Sunday, February 28, 2010

What is Nonrefundable Renter's Credit and how do I qualify for it?


California support personal income tax credit such as Non Refundable Renter's credit. If you paid rent for more than six months on your principal residence and meet the criteria listed below than you are liable to claim Renter's credit( $60 to $120) as per your filing status.

The Nonrefundable Renter's Credit is a personal income tax credit that can only be used to offset your tax liability; therefore, you must have a tax liability to claim the credit.

You can report this credit directly on all main form [Form 540/Form 5402EZ/Form 540NR].

You qualify for the Nonrefundable Renter's Credit if you meet all of the following:

  1. You were a resident of California in 2009.
  2. Your California adjusted gross income (AGI) is $34,412 or less if your filing status is single or married/registered domestic partner filing a separate return; or $68,824 or less if you are married/registered domestic partner filing jointly, head of household, or qualified widow(er).
  3. You paid rent for at least half of 2009 for property in California that was your principal residence.
  4. You did not live with another person for more than half the year (such as a parent) who claimed you as a dependent in 2009.
  5. You are not a minor living with and under the care of a parent, foster parent, or legal guardian.
  6. You rented property for more than half the year that was not exempt from California property tax in 2009.
  7. If you are married, neither you nor your spouse/registered domestic partner was granted a homeowner's property tax exemption during 2009. (You can still qualify for the credit, even though your spouse/registered domestic partner claimed a homeowner's exemption, as long as each of you maintained a separate residence for the entire year in 2009).

If you meet the requirements above the credit is:
  • Single, $60
  • Head of Household or widow(er), $120
  • Married/registered domestic partner filing separately, $120
  • Married/registered domestic partner filing jointly, $120

 All information is taken from California Government website. [http://www.ftb.ca.gov/individuals/faq/ivr/203.shtml]

Monday, February 22, 2010

File Free IDAHO individual income taxes Online

Free Federal and State electronic filing for IDAHO State

While searching for online IDAHO state tax return preparation, find the link where software companies who are providing free services to file both FEDERAL and STATE taxes.

The state of Idaho has partnered with software developers and the IRS to provide selected groups of taxpayers with free electronic filing.

Below are the list of software developer who are providing Federal and State taxes both FREE (if you qualify). If you do not qualify, they will charge depending upon their offers. You can find out more information on Idaho state government website for the same.

Intuit

Intuit offers free tax preparation and e-filing of both federal and state tax returns with TurboTax Freedom EditionSM if in tax year 2009 you met at least one of the following requirements:
  • If you qualified for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EIC),
  • If you earned $31,000 or less in adjusted gross income (AGI)
  • If you served active military duty,including reservists and National Guard members with a military W-2, and your AGI was $57,000 or less.

OnLine Taxes

OnLine Taxes offers free e-filing of both federal and state tax returns for all Idaho taxpayers age 20 or under.

Tax Hawk

TaxHawk offers free e-filing of your federal and state tax return with the following requirements:
  • Federal tax return : No Restrictions
  • State tax return : if you earned $20,000 or less in adjusted gross income (AGI).


TaxSlayer offers free e-filing of both state and federal tax returns. Taxpayers are eligible for free filing if their federal adjusted gross income (AGI) was less than $57,000 and they met any of the following requirements:
  • Aged 25 or younger or 65 or older.
  • Had a federal AGI of $10,000 or less regardless of age.
  • Qualified for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EIC).
  • Served active duty military including reservists, National Guard, and Coast Guard members.
All above contents are taken from IDAHO government website. You can find the same offers on the related companies website. 

[Neither this website nor the Idaho Tax Commission does not endorse the following companies, products, or services. The companies listed on this page offer different levels of service, so you may want to look carefully at each provider to see which free filing offers you qualify for.]

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

File Your Louisiana State Taxes Free

Louisiana government provides free E-File services online.

While finding out the resources to file Louisiana Taxes find out the important information regarding online services provided by State government itself.

Below is the link to start your Louisiana state taxes with Louisiana Government website.

As per government website, requirenments to file Online taxes are simple and they are as below.

1. You must have filed an individual income tax return with the state of Louisiana for the 2004 tax year or later.
2. You must have to create an account to file your online LA Taxes. (Which you can create from above given link while preparing your state taxes.)

All information is taken from the link https://esweb.revenue.louisiana.gov/IndividualIncomeTax/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fIndividualIncomeTax%2fdefault.aspx

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Where is my Pennsylvania Refund?

Where to find out the status of Pennsylvania State tax Refund?

Find the below link from the Pennsylvania state government website to check out the refund status of your Pennsylvania State tax return.

 
You can find the more information regarding Prior Year Tax Refund status through online customer service center.( http://www.doreservices.state.pa.us/Individual/RefundDefault.htm )
 
If you have file your Pennsylvania state tax return and accepted by state government, then this is right tool to locate your state tax refund.
 
Enter you Social Security Number and the refund amount in the given box and it will show you the status of your tax refund.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Calculate Virginia State taxes using Virginia state tax calculator

Surfing around, found another simple tool, which makes our tax estimates more clear. A Virgina State Tax Calculator. Its Simple and common facility that now a days that every website or tax software company is providing but they are inside of the program.

By using this virgina state website link provided by Virgina Deparment of Tax, you can find out on which tax brackets you are following.

Below is the link to calculate the Virginia taxes by Virginia Government.



Just Provide Tax Income on given option and calculate on “Find my tax rate” button. It will show a tax amount on the given box.

This is very simple functionality and gives an idea about the Tax return. If you have some addition and subtraction regarding your state taxes, you are able to figure out you will get refund or owe money.

