of petroleum products.

The government doesn’t increase taxes on cigarette manufacturers whose products are known to cause lung cancer, they increase the taxes on the consumer.

Why would the energy sector be any different?

Because there would be a huge backlash if the government came out and said it was increasing taxes on gasoline and other refined petroleum products because those products may cause global warming.

The administration went further to reveal the lack of understanding by proposing “a $4 per acre annual fee on energy leases in the Gulf that are designated as non producing.  The budget proposal projects the fee would generate $1.2 billion from 2010 to 2019″.

Perhaps someone in Obama’s energy cabinet should explain to the smooth talking President that not every acre out in the big Gulf of Mexico has petroleum reserves on it.  The fact that an oil company hasn’t drilled a well on acreage may mean that there’s no oil or gas to be found on that acreage.

The administration needs to get past the notion that “big oil” is holding back exploration and production in an effort to drive up the price in crude.  The most recent bust of the crude market should be evidence of that, but as the President suggests, we shouldn’t look to the markets to make long-term policy decisions.

Brilliant.

Evidently Geithner suggests that these new policies that roll out of Obama’s budget proposals are justified since the oil and gas companies are making such great money.

The additional taxes “can be absorbed” by the oil and gas companies, given the billions of dollars they have earned from high energy prices. -Tim Geithner, Source

Contrary to the fact that Exxon’s fourth quarter profit decreased 33% due to falling oil and gas prices, the Obama administration thinks that since they’ve made all that money in the past, they should spread the wealth in the future.

“The impact of these subsidies are very small relative to revenues produced by U.S. oil and gas producers.” -Tim Geithner, Source

It’s too bad that Geithner doesn’t understand that not every oil and gas producer has the balance sheet of Chevron or Exxon.  Furthermore, if the government does have the countries best interest at heart and wants to see these major oil producers expand into the renewable energy sector, they would be best served not to put a damper on those efforts through “relatively small tax increases”.

It’s clear to me that the Obama administration is trying to squeeze every dollar out of every nook and cranny in the American economy it can without actually thinking, or understanding where those dollars are actually coming from.

No one from the administration has shown that they can speak intelligently about the economy, finance or the budget, and that lack of intelligence will do our country more harm than good in the long run.  It will only be when real leaders with knowledge of the subjects of which they speak  step to the podium that our economy will start to right itself.

Until then, we wait for the next speech.

It seems like there is a mad rush to get tax information put together in time to get it sent to the CPA, or to the point where you can convince yourself that you can whip it out with Turbo Tax.

As I’ve mentioned about a week ago, corporate taxes are due on March 17th this year due to the 15th falling on a Saturday.

But what if I need more time?

There’s always an application for extension if you haven’t received the requisite forms or just flat need more time.  IRS Form 7004 is the Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File Certain Business Income Tax, Information, and Other Returns.

The form will buy you an extra 5 or 6 months, depending on what other forms you are filing.

There’s a catch however.  The form will buy you an extension for filing the forms, but not for paying the taxes themselves.  When you file the form, you’ll need to file it with an estimate of the taxes you owe, and the payment of any taxes you owe.  Anything short of that and Uncle Sam will hit you up with penalties.

So what does it buy me?

Well, time for one.  But again, only on the filing itself, not the tax.  If you have a good estimate on what you’ll end up owing, you can use this return to put off the details for 5 or 6 months.  So if for some reason you’re waiting on that long-lost 1099 form that was supposed to be delivered already but got lost in the mail, you’re not out of luck.  You just need to pay what you think you owe, and follow up with the final filing later.

There are several parts of the calendar year I particularly enjoy, and others I bemoan.  This is one of those times of year I’m really not partial to.

Tax Season.

I really don’t like tax season.  It seems I pay through the nose during the year, and then end up writing a big fat check in the first part of March.

Why March? I thought taxes were due in April?

They are.  Unless you file a corporate tax return.  A Limited Liability Corporation (LLC), an S-corp, a C-corp…  Due on March 17th of this year.

The crux of that is that while corporate returns are due on March 17th (usually the 15th, but the 17th this year due to a weekend and a holiday), personal taxes are still due in April, even if you file corporate taxes.

The problem I always have is that while it’s much easier to file both personal and corporate taxes all at the same time, many of the documents required for a personal return don’t show up until the 11th hour.

For instance, the form 1099 won’t even leave TD Ameritrade until February 15th.  This doesn’t give my CPA much time to fill in all the blanks.

