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Tax Time is Approaching!
Are you ready?
Tell your clients and get ready for another great tax season with Zip Refund. |
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Dec 22
e-filing will open on Tuesday Jan 19th
Dec 18
PATH of 2015
Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015
(the PATH Act) – 12-18-2015
Here is a list of key provisions. Made permanent:
Extended through 2016:
Extended through 2019:
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Dec 14
Identity protection tips
Seven Steps for Making Identity Protection Part of Your Routine
IRS Security Awareness Tax Tip Number 3, December 7, 2015 Español
The theft of your identity, especially personal information such as your name, Social Security number, address and children’s names, can be traumatic and frustrating. In this online era, it’s important to always be on guard. The IRS has teamed up with state revenue departments and the tax industry to make sure you understand the dangers to your personal and financial data. Taxes. Security. Together. Working in partnership with you, we can make a difference. Here are seven steps you can make part of your routine to protect your tax and financial information:
To learn additional steps you can take to protect your personal and financial data, visit Taxes. Security. Together. You also can read Publication 4524, Security Awareness for Taxpayers. Each and every taxpayer has a set of fundamental rights they should be aware of when dealing with the IRS. These are your Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Explore your rights and our obligations to protect them on IRS.gov. Additional IRS Resources:
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Oct 30
IRS Lowers Amount for PTIN Number
The IRS recently announced that it will be charging less for PTIN (Preparer tax identification number) registration and renewals. The PTIN is required to be a paid tax preparer so this is good news for all tax preparers. Instead of the usual $63 it will now only cost $50 for the upcoming 2016 tax season.
Learn more about this and other upcoming changes at the IRS site for tax professionals.
Aug 05
Tax filing problems could jeopardize health law aid for 1.8M
FINANCE
JULY 06, 2016
Verizon hikes prices, though new options could save money
Verizon is hiking prices on its cellphone plans, though the new rates come with changes that might save you money. If you …
JULY 05, 2016
Conservative Party starts choosing leader as pound sinks
The race to succeed Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron intensified Tuesday as Britain grappled with growing signs of …
JULY 04, 2016
Call for Australian leader’s resignation amid election chaos
With Australia’s government in chaos amid a dramatic national election that failed to deliver an immediate winner, the …
JULY 03, 2016
Kuwait posts $18B deficit as lower oil prices slash revenue
Kuwait’s finance minister says the oil-exporting country has posted a budget deficit of $18.2 billion for the most recent …
JULY 03, 2016
Aussie leaders seek minor party support amid election chaos
With the results of Australia’s stunningly close national election potentially weeks away, Australia’s prime minister and …
JUNE 30, 2016
Australia could soon elect 5th prime minister in 3 years
Australians go to the polls Saturday with the opposition leader vying to become the country’s fifth prime minister in three …
JUNE 30, 2016
Claims for unemployment aid rise but remain at low level
More Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, but the level of jobless claims remains low enough to suggest …
JUNE 28, 2016
In rain-soaked West Virginia, flood victim planning funerals
Like other business operators along Main Street in the West Virginia town of Rainelle, Pamela Wallace Arnold is slowly …
JUNE 27, 2016
High court rejects appeal over wages for home care workers
The Supreme Court has rejected a challenge to Obama administration regulations that extend minimum wage and overtime pay …
JUNE 26, 2016
Turkey uses tear gas to break up gay pride gathering
Police in Istanbul used tear gas and detained activists who gathered Sunday to issue a statement to mark gay pride week after …
JUNE 22, 2016
House Republicans offer proposals for health care changes
House Republicans on Wednesday unveiled new proposals to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s health care law, as …
JUNE 22, 2016
Zambia: Government shuts largest independent newspaper
Zambia’s government has closed the country’s largest privately owned newspaper over unpaid taxes, but the paper’s owner says …
JUNE 22, 2016
Angola: No revenue from state oil company since January
Angola’s president says the state oil company has not been able to pay revenues into the country’s budget since January and …
