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Review your investments.If your stock portfolio suffered significant declines in 2006, investors with losses or potential losses should consider their tax opportunities. From a tax point of view, net capital losses up to $3, 000 can reduce your income for 2006. Those in excess of $3, 000 won't reduce this year's income, although they can be "carried forward" to 2007 and later years. Invest in retirement.Even if your income and deductions are pretty well set for 2006, contributions to certain retirement plans can still reduce the size of the check you write next April, or increase the size of the check you receive. If your employer does not offer a retirement plan where you work, consider making a tax-deductible IRA contribution that can impact your 2006 tax bill by reducing your all-important adjustable gross income. Participate in an employee benefit plan.The closing months of the year are often "open enrollment" periods for employee benefit plans that can reduce your taxes for next year, if not this one. Making the choice now to pay for health or dependent care expenses on a pre-tax basis and contributing to a 401(k) next year will directly lower your taxable income for 2007. Tax Guide 2008 Tax Planning Basics Tax planning is a process of looking at various tax options in order to determine when, whether, and how to conduct business and personal transactions so that taxes are eliminated or reduced. There are countless tax planning strategies available, particularly if you own a small business. For more details, read The Basics of Tax Planning. Tax News 2007 Social Security and Self-Employment Tax Rates The IRS is committed to doing more audits, and better audits, in an effort to clamp down on unreported and underreported income, known as the tax gap. But ultimately, audits alone are not the answer. For further details, please read Gov't Can't Audit Its Way Out of Tax Gap: IRS Official. New Standard Mileage Rates The IRS has released the new 2007 figures for determining various standard mileage rates for tax purposes. To learn more, please read Standard Mileage Rate Unveiled for 2007. Expired Tax Provisions With the 2006 tax year rapidly drawing to a close, this is a great time to do some last-minute tax planning. Of course, this assumes that you know all the tax rules needed to make informed decisions. Unfortunately, navigating through the tax world can be extremely difficult when important tax updates are unreasonably delayed. This certainly applies in the case of a number of important tax provisions that await legislative resurrection after expiring at the end of 2005. For more on this story, please read Failure to Renew Expired Tax Extenders Subject of Concern, Debate. Social Security Payments Increase Social Security taxes are on the rise, for some people at least. The amount of Social Security tax you'll be paying for 2007 may be higher than for 2006, depending on how much you make, but the actual tax rate really hasn't changed a bit. To learn more about the tax hike, please read Social Security, Self-Employment Taxes Set for 2007. Income Tax Preparation GainsKeeper Compatible Tax Tips Newsletter Continuing our effort to provide you with valuable tax information, we will periodically update this page with useful tips and information on issues that you commonly deal with. Sign up for our Free E-mail Newsletter E-mail Address: A New Tax Year Means New Tax Changes to Consider Like the weather, our tax laws are subject to frequent changes. Unfortunately, there continue to be many traps for the unwary and uninformed taxpayer. Here are some highlights of changes in effect for the 2006 filing season: Personal exemption amount. This amount has increased to $3, 300 per person for 2006. Standard deductions. Standard deduction amounts have increased for 2006 as follows: singles and married filing separately, $5, 150; heads of household, $7, 550; married filing jointly, $10, 300. State and local general sales tax deduction. Through the end of 2007, individual taxpayers may still elect to deduct either state and local income taxes or state and local general sales taxes as an itemized deduction on their federal income tax returns. Credit for federal telephone excise taxes paid. For 2006 only, individual taxpayers may request a telephone excise tax refund via their Form 1040. The standard refund amounts depend on the number of exemptions claimed and can be as high as $60 for four of more exemptions claimed. Tax Guide 2008 Deciding Who Must File an Income Tax Return If you're reading this material, you probably don't have any doubt about whether you need to file a tax return. To remove any residual doubts you may have, though, please read Who Must File a Return Choosing the Right Individual Income Tax Form When it comes to federal income tax forms, there are three