If you are filing your tax return online or by your own or using any software this tool helps you decide whether you created the right tax return or not.

Please comment if you have any suggestions regarding this article.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

New Home Buyer Credit for California State (publication 3528)

New Home Buyer Credit

Same way as Federal (Form 5805), California government do support New Home Buyer Credit in current tax year.

If you receive a Certificate of Allocation from the California Franchise Tax board, then you are eligible for claiming new home buyer credit.

This credit is a non-refundable credit. And will reduce your tax amount

If you can qualify for this credit, you can claim this credit on your Form 540 or Form 540NR. You can use code "219" for new home buyer credit in the given credit code to claim this credit. [As most of the Tax software company will put automatically if you qualify.]

Government Instructions are saying as below for Home Credit.

Home Credit – For taxable years beginning on or after March 1, 2009, and before March 1, 2010, a home credit against net tax will be allowed for the purchase of a never been occupied home in an amount equal to
the lesser of five percent of the purchase price of a qualified principal residence or ten thousand dollars ($10,000).

So, The lesser of 5% of the purchase price of a qualified principal residence or $10,000. The credit is taken equally over three years.

[For more information see California FTB publication 3528]

Thursday, February 4, 2010

File your New Jersey State Taxes – Free

How to file your New Jersey State Tax Return Free?
File-New-Jersey-Tax-Return_blog

While finding out the resources to file New Jersey Taxes find out the important information regarding NJWEBFile.

New Jersey government supports NJWebFile which allow us to e-file New Jersey tax return free of cost. Check out the link as below to file your New Jersey state tax return.



You can login to use New Jersey webfile program from above screen. And fill up the information as needed.

Eligibility Criteria to use New Jersey WebFile Program
Below are the important notes for qualifying for the NJ web file options(and most taxpayers do).
  1. If your New Jersey Gross Income over $150,000 can use NJ Webfile.
  2. NJ Webfile can be used to file full-year resident income tax returns only.(Part-year and nonresident returns cannot be filed through NJ Webfile.)
  3. Please have a copy of your prior year NJ Income Tax return available as information from that return is needed to access the NJ WebFile program.
For a complete listing of the eligibility and system requirements visit our website at http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/pcfile/njwebfile.shtml.

[All information are taken from the New Jersey Government website.]

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

File your Indiana State Taxes - FREE

How to file your Indiana State Tax Return Free?

Indiana government supports I-File which allows you to efile your state taxes directly from Indiana government website.
Check out the link below for the Indiana Filers.


To use I–File, you must have to meet following criteria.
( https://secure.in.gov/apps/dor/ifile/2009/faq.jsp )
  • Have previously filed an individual income tax return with the State of Indiana.
  • Have the same legal name that you used last year to file your taxes with the State of Indiana.
If you meet all the above criteria, you are able to do your Indiana Tax return with free of charge on Indiana Government website.

All Information are taken from the Indiana website of revenue (www.in.gov).

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Find out your IRS Refund Status

Below is the link from IRS Popular Online Tool to track your Federal Tax Refund.


[Above link will redirect to IRS website.]

You'll need to provide the following information from your tax return on the IRS website to get the status of your IRS tax Refund. [For more Inofmraiton visit  http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96596,00.html]
  1. Your Social Security Number (or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number)
  2. Your Filing Status.
  3. The exact whole dollar amount of your refund.
Below is the video tutorial from youtube to learn about, how to use this utility to track your Federal Tax refund.




 [All the information mentioned above are taken from the IRS website.]

Where can I find my California Tax Refund Status?

Find the below link from the California state government website to check out the refund status of your California State tax return.


[Above link will redirect you to Government website.]

Press the check status button on given web page after reading its content and follow the links. You need to enter your social security number (SSN#), Zip Code and the amount of your refund on the given boxes and click on the Login button on bottom of the screen when web page ask to do that. It will show the status of your tax refund on the web page.

Make sure, you filed your California state tax return and got approved from the FTB, CA government before searching for your California state tax refund.

Also enter correct information in each boxes on the forms. You can get the exact refund amount from your California state tax return.
  • If you File Form 540, you can get it your value from line 93.
  • If you File Form 540A, you can get it your value from line 93.
  • If you File Form 540 2EZ, you can get it your value from line 23.
  • If you File Form 540 NR(Long Form/Short Form), you can get it your value from line 103.
This post is useful to find out the government website link(From http://ftb.ca.gov) to get the refund status. The

Link is taken from the California government website.

Prepare, Print and E-File your Ohio State Taxes Free

While surfing around on Ohio website, find the Government State tax website, who provides facility to prepare state taxes online and do print or e-file free of charge. Ohio state government supports various options to Taxpayer file their taxes such as I-FILE, E-Forms etc.

I-File [Fast, easy and secure] is the online program which let taxpayer to complete their tax return on Ohio State website and e-file their Ohio state taxes. Below is the Link to see the I-File offered webpage from the Ohio government website.


[Above link will redirect you to Ohio Government Website for IFILE.]

After registering yourself on the I-File, I-File wizard asks a series of questions. And based upon that it compiles a state or school district income tax and you can do print or E-file Ohio state tax return.

E-Forms is another option which let taxpayer to complete their state taxes free of cost. You can able to see and complete the forms in Adobe acrobat version (.PDF) file and will able to put the values directly into the form. It will do most of the math on the form. We can find out more information on below link.


[Above link will redirect you to Ohio Government Website for E-Forms option.]

And if you owe taxes, then you can have e-payment options available to pay your taxes by e-check or credit card on Ohio website.

[The above content is taken from the Ohio government website. Referral link will be http://tax.ohio.gov/divisions/communications/electronic_filing_options.stm]