“The IRS has been working closely with the tax industry and state revenue departments to provide taxpayers with stronger protections against identity theft”, said IRS commissioner John Koskinen on a call with reporters about the start of the filing season.
Advertisement
“The IRS will never email you so you will usually get a letter in the mail so if you get an email about the IRS trying to contact you it’s generally a scam”, said Pauley.
Once your return is in the IRS’ hands, things also slow down a bit. Go to irs.gov and enter “free tax prep” in the search box to learn more and find a VITA or TCE site near you, or download the IRS2Go app on your smart phone and find a free tax prep provider.
PHOENIX ― The Internal Revenue Service and Free File Alliance last weel announced the launch of Free File with many changes and updates for 2016, including more free state tax return options and easier Form W-2 imports.
Low-income workers in New Jersey stand to receive higher-than-ever tax refunds this year – but only if they apply for the state’s expanded Earned Income Tax Credit. One of the most popular programs is TurboTax, which has the Benefit Assist feature.
The plug was pulled on the last free tax information service for USA expats was the ending of the Electronic Tax Law Assistance Programme (ETLA) in October 2015. The department can not prepare individual income tax returns.
Workers can check if they have too much or too little federal income withheld from their pay through a free online calculator provided by the IRS. Taxpayers in ME and MA will have until Tuesday, April 19, because of Patriot’s Day observances on April 18.
But despite those pre- and post-filing security measures, the IRS is sticking with its promise to issue most refunds within 21 days of receiving the returns.
This year the deadline is extended to Apr. 18 because Apr. 15 falls on Emancipation Day. Even wealthy counties have more than 10,000 recipients. You will be asked for your Social Security number and date of birth for authentication purposes. “A bogus or unscrupulous tax preparer will tell you they can get you more money by just walking into their shop”.
Free File is available only at IRS.gov/FreeFile.
But, there’s no reason to wait four months to file your taxes. No matter what – you need to make sure to protect yourself.
They could use fake names, bogus IRS identification badge numbers, and usually alters their caller ID.
Advertisement
Authorities say in March of 2015, 366,000 people had been called by scammers.
