On February 17th, President Obama signed the $789 billion economic stimulus bill that includes tax credit incentives for homeowners who make energy-efficient home improvements. The bill extends eligibility for tax credits through 2010 on energy-efficient improvements — including qualifying windows and doors!
The bill includes the ability for homeowners to receive a tax credit of 30 percent of the cost of qualifying energy-efficient products (windows, doors, insulation, HVAC, and roofs), up to a maximum of $1,500 per household for all improvements made in 2009 and 2010.
The requirements to qualify for the new energy tax credit include:
Windows purchased must be equal to or below a U-Factor of 0.30 and a Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) of 0.30. The purchase of the qualified windows must be made during the taxable year for which the credit is being claimed. The credit is only allowed on the price of the qualified windows themselves, not on installation costs, onsite preparation, assembly or sales tax. The tax credit is allowable only for qualified window units placed in service in 2009 and 2010. Homeowners must save their receipts for purchased windows, along with all window labels and stickers for verification and tax recordkeeping. The windows must be installed in the taxpayer’s principal residence. This tax credit is capped at a total of $1,500 for the years of 2009 and 2010. Unlike a tax deduction, which only reduces the amount of your taxable income, a tax credit reduces the amount of tax you owe.
ENERGY STAR® is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy helping us all save money and protect the environment through energy-efficient products and practices. Check out energystar.gov/tax credit for more information on the available federal tax credit when you purchase energy-efficient windows and doors.
Jim Atkins, president of Southern Home Service, http://www.southernhomeservice.com is a Florida state-certified Building Contractor, license CBC1255867. Additional Qualifications: MySafeFlorida approved contractor- Alcoa Building Products Master Contractor-Vinyl Siding Institute Certified-Factory Certified for window and door installation and glazing-Independent distributor: PGT Windows & Doors, CGI Windows & Doors, Armor Screen Protective Systems.?
There are several methods which can get you your tax refund quicker. It depends on whether you keep detailed records on at least a monthly basis or not. The price of good organization is the rapid response to your tax return. It will help you, if you are a business rather than an individual, to have conscientious employees. You must first have the means to determine whether you have a refund. Some have tax attorneys, if this is your case then insure that you have the very best tax attorney who has a fantastic accountant. They will have your books updated monthly and will probably have your tax return ready to file before January 31. They can submit your return electronically over the internet through your tax attorney. If you aren’t in this category then you can take all your expense records which include sales slips, interest for school loans, medical expenses, records of loss from investments, thefts and personal checks from your bank account with your 1090′s from all of your jobs to a well known tax agency. They will review your records and assist you in claiming any legal deductions. Some of these agencies will for a percentage of your return provide you a check immediately for any return funds owed you by the federal and state governments.
Another method can be the use of the EZ tax form whereby you only take the standard deduction and skip making detailed deductions. Another method is the EZ eform tax return where the tax payer goes to http://www.irs.org and uses tax preparation software free. There are several free contractor provided tax preparation software packages for you to use in preparation of your tax return. Each walks you through your tax return where you can choose whether to take the standard deduction or itemize them. The software is extremely reliable and should enable you to accurately complete your tax return. After they complete the process of correctly preparing their tax return online, you can sign it electronically and submit it immediately. This will start their tax return process much faster than snail mail.