basic versions available to individuals: Form 1040, Form 1040A, and Form 1040EZ. There are rules for each of these forms regarding the taxpayers who can or must use it. To find out which individual tax form applies to your situation, read Which Tax Form Should You Use Tax News Tax Return Changes Highlighted Taxpayers will notice some changes in filing their 2006 tax returns, and the IRS is trying to educate filers ahead of time. For further details, please read IRS Officials Highlight Tax Return Changes for Individuals. New Federal Tax Legislation The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved comprehensive tax, healthcare and trade legislation on December 8, 2006, meeting an election year promise to extend a group of expiring tax provisions before the 109th Congress adjourns. For a closer look at the new tax law changes, please review Final Tax Package Extended; Congress Adjourns. New Options for IRA Funding When calculating your annual income taxes before the April 15 deadline, certain filers have the option of sheltering some additional income, tax-free, in an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). And even though the calendar has turned to a new year, that IRA contribution is considered valid for the tax year that just ended. But with all the holiday spending and likely increases in health coverage premiums for the new year, where do you actually find the money to make that tax-advantageous IRA investment Thanks to new federal legislation, you may have another source for funding your deposit--your tax refund. For more on the new tax law changes, take a look at New Pension Law Allows Tax Return-Funded IRAs. Tax Audits Discussed The IRS is committed to doing more audits, and better audits, in an effort to clamp down on unreported and underreported income, known as the tax gap. But ultimately, audits alone are not the answer. For further details, please consult Gov't Can't Audit Its Way Out of Tax Gap: IRS Official. Tax News Archive For more news stories and features on federal, state and payroll tax issues and how they may affect you, read the listing of articles in the archive. Tax Tips Newsletter Archive To read newsletters from previous months, browse the Tax Tips Newsletter Archive. CompleteTax Advantages Income Tax Preparation GainsKeeper Compatible Tax Tips Newsletter Continuing our effort to provide you with valuable tax information, we will periodically update this page with useful tips and information on issues that you commonly deal with. Sign up for our Free E-mail Newsletter E-mail Address: Remember to Love Thy Spouse This Tax Season If you were to believe the candy and greeting card industries, February is the month to celebrate love. It seems appropriate, therefore, that this month we consider how love and marriage and taxes go together. Tax Guide 2008 Tax Credits and Other Issues for Families Closely related to the discussion of marital status, there are a number of special tax breaks based on your family situation. For more on this topic, please read Tax Credits and Other Issues for Families. Deciding Who Must File an Income Tax Return If you're reading this material, you probably don't have any doubt about whether you need to file a tax return. To remove any residual doubts you may have, though, please read Who Must File a Return Choosing the Right Individual Income Tax Form When it comes to federal income tax forms, there are three basic versions available to individuals: Form 1040, Form 1040A, and Form 1040EZ. There are rules for each of these forms regarding the taxpayers who can or must use it. To find out which individual tax form applies to your situation, read Which Tax Form Should You Use Tax News Tax Filing Deadline Extended The IRS has announced that taxpayers will have until Tuesday, April 17, 2007, to file 2006 individual tax returns (and certain other forms) and pay any taxes due. For more on this story, please read Income Tax Filing Deadline Changed by IRS. New Tax Laws to Consider Taxpayers will notice some changes in filing their 2006 tax returns, and the IRS is trying to educate filers ahead of time. To discover how recent tax developments may affect your situation, take a look at IRS Officials Highlight Tax Return Changes for Individuals. The IRS has urged taxpayers to check to see if they qualify for the telephone excise tax refund before filing their 2006 tax returns. The IRS implemented the telephone tax refund program when it determined that federal law did not authorize it to collect excise tax on long distance telephone service. The refunds are of tax that was previously collected from March 2003 through July 2006 without proper statutory authorization. According to the first weekly filing statistics released this year, as of February 16, more than 10 million taxpayers, or roughly 30 percent of all taxpayers, failed to request the refund. Amazingly, according to IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson, nearly half of those returns (over 4.8 million) were completed by a tax return preparer. "We are surprised how many tax preparers are overlooking the telephone tax refund, " Everson stated. "We want all taxpayers entitled to this refund to get it, whether they are using a tax preparer or doing the return themselves." The IRS offered the following tips to help taxpayers figure their refund properly and get it quickly:

