how can i take the most out of the IRS?

Question

i have 2 kids and work part time my husband is full time, i have one kid as a dependent and i have the other, i earn less about $400 a month. we usually use the retunr money to pay off credit cards. so technecally that money is gone before we get it. are there any "tricks" to get more money?

lol...am not trying to cheat them...i would NEVER mess with them!
we are a very young(24/23yrs old) and stupid couple when it come to $$$. this year we are very tight with money..its driving me crazy!!!

Answer 1

You are already getting the Child Tax Credit and Personal Exemptions for two children. If your income is low enough, you may be getting the Earned Income Credit. You could contribute to an IRA, which would cost money but save you some as well. Without knowing your individual info, it is hard to provide tax savings tips.

Answer 2

I liked the answer about VITA. It's great if you qualify. If not, get to a CPA or Enrolled Agent as soon as your W-2's etc come in next year. I mean it, get there really early because that gives you the best chance of making the rest of this work. I do not know if VITA offers electeronic filing with direct deposit to your bank account. If they do, take it! get the refund and pay off your cards. Now, think about where your tax refund comes from. It's your money and always has been. What you are doing in getting a large refund is giving the IRS an interest-free loan. In the meantime, you are paying interest to the credit card companies. So, what you do when you're getting your taxes done is get the preparer to advise you on how to change your W-4's so that you get as much of your refund as possible in your paychecks each payday. That will (hopefully) give you enough money each week so that you hardly ever need to use credit cards. If it does not, then you are living beyond your means.

Please understand, this will require very strict financial discipline on your part. Doing it the way I have suggested means that there will be no safety net for you at tax time because you will have received most of your refund up front.

Good luck with this.

Answer 3

One of the biggest write offs these days are the home businesses. It is a great way to earn some extra money and the deductions available to you are plentiful. However, care should be given in chosing the right business. Don't look at the upper echelons earnings but the potential for the amount of work you are willing to do.
I have many clients doing this that have a good positive cash flow and a tax loss, thus reducing their taxable income.

Answer 4

When you're ready to do your taxes, check for VITA sites. VITA is a program where trained volunteers do income taxes for low and moderate income people at no charge. It's sponsored by the IRS, but the people doing the taxes are volunteers, generally not IRS employees. These people will help you get all the deductions and credits you're entitled to. Most sites can e-file your return, so you get your refund quicker. Sites are often in local libraries or malls.

If you usually go to H&R Block, these sites will do the same thing but at no cost. If you usually do your own return, people at VITA sites can check it over to see if you missed anything that would be an advantage to you.

To find a site near you, go to irs.gov and type VITA into the search box.

Answer 5

yes but its not really a trick its being smart with your income every dependent you put on you w-4 at your job you get the most of your money on your pay roll, this gives you more during the year, But if you are looking to get a huge income at tax time this is what you need to do for the next coming year both of you sign as 0 dependents if you can manage your income that way cause they will take the taxes out of your check at a bigger sum, then when it comes to tax season you file jointly claim all the dependents which should be 4 file for income credit if you made less than 30,000 something its way higher i believe, you get to claim both children on the child tax credit, If you guys are paying for daycare on both or one that's another tax credit, and if you guys have moved or bought clothes for work basically if you do your taxes the long form and qualify for most of these credits you can have a healthy return, the trick to the long form which most Americans don't deal with any more is keeping all your receipts every thing you paid for has been tax and you can claim every thing you bought that's has been taxed. every thing you see through the year on a receipt from a store tax deduct able and you can get the whole amount of taxes of them on your refund,
Which i will do next year, that's how a select few get ahead. basically it takes patients and organization.

Answer 6

You might want to go to a tax accountant. But believe me, you don't want to get anything you're not entitled to or cheat those folks in any way. Believe me those folks will kill you, then they'll go to work on you to get what you owe them. Don't believe me? Ask Wesley Snipes.