Estimated tax payments for the third-quarter (June 1-August 31) of 2010 are due on September 15, 2010. The estimated tax payments should be made using Form 1040-ES. Note, if the due date for an estimated tax payment falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the payment will be considered on time if it is made on the next business day.
On August 19, 2010, the IRS announced that interest rates for the calendar quarter beginning October 1, 2010, will remain the same as follows:
1. Individual underpayment and overpayment: 4%;
2. Corporate overpayment: 3%
3. Large corporate underpayment: 6%
4. Portion of corporate overpayment exceeding $10,000: 1.5%
The interest rate is determined on a quarterly basis and compounds daily. For taxpayers other than corporations, the overpayment and underpayment rate is the federal short-term rate plus 3 percentage points. Generally, in the case of a corporation, the underpayment rate is the federal short-term rate plus 3 percentage points and the overpayment rate is the federal short-term rate plus 2 percentage points. The rate for large corporate underpayments is the federal short-term rate plus 5 percentage points. The rate on the portion of a corporate overpayment of tax exceeding $10,000 for a taxable period is the federal short-term rate plus one-half of a percentage point.
Interest factors for daily compound interest for annual rates of 1.5 percent, 3 percent, 4 percent, and 6 percent are published in Tables 8, 11, 13, and 17 of Rev. Proc. 95-17, 1995-1 C.B. 556, 562, 565, 567, and 571.
Whether you need to amend your previously-filed tax return depends on your particular situation. In some situations, such as simple math errors, the IRS will correct the return for you. In other situations, however, you should file an amended tax return. The most common situations occur when you need to change your: filing status, dependents, income, deductions and credits.
If you are eligible to claim the first-time homebuyer credit for a qualified 2010 home purchase, you may wish to elect to amend your 2009 return in order to claim the credit this year without waiting for the next year to file the 2010 tax return.
You should use Form 1040X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, to correct a previously filed Form 1040, 1040A or 1040EZ. Be sure to check the box for the year of the return you are amending on the Form 1040X, Line B, or write in the year if you are amending a return filed in year prior to those listed on the form. If you are amending more than one tax return, you will need to prepare a 1040X for each return If the changes involve other schedules or forms, attach them to the Form 1040X.
If you are filing to claim an additional refund, you should wait until you have received your original refund before filing Form 1040X. However, if you owe additional tax for 2009, the opposite is true – you should file Form 1040X and pay the tax as soon as possible to limit interest and penalty charges. Interest is charged on any tax not paid by the due date of the original return, without regard to extensions.
Whether you are able to claim a refund will depend on the applicable statute of limitations, but generally, you have three years from the date you filed your original return or two years from the date you paid the tax, whichever is later.
Sherayzen Law Office can help you determine whether you need to amend your tax return and help you prepare Form 1040X with all attachments.
Call Sherayzen Law Office to discuss your tax situation with a tax attorney!
According to the IRS, in order to be able to claim “single” tax status, you must be “unmarried or legally separated from your spouse under a divorce or separate maintenance decree” on the last day of your tax year, and you do “not qualify for another filing status.” (See IRS Publication 501).
Determining your marital status can be a complex legal matter with numerous exceptions, and exceptions to exceptions. Only a tax professional who reviews the facts of your case may be in position to advise you on your marital status. Here, I will only attempt to sketch the broadest concepts to give you some awareness of the issues.
IRS may consider your marital status as “unmarried” if, on the last day of the relevant tax year, “you were unmarried or legally separated from your spouse under a divorce or separate maintenance decree.” Id. Usually, the state law will determine whether you were legally separated from your spouse on the last day of the relevant tax year. If you were divorced under a final decree by the last day of the year, the IRS will consider you unmarried for the entire year. However, if the divorce was motivated by the desire to file your tax return as unmarried persons, and you and your spouse remarry the next year, the IRS will disregard the divorce for tax purposes and demand that you and your spouse file your tax return(s) as married persons.
If your marriage is annulled (by a court decree which holds that no valid marriage ever existed), the IRS will consider you as “unmarried,” and you must amend your tax returns for all years (within the Statute of Limitations – usually the past three tax years) affected by the annulment.
Keep in mind that, if you are able to claim “single” status, you may also be eligible for a more advantageous tax filing status, such as “head of household” or “qualifying widow(er) with a dependent child.”
Call Sherayzen Law Office to discuss your tax filing status with an attorney!
Under the Homebuyer Assistance and Improvement Act of 2010 (enacted on July 2, 2010), eligible homebuyers who entered into a binding purchase contract on or before April 30 to purchase a principal residence can now close on a home by September 30, 2010 in order to qualify for the First-Time Homebuyer Credit. Thus, under the new law the closing deadline for eligible homebuyers is extended from June 30, 2010 to September 30, 2010.
Here are some useful definitions and facts:
*First-Time Homebuyer: the homebuyer and his spouse (if he is married) must not have jointly or separately owned another principal residence during the three years prior to the date of purchase.
*Long-Time Resident Homebuyer: the settlement date must be after November 6, 2009 and the homebuyer and his spouse (if he is married) must have lived in the same principal residence for any consecutive five-year period during the eight-year period that ended on the date the new home is purchased.
*Maximum Credit for a First-Time Homebuyer: $8,000.
*Maximum Credit for Long-Term Resident Homebuyer: $6,500.
*Claiming Credit – Method: must be done on paper return and using Form 5405, along with all required documentation, including a copy of the binding contract.
*Claiming Credit – 2010 qualifying purchase: If a 2009 return has not yet been filed, claim it on Form 1040 for tax-year 2009 (the returns must be printed out and sent to the IRS, along with all required documentation). If a 2009 tax return has already been filed, claim it on an amended return using Form 1040X. Whether or not a 2009 return has been filed, wait until next year and claim it on a 2010 Form 1040.