JUNE 22, 2016
Trustees: Tiny rise in Social Security benefits next year
Millions of Social Security beneficiaries would get a tiny increase in monthly payments next year — less than $2.50, about …
JUNE 22, 2016
French unions win right to protest despite fears of violence
The French government and unions reached a compromise Wednesday allowing a new labor march in Paris, amid heightened …
JUNE 22, 2016
House Republicans offering proposals for health care changes
House Republicans are unveiling new proposals to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s health care law, as Speaker Paul …
JUNE 21, 2016
White House clears small, commercial drones for takeoff
Routine use of small drones by real estate agents, farmers, filmmakers and countless other commercial operators was cleared …
JUNE 19, 2016
Cash-strapped Zimbabwe government delays military salaries
Zimbabwe’s cash-strapped government has announced it will delay paying June salaries for the military and police by up to two …
JUNE 18, 2016
India’s central bank governor says he won’t seek 2nd term
The governor of India’s central bank said Saturday that he will not seek a second term and will return to academia when his …
JUNE 16, 2016
Justices rule against VA in disabled vets contract dispute
The Department of Veterans Affairs failed to comply with a law aimed at increasing the number of federal contracts awarded …
Feb 21
800,000 Taxpayers Received Wrong Tax Info from Health Insurance Marketplace
800,000 Taxpayers Received Wrong Tax Info from Health Insurance Marketplace
454 WASHINGTON, D.C. (FEBRUARY 20, 2015)
BY MICHAEL COHN
Approximately 800,000 taxpayers who received health care coverage through the federal insurance marketplace Healthcare.gov were sent the wrong information on their Form 1095-A and are being urged to wait to file their taxes until the first week of March when they receive the correct information from the federal government.
Diane Black
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Jan 19
IRS Cuts Back Help Desk Hours for Tax Pros
IRS Cuts Back Help Desk Hours for Tax Pros
77 WASHINGTON, D.C. (JANUARY 16, 2015)
BY MICHAEL COHN
The Internal Revenue Service is eliminating the extended weekday hours, Saturday and President’s Day availability of its e-help desk service due to budget cuts.
John Koskinen
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All Accounting Today articles are archived after 7 days. REGISTER NOW for unlimited access to all recently archived articles, as well as thousands of searchable stories. Registered Members also gain access to exclusive industry white paper downloads, web seminars, podcasts, blog discussions, and conference discounts. Registered members may also choose to receive our exclusive Tax Pro Today e-newsletters covering the latest breaking news, opinions from industry leaders and developing trends.
Dec 18
Tax Extenders Bill Should Keep Tax Season Opening On Track
The President is expected to sign the tax extenders bill which will extend the tax breaks until the end of 2014, but will force Congress to have to take up the issue again in 2015. Maybe they will do it sooner than the end of the year next year…
This should keep the tax season opener at regular time at the end of January. The date the IRS will start accepting e-files has not officially been announced yet, so stay posted. Hopefully the Tax Extenders passage will allow for them to make a decision soon.
In the meantime- see below what was affected in this decision.
Passage of Tax Extenders Contains Key Tax Breaks
WASHINGTON, D.C. (DECEMBER 17, 2014)
BY MICHAEL COHN
Congress’s long-awaited passage of tax extenders legislation provides a short-term extension through only the end of this year of dozens of familiar tax breaks for businesses and individuals, along with a new savings program for the disabled.
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All Accounting Today articles are archived after 7 days. REGISTER NOW for unlimited access to all recently archived articles, as well as thousands of searchable stories. Registered Members also gain access to exclusive industry white paper downloads, web seminars, podcasts, blog discussions, and conference discounts. Registered members may also choose to receive our exclusive Tax Pro Today e-newsletters covering the latest breaking news, opinions from industry leaders and developing trends.
Dec 14
Zip Refund Teams Up With RefundSafe for Third Year
Zip Refund had teamed up with RefundSafe to allow their nationwide tax preparers to offer this valuable add on service to their clients for the third year in a row. With acknowledgement the problem of irs identity theft continues to get worse for their preparers and clients, it was one of the first companies to do anything about it with the partnership with RefundSafe back to 2012..