• file electronically;
• for taxpayers whose income is $32, 000 or less, file for free using Free File;
• choose direct deposit;
• consider using the standard refund amount, ranging from $30 to $60, for the telephone-tax refund;
• if claiming the actual amount of telephone excise tax paid, (a) base the refund request on the three-percent federal tax paid and not the total phone bill, (b) do not count tax paid on local-only service, and (c) do not include phone bills or other records with the refund request but, instead, retain these documents in case the IRS questions the requested amount;
• do not file duplicate requests, i.e., if filing a regular income tax return, do not file Form 1040EZ-T, which is designed exclusively for requesting the telephone tax refund by individuals who do not need to file a regular income tax return;
• avoid tax preparers who make false claims that many, if not most, phone customers can get hundreds of dollars or more back under this program; and
• use the Telephone Excise Tax Refund section on the front page of the IRS website (irs.gov).

Other statistics released by the IRS show a nearly three-percent increase in e-filed returns, and a seven-percent increase in e-filed returns prepared on home computers, compared to early filings last year. Also, the average tax refund through February 16 is $2, 733, which is almost $100 more than last year. IRA Contributions A traditional IRA is an extremely versatile and simple way to save for retirement. An IRA is also a good way to lower your 2004 tax bill at the last minute, even after the official tax year has ended. For more on this topic, please look at Contributing to Your IRA. Deciding Who Must File an Income Tax Return If you're reading this material, you probably don't have any doubt about whether you need to file a tax return. To remove any residual doubts you may have, though, please read Who Must File a Return Tax News Tax Gap Reduction Addressed The IRS is working on ways to address the underpayment of taxes known as the tax gap: the difference between what taxpayers owe and the actual amount they pay. This difference is caused by a number of factors, some nefarious and intentional, others not so much. To learn more about this development, please read IRS Continues Work on Reducing Tax Gap. Tax Filing Deadline Extended The IRS has announced that taxpayers will have until Tuesday, April 17, 2007, to file 2006 individual tax returns (and certain other forms) and pay any taxes due. For more on this story, please read Income Tax Filing Deadline Changed by IRS. Free Filing Program Well it's that time of year again--time to sit down, crunch the numbers and figure out just how big of a bite Uncle Sam wants from your annual income. And to add insult to injury, you also may have to pay someone for this privilege--unless you check in with the IRS first. For more details, please see IRS Touts Program for Free Filing of Tax Returns. Income Tax Preparation GainsKeeper Compatible Tax Tips Newsletter Continuing our effort to provide you with valuable tax information, we will periodically update this page with useful tips and information on issues that you commonly deal with. Sign up for our Free E-mail Newsletter E-mail Address: Extension to File Individual Income Tax Return Although the 2006 tax filing season is not yet over, taxpayers who think they won't make the April 17th deadline need not despair. There are certainly many more related issues to consider. For additional details on automatic extension requirements for individual taxpayers, begin filing an extension. Tax Guide 2008 Standard and Itemized Deductions To itemize or not to itemize That is the question taxpayers face every year when preparing their annual tax returns. Whether it's nobler (or at least more beneficial) to use the standard deduction or to itemize deductions is a matter of taking a closer look at your deductible expenses and doing some number crunching. For more on this topic, please read Standard and Itemized Deductions. Business Deductions If you operate a small business, you want to make sure you are taking advantage of every possible tax deduction available. This is especially true this year because of the many recent tax changes enacted at the end of last year. To explore this topic further, take a look at Business Deductions. Claiming Tax Credits monebaggasse