What You Need To Know About Federal Tax Returns
Any person who has an income is required to pay their taxes. There are only three scenarios when it comes to federal tax returns; either you have been charged the correct amount, you overpaid your taxes wherein you can expect a refund, or you underpaid in which you need to pay the difference. They are documents a taxpayer files that declares their income for a particular tax year and the information in the return serve as a basis for his tax liability.
Filing your tax return is supposedly a simple process in concept. You add all your income for a particular tax year and determine whether or not you have been taxed the right amount. However, it can be very frustrating for most people as there are other factors and deductions that also need to be included in the federal tax returns. Such factors include donations to charities, dependents, investments and other sources of income and all other expenses that would qualify for deductions. It is mostly for this reason why most people prefer to have them prepared and filed by a professional – a certified public accountant or a tax preparer. People who have disputes with the Internal Revenue Services or the IRS often seek the assistance of a tax attorney to help them fix their problems with their returns. There are also people who prefer to have their taxes prepared and filed online through specialized tax return software.
It is very important to file it and other returns on time as failing to do so will result in a fine or penalty. This is made easier with the development of the Free File program where taxpayers can fill out their forms and file taxes online through various free tax software. While the program is free to use and is widely available, it has certain requirements where only those who meet the requirements are eligible to file it online. Other than that, the eligibility requirements change year after year so you cannot expect to qualify this year even if you qualified the previous years.
Those who are not eligible will have to send their returns to the IRS before the deadline to avoid being late. You can send your returns through private delivery services such as DHL, FedEx and UPS but it is safer to send your tax returns through USPS. So long as the date of mailing is before the deadline, your tax return will be marked as filed and will not be counted as late.