you money on interest and late payment penalties.
Finally, an extension of time to file is not an extension of time to pay.
Most of the
western part of the country files their tax return either to Fresno,
California or to San Francisco, California. Other the other hand, most of
the eastern part of the country files their tax returns to either Kansas
City, MO or to Hartford, Connecticut.
Why not file
electronically? Filing electronically allows you to receive your refund much
faster, usually within 3 weeks after the IRS receives your tax return. If
you are getting a refund, you money will be a lot more safer and faster if
you have it directly deposited into your checking or savings account. Many
tax professionals are obligated to offer electronic filing to their clients
and there isn't much leeway for them as to the manner of filing their
clients' tax returns. So now filing a paper tax return for their clients is
no longer an option for many tax professionals.
Filing Requirements, standard
deduction, filing Status, Dependents, Exemption and filing
information
You can choose the Married Filing Jointly filing status if you are
married and both you and your spouse agree to file together.
When you use this filing status, you
report your combined income and deduct your combined allowable
expenses. You can file using the MFJ filing status even if you had no
income or deductions.
You must determine your filing status before you
can determine your filing requirements, the standard deduction
and your correct tax.
If the total amount you paid is more than the
amount others paid, you meet the requirement of paying more than
half the cost of keeping up the home to qualify for the head of
household status.
Both you and your spouse must include all of your
income, exemptions, and deductions on your tax return. In some cases, one
spouse may be relieved of joint liability for tax, interest, and penalties
on a joint tax return. You can request innocent spouse relief and be
relieved from the responsibility of tax, interest or penalties from your
spouses tax return. Not all tax, interest and penalties qualify for relief.
Under Separation of Liability relief, you divide the understatement of tax
plus interest and penalties on your joint return between you and your
spouse. If you qualify for the Separation of Liability relief, you would be
only responsible for the amount allocated to you. Equity relief is your last
resort and the IRS will consider if equitable relief is an option. Equitable
relief is from an understatement or underpayment of tax.
If you do not itemize deductions, you are
entitled to a higher standard deduction if you are 65 or older
at the end of the tax year. You are considered 65 on the day
before your 65th birthday. Therefore, you can take a higher
standard deduction for 2014 if you were born before January 1,
1950.
If your spouse dies during the
year, you may have many choices as to your filing status. For example, Kevin's wife died January 20, 2013, and by the
end of 2013 Kevin had not remarried. During 2014, and 2015 he
had continued to keep up a home for himself and his child for
whom he can claim an exemption. Kevin can file Married Filing
Jointly for 2013. Kevin, will be able to file his return as