And then there’s the leg-work on my end.  I usually try to keep everything organized throughout the year so that by February, I just have to dump everything in a big envelope and ship it to the tax preparer.  That never goes as smoothly as one might think, and there are always documents to scrounge up and balance sheets to print out, oil and gas production to total and depletion numbers to calculate.

All this frustration and work just to find out I owe Uncle Sam an extra three grand.

With that, look forward to a few more posts on taxes, in particular corporate taxes and many of the tools to get you by for another year.

I just got my 2007 taxes back from the accountant. It’s bad. It’s really bad.

All in all, my 2007 tax obligation, including preparation fees, comes to just under $5,000 (of that the preparation costs were only $800 including the oil companies preparation costs).

I talked with the accountant last week, and after digging up my file, he told me the bottom line. After I scooped my jaw up off the floor, my next statement went something like this: “well, um, is there any way to lower that number?”.

After receiving my tax packet in the mail, it turns out there was a way to lower the number: by a measly $50.

So how can I fix this?

I’ve been on a war path researching how I can lower my tax obligation for 2008. I’ve turned up only one solid solution: Have more withheld from your paycheck.

2007 was the first year in nearly 4 years that both my wife and I had worked the entire year, making as much as we both do. Up until now, I’ve been claiming 2 on my W-4, which in effect tells my employer to withhold less from my paychecks. This worked out great when I was doing my consulting work in the oil field, and turned out nicely when I was single.

After talking to some coworkers who are in my same position (married, both working, making about the same amount my wife and I do), it turns out that they claim zero, have additional money withheld, and they end up getting enough back at the end of the year to have a nice night out on the town.

So I’ve made the change to my W-4, which means I’ll be bringing home less, and in turn saving less per month. But if it means that I don’t have to shell out 5 large to uncle sam at the end of the year, it may be worth it.

Anyone else surprised by your 2007 tax results?

I made a valiant effort to organize my taxes today. I sat down and pulled out the file folder marked “2007 Taxes” that seems to swell towards the end of the year, on the verge of bursting open and creating a mess of receipts, forms, letters and other documents whose sole purpose in life is to create a lot of organizational hassle for me, and to keep me in the good graces with the IRS.

In expanding on last years method to organize my taxes as best I can before heading to my CPA, I pulled out three yellow letter-sized envelopes. Personal tax information will go in one, rental property related stuff in another, and yet another for my oil company.

The oil company tax information is fairly straight forward, as all the information I need is religiously stored in Quicken, and all I do is print out an itemized letter. A quick tally of barrels of oil and MCF of gas produced during the year for depreciation purposes and I’m set.

The rental property is a little more involved, as there are different categories of deductions: improvements, repairs, and “other expenses”. Improvements get amortized over the life of the house, repairs are deducted immediately, as are “other expenses” like mileage reimbursement, etc. So there are a few decisions to be made, but I make sure the CPA has an overriding input on how those are handled. After all, that’s why I’ve hired him in the first place.

Personal taxes require the most organization, as there are receipts to be accounted for, property and real estate tax receipts to locate, and about a dozen different investment accounts between my wife and I that have to get sorted through.

I try and summarize all the activity in a Word document, which seems to reduce the number of “Um, what does this scribbled on receipt supposed to imply…” type of phone calls. It seems to work pretty well, actually.

I’m about 95% done with the organizational aspects of my 2007 tax preparation, with the exception of the TDAmeritrade 1099 form, that they decided to delay this year as they wanted to make sure the distributions were characterized properly. “We’ll have them to you by the end of February…” they say.

Go figure. All this work and I’m waiting on TDAmeritrade to send me the 1099 so they don’t have to issue a revised 1099 later…

Oh well, what I’ve got so far should give the CPA a head start at any rate.

I think I’m getting my tax organization methods refined fairly well, and each year it seems to go a little smoother than the last.

So what are your methods to organize taxes?

Today Provident Energy (PVX: chart, web, Y!) announced that the February cash distribution will remain at $0.12 USD per share payable on March 14th.

In addition, they announced the characterization of dividends for 2007 distributions as 97.58 percent qualified dividend and 2.42 percent tax deferred return of capital. The tax deferred portion is treated as an adjustment to the cost base of the shares.

This characterization is the last piece of information I need to finish up organizing my 2007 tax information.