Zip Refund has a business model that is lucrative for all tax preparers, especially those that have regular tax clients and are only getting paid by the hour to service them. Such places like HR Block, Jackson Hewitt, Liberty Tax, Instant Tax and other large franchises currently pay by the hour even though the tax preparer has a built in clientele. Zip Refund does not have franchise fees and no upfront costs to get started allowing employees of the named franchises to go out on their own without the high start up costs that franchises charge.
RefundSafe is a low cost protection plan to ensure that if a tax client is a victim or IRS fraud, the tax client will rightfully receive their refund and the tax preparer will be rightfully be paid for their services. It also allows for the tax preparer to gain extra revenue with built in bonuses and rebates available to the tax preparer.
Although RefundSafe is available to all tax preparers and tax offices that sign up to provide this one of a kind tax service, Zip Refund has carefully designed the Agreement between the companies to be extra beneficial to those tax preparers that work for them directly.
Identity theft has become the number one problem of fraud for the IRS with over 3 million tax payers being affected by this problem last year. It expected to cost the IRS billions of dollars by the year 2016 and there is no end in site. Zip Refund has a strict policy on any kind of fraud and believes in doing everything possible to help those that are affected, thus the reason the company has teamed up with RefundSafe for the third year in a row.
For more information regarding offering IRS tax fraud insurance protection to your clients please review this site: http://refundsafe.com or contact us to join our team.
Dec 08
Start Your Tax Business Now In Time for the Upcoming Tax Season
The tax season starts in January, so it’s almost here and more than half of the 300 million Americans will be looking for someone to prepare their tax returns. If you have been thinking of starting a tax preparation business, now is the time to do it. There is a market of about 150 million US citizens, who will be willing to have their taxes prepared for a fee. 
Tax business will always be in demand, because the US population continues to swell. There is also no indication that the Tax Code will get simplified or the existing taxes will be reduced. People who are always scared and confused of filing their returns on their own will be asking for your services every tax season. With the introduction of the Affordable Care Act and the complications that come with it, many people that thought they would be able to do their taxes on their own, will be reaching out for help.
Of course, you can’t expect to become successful in your tax business overnight. You will need to work hard before you can get profit; but the important thing is that you start now. Preparing other people’s taxes is a life long job. You may or may not work full time. This means that you may opt to work only during the tax season, which is from January to April or work year long, as businesses are required to file their returns quarterly.
Things That You Need To Start A Tax Business
- First thing first, you need to have yourself educated and trained in tax preparation. You may choose to learn on campus or enroll at an online course with instructor support.
- Get the documents required by the IRS, such as the:
(a) PTIN (Preparer Tax Identification Number) and
(b) EFIN (Electronic Filing Identification Number) – Zip Refund will provide you an EFIN to work under
These ID numbers are issued by the IRS and give you authority to prepare taxes and file them electronically at the agency’s e-services.
- Choose tax preparation software depending on the type of tax returns that you will be working on, from a simple to a basic software package. This should help you prepare taxes in a manner that is both fast and effective.
- You will also need space for an office. People’s personal and business taxes are important documents, so you should have a place to work on those and have a meeting with your clients. A home office is ideal for starting your business; and as you gain more clients, you may want to expand to a real brick and mortar office.
As in any other businesses, it will be challenging to start a tax preparer’s business. The result, however, is very rewarding and offers many advantages. The start up cost is very inexpensive. Acquire a computer, software and some office supplies and you’re ready to go. Your client base will be small, at first, so start offering your services to family and friends and connecting to your locality. These people will become your repeat customers because they will be coming back year after year. Make your tax preparer’s business known to as many people as possible in your state, so you can find and add new customers to your current client base.
Let Zip Refund do the majority of this for you. We offer free software, an EFIN to work under, marketing material, the bank products, and so much more so learn more about qualifying with us today.
