Steward Ingram & Cooper PLLC

Foreign Recipients of US Income Study

2011-09-19T15:49:00.002-04:00

Foreign Recipients of US Income Study, Tax Year 2009 – A table presenting statistics for Tax Year 2009 from Form 1042-S, Foreign Person's U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding, is now available. The table include statistics for the number of returns, total income, income subject to withholding, income exempt from withholding, and tax withheld. These data items are available for selected countries.

2009 SOI County Income Data

2011-09-19T15:48:00.000-04:00

SOI County Income data for 2009 is available to download from TaxStats. County Income data is based on the addresses reported on individual income tax returns filed with the IRS. The data, which are presented by county (including state totals), are available for Tax Years 1989 through 2009 and include: number of returns, exemptions, adjusted gross income, wages and salaries, dividends, and interest.

http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/article/0,,id=215866,00.html

IRS Launches the IRS2Go APP for smart phones

2011-01-25T13:50:00.000-05:00

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today unveiled IRS2Go, its first smartphone application that lets taxpayers check on their status of their tax refund and obtain helpful tax information.
"This new smart phone app reflects our commitment to modernizing the agency and engaging taxpayers where they want when they want it," said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. "As technology evolves and younger taxpayers get their information in new ways, we will keep innovating to make it easy for all taxpayers to access helpful information."
The IRS2Go phone app gives people a convenient way of checking on their federal refund. It also gives people a quick way of obtaining easy-to-understand tax tips.
Apple users can download the free IRS2Go application by visiting the Apple App Store. Android users can visit the Android Marketplace to download the free IRS2Go app.
"This phone app is a first step for us," Shulman said. "We will look for additional ways to expand and refine our use of smartphones and other new technologies to help meet the needs of taxpayers."
The mobile app, among a handful in the federal government, offers a number of safe and secure ways to help taxpayers. Features of the first release of the IRS2Go app include:
Get Your Refund Status
Taxpayers can check the status of their federal refund through the new phone app with a few basic pieces of information. First, taxpayers enter a Social Security number, which is masked and encrypted for security purposes. Next, taxpayers pick the filing status they used on their tax return. Finally, taxpayers enter the amount of the refund they expect from their 2010 tax return.
For people who e-file, the refund function of the phone app will work within about 72 hours after taxpayers receive an e-mail acknowledgement saying the IRS received their tax return.
For people filing paper tax returns, longer processing times mean they will need to wait three to four weeks before they can check their refund status.
About 70 percent of the 142 million individual tax returns were filed electronically last year.
Get Tax Updates
Phone app users enter their e-mail address to automatically get daily tax tips. Tax Tips are simple, straightforward tips and reminders to help with tax planning and preparation. Tax Tips are issued daily during the tax filing season and periodically during the rest of the year. The plain English updates cover topics such as free tax help, child tax credits, the Earned Income Tax Credit, education credits and other topics.
Follow the IRS
Taxpayers can sign up to follow the IRS Twitter news feed, @IRSnews. IRSnews provides the latest federal tax news and information for taxpayers. The IRSnews tweets provide easy-to-use information, including tax law changes and important IRS programs.
IRS2Go is the latest IRS effort to provide information to taxpayers beyond traditional channels. The IRS also uses tools such as YouTube and Twitter to share the latest information on tax changes, initiatives, products and services through social media channels. For more information on IRS2Go and other new media products, visit www.IRS.gov.

(The above information was copied from the IRS Newswire)

Links to IRS Statistics

2011-01-15T11:28:00.000-05:00

The Internal Revenue Service today announced availability of the fall 2010 issue of the Statistics of Income Bulletin, which features data on 142.5 million individual income tax returns filed for tax year 2008 with adjusted gross income (AGI) totaling $8.3 trillion.

The fall issue includes two additional articles: One features an analysis of partnership returns for tax year 2008. The other features an analysis of information returns of nonprofit charitable organizations filed for tax year 2007.

Prior SOI Bulletins can be found on the Tax Statistic page of IRS.gov. Historical Tables and Appendix of the Bulletin can also be found there.

Filing your Form 1040 for the year ended December 31, 2010

2011-01-15T11:25:00.000-05:00

Due to the late date that Congress passed the latest tax bill, many taxpayers will not be able to file their personal returns until late February or early March. The IRS needs to program the law changes into their software before they can begin accepting certain returns.

This delay is not the fault of the IRS. It's the fault of Congress for waiting to the last minute to do their job.

1099 reporting for 2011

2011-01-13T16:59:00.000-05:00

Starting in 2011, individuals who own rental real estate will need to get the tax id numbers for individuals and unincorporated businesses that are paid $600 or more for services. In 2012, these "vendors" will need to be issued 1099s. It is also suggested that owners of rental real estate obtain federal id numbers. Even though the reporting requirement isn't until next year, gathering the information now will make your life easier next January.

New Website

2011-01-11T13:43:00.000-05:00

Welcome to our new website and blog. We hope you find the information here useful and informative.