It’s good to see the return of capital is so low. Fundamentally it means that the company has been able to fund nearly 98% of the distributions with free cash flow, something other funds like Cornerstone (CLM: Chart, Y!) can’t claim.

Congress finally got an economic stimulation bill passed today that will supposedly prop up the economy by shelling out cash to tax payers as a tax “rebate”.

Over 130 million households will get tax rebate checks starting this spring progressing through the summer. The Senate tacked on additional rebates to President Bush’s original tax plan, adding 20 million senior citizens and 250,000 disabled veterans to the package.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the Internal Revenue Service will get to work immediately, but it will take two to four months for the rebate checks to arrive. Of course, they want to process your tax returns first…

Single taxpayers will get $600 and couples $1,200, plus $300 for each child under 17. Anyone with at least $3,000 in earned income last year will get $300, as will seniors on Social Security, even if they paid no income taxes. The rebates phase out beginning at $75,000 in adjusted gross income for individuals, $150,000 for couples.

I’m still not convinced this will do a darn thing for our economy. If we really wanted to stimulate the economic health of our country, we’d create tax incentives for companies to spend big money. Of the $168 billion in rebates, I predict half of it will actually turn around and be used for discretionary purchases that influence economic data.

Somehow I think we could entice big businesses like Microsoft, Google, oil companies, etc to spend well over $168 billion if given adequate tax incentive.

Just another example of how our government mismanages the economy.

While I was out of town visiting relatives for Christmas, President Bush signed a bill freezing the alternative minimum tax (AMT) for one year.

This will provide relief to more than 20 million taxpayers that would have faced the AMT this year alone! Last year 4 million paid the AMT, and this year it was projected that 25 million people would be held to the fire. To put it in the most basic terms, the AMT would cost you an extra $2,000 if you were subjected to it. Yeah, that would’ve stung a bit.

Evidently, the bill was passed by Congress just before the holiday recess, and the President signed it right away.

AMT FOR DUMMIES

The alternative minimum tax (or AMT) is an extra tax you might pay on top of your regular income tax. Dreamed up in 1969, the premise behind the idea was to prevent people with very high incomes from using special tax benefits to pay little or no tax. But for various reasons the AMT reaches more people each year, including some people who don’t have very high income and some people who don’t have lots of special tax benefits.

The AMT provides an alternative set of rules for calculating your income tax, and in effect, these rules determine the minimum amount of tax that someone with your income should be required to pay. If you’re already paying at least that much because of the “regular” income tax, you don’t have to pay AMT. But if your regular tax falls below this minimum, you have to make up the difference by paying alternative minimum tax.

There is a lot more to it, of course, and if you want to read more about it, check out a Corner Office post from last year about the AMT. However, because Bush froze the AMT for the year, you don’t have to worry about it at all. Let’s just hope Congress can fix the AMT permanently… Since it’s an election year, I’m not holding my breath.

I’m already looking forward to comparing this years tax return to last years return in which I ended up forking out an extra $600 due to the AMT!

I got a letter in the mail from the small-town accounting firm I used last year to do my taxes. I decided to use this firm after a local CPA raked me over the coals for $1300 to prepare my taxes. The small-town firm only charged half as much.

According to the letter, my CPA, who was fluent in oil and gas taxes, unexpectedly had a massive heart attack and died. It could not have happened to a nicer guy. He was a very laid back, no frills, get it done efficiently, and oh, by the way, how is the family? You know the type.

The firm has offered to continue providing their services, only with someone else behind the calculator.

So I’m again stuck with a decision to make, do I stick with an unknown tax preparer, or do I shop yet another CPA?

Now that your taxes have been filed, there are probably more than a few of you that went head to head with the Alternative Minimum Tax, or as the financial’s like to call it, the AMT.

For those still unfamiliar with the AMT, just wait. That next pay raise may throw you into a head to head stand off with Uncle Sam’s dirty little tax secret.

The alternative minimum tax is really a loop hole that was design to end all loop holes. Mathematically speaking, it’s a tax calculation that adds certain tax preference items back into adjusted gross income, or AGI. If AMT is higher than the regular tax liability for the year, the regular tax and the amount by which the AMT exceeds the regular tax are paid.

So in short, your taxes are done twice, and you get to pay the higher of the two figures.

The AMT was originally set up to prevent those who earned a great deal more than us regular Joe’s from using all kinds of deductions, deferments, and other loop holes to reduce the amount of tax they have to pay. The problem is, now that us regular Joe’s are earning more (as we hope to each year), that arbitrary figure set decades ago is now starting to apply to the middle class.