However, if you should have problems there are several toll free telephone numbers you can call. They are 1-800-829-1040 for individual citizens and 1-800-829-4933 for businesses. You should remember that the IRS is very sincere about giving the very best service possible to its’ customers. The Taxpayer Advocate Service was created to address just that; giving the best service to the taxpayer especially if the taxpayer is experiencing economic difficulty due to tax problems or if the IRS procedure are not addressing the individual’s problem. You can contact the Taxpayer Advocate Service by dialing their toll-free phone number at 1-877-777-4778 or TTY/TDD 1-800-829-4059, by writing or calling your local taxpayer advocate, whose address and phone number can be found in your local phone directory under the government listing. You can also find this information in the U. S. Publication 1546, The Taxpayer Advocate Service of the IRS-How to Get Help With Unresolved Tax Problems, by filing a Form 911, Application for Taxpayer Assistance Order with the Taxpayer Advocate Service or by asking an IRS employee to complete Form 911 for you. If you need to get a copy of the Form 911 or learn more about the assistance available through the Taxpayer Advocate Service, please go to http://www.irs.gov.advocate. Another resource for you is the Low Income Tax Clinic operated in your area. They provide for free or a slight fee for representation whenever there are issues with the IRS that cannot be solved through normal channels. Check online with the IRS or in the phonebook for the nearest LITC. This agency provides help for minorities for whom English is a second language.
Gray Rollins writes for EasyTaxSupport.com, a site that provides tax tips. For more tips, like common tax mistakes and what happens when you can’t pay your tax bill, visit Easy Tax Support.
Our tax system would have a pretty hard time being more complex. If you are like most Americans, you hear terms like tax deductions, tax credit, adjusted gross income and you want to know more, but you never really do any research. It is not until you really need to know what a tax term means that you finally pay attention and figure it out. What if you found out that you may be paying more taxes because these terms? Would you want to know more? I thought so.
Let’s start with the basics. A tax deduction is something that lowers your tax liability. In other words, a deduction allows you to take some amount of your income for the year and not have to pay taxes on it. If you paid taxes on 30% of your income, a deduction of $1000 saves you that 30% you would have paid or $300. Tax deductions are often confused with tax credits. A credit comes straight off of the taxes you pay. So rather than saving 30% of your money, you save 100% of that money.
A tax deduction helps you lower your adjusted gross income. To define adjusted gross income, it is simply the amount of income you have after you have subtracted all of your deductions. Why does this matter? Your tax bracket is determined by your adjusted gross income and not your total income. The more deductions you have, the lower your adjusted gross income will be, and the lower tax bracket in which you will be. Tax brackets are important because the higher bracket you are in, the higher percentage of taxes you will pay.
Let’s work through an example. The 2008 federal tax brackets say that taxpayers filing with a status of single will pay 10% on all income between $0 and $8,025. They will pay 15% on all income between $8,025 and $32,550. If they fall into the 15% tax bracket, they will also pay the 10% on the $8,025. For our example, we will say that Mike makes $20,025. Taking no deductions into account, Mike would pay his 10% for the first bracket or $802.50. Mike would also pay 15% on the rest (20,025 – 8,025) * 15% = $1800. Add those together and Mike pays $2602.50 in taxes. Ouch! Deductions would have helped Mike. Here is how.
Mike owns his house. He pays a mortgage. One tax deduction available to homeowners is that all interest paid on the mortgage is tax deductible. You can see that in order for Mike to get into the lower tax bracket completely, he would need $12,000 in deductions. However, every dollar of tax deduction he does have is less he pays at the higher 15%. If Mike paid $6,000 in mortgage interest last year, he can deduct that and bring his adjusted gross income down to $14,025. Now the amount he pays at 15% is (14,025 – 8,025) or $6,000 instead of $12,000. He pays $900 instead of $1800. He saved $900 in taxes! If Mike would have paid that $6,000 in rent instead of to a mortgage, he would have paid Uncle Sam $900 extra dollars.
Some common places to watch out for tax deductions or other items that lower your adjusted gross income are 401K plans at work, charitable contributions, child-care costs, vehicle license tax, interest on first and second mortgages, losses on investments, interest paid on student loans, property taxes and contributions to IRAs.
Using tools such as TurboTax and TaxAct will help you make sure you don’t miss out on any tax deduction to which you are entitled. Click here to file your federal return for FREE.
Don’t forget April 15th is the deadline!
Ken Rios is a contributor to IncomeTaxes1040.com, a site
dedicated to helping you grow your tax knowledge. For more articles and information on taxes
please visit IncomeTaxes1040.com.