So what is to be done about the AMT? Well, it’s not as simple as just eliminating it, because the IRS does depend on that income to fill the coffers that Uncle Sam turns into a “budget”.

And by “income”, I mean tens of billions of dollars each year!

Well, it turns out the House of Representatives’ Ways and Means committee has some ideas on what to do with the AMT, but like the AMT itself, appears to draw more loop holes than it seems to close up.

The committee wants those households who earn less than $250,000 per year to be exempt from the AMT. Fine by me! Problem is, that will eliminate about $65 billion per year in federal income. To make up for it, they’d have to raise taxes on those subject to the AMT by 10-15%, leaving those 1% of us who earn the most money each year, giving half of it back to the government.

There is something wrong with this plan, as it taxes those who already pay the most in taxes, even more.

Did you get bit by the AMT this year?

April 17th is nearly upon us, and if you haven’t started on your taxes, you might think about it.

While you scramble to organize your W-2’s, receipts and 1099’s, keep these benefits in mind:

• Telephone Excise Tax Refund: This is a one time refund of a long distance excise tax available on your 2006 returns. It applies to charges billed from March 2003 through July 2006 from your phone company. While the government offers a standard refund amount of $30 to $60, you can also calculate the actual tax paid, and get that money back. For me, it wasn’t worth the hassle of sorting through all my phone bills. Businesses and exempt organizations can also request it, so if your LLC owns a phone line, it can take advantage too.

• IRS Free File: Nearly 20 companies are offering free electronic filing to taxpayers whose 2006 adjusted gross income was $52,000 or less. The IRS estimates that 70 percent of all taxpayers, or the equivalent to 95 million individuals can take advantage of the IRS-sponsored Free File program.

• Earned Income Tax Credit: If you earned income of less than $39,000 in 2006, you may qualify to claim the earned income tax credit, which could be worth up to $4,536 when it’s all said and done. When the EITC exceeds the amount of taxes owed, it results in a tax refund to those who claim and qualify for the credit. To qualify, taxpayers must meet certain requirements and file a tax return, even if they did not earn enough money to be obligated to file a tax return. As an added benefit, an electronic special “EITC Assistant” is available to help you determine whether you are eligible.

• Free Tax Help: Tax help sites in libraries, churches, community centers and other locations are staffed by trained volunteers. If you earned less than $39,000 and have to file a return, you can call 1-800-829-1040 to locate the nearest Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program site.

• Unclaimed Refunds: Believe it or not, there are refunds totaling approximately $2.2 billion floating around out there waiting for approximately 1.8 million people who failed to file a federal income tax return for 2003 to claim them. To collect the money, you must file your return for 2003 no later than April 17, 2007. According to IRS estimates, half of those (and you evidently don’t know who you are) who could claim refunds would receive more than $611. In some cases, individuals had taxes withheld from their wages, or made payments against their taxes out of self-employed earnings, but had too little income to require filing a tax return.

Anyway, these are just a few pointers to help you get back all you can this joyous tax filing season.

Yesterday I received the yearly home valuation from the county.  Basically, they come up with an “appraisal” of your homes value as a tax basis for property taxes.

Home valuations from my county very closely match the actual market value of the homes, which is nice, until you have to pay your property taxes, at which point the value of your house is too high.  (The only time you want the value of your house to go up is when you want to sell.  Kind of cynical, isn’t it?)

This years valuation came in at $207,000 which is an increase of about 4.1% over last year, but down by about 0.15% compared to the increase the prior year.

Considering the sob stories I’ve been hearing from both the east and west coast, I’ll take it. 

Nothing like a moderate, yet consistent appreciation in value every year.

It has come to my attention that my in-laws have some additional Form 1099’s that have not been included on this years taxes.  The bummer of it all is that… our taxes have already been filed.  Hence, the problem.

While the total dividend from my wife’s Disney stock amounts to a total of $4.95 for the entire year, it is still being reported to the IRS as income, thus I should too.  While it will take the IRS quite a while to figure out I haven’t included this on my return, they will come asking for their money, eventually.  And I’m sure they’ll kindly request interest on that whopping $4.95 too.

However, since my taxes aren’t nearly as simple as they used to be, filling out a 1040x form just isn’t gonna cut it. 

So it’s back to the tax man for the amended return.  Hopefully the bill I’m gonna get doesn’t weigh too heavily on my checkbook!