You have made some bread in business and you know that any dough you make is getting taxed. Maybe you have been so busy in trying to make money that the thought of paying income taxes has slipped your mind. That means that you have to get baking (in our cooking analogy) , get your act together and file a return (if you haven’t) and take care of tax business.
The witching hour for income tax extensions is coming up on us and for a lot of taxpayers, especially those who have not filed extensions or made payments, they are completely spellbound.
The IRS and respective state agencies will work with you to help you with anything you owe in income taxes but the key is that you have to get your return(s) filed and you have to call them to work something out.
I have been talking with clients who are trying to make offers and connect them up with the right people or point them in the right direction but there has to be some semblance of reality in the offers that they are making. Yes, some money is better than none, however you have to remember that the taxing authorities have access to your financial records if the money is in banking accounts and that is something that needs to be accounted for.
If you are trying to hide money offshore, you may want to rethink that since there is more international cooperation between banks in other countries and their respective govts. I would also suggest that you have me or your tax pro review your income tax returns because there are a lot of legit deductions and expenses that you may not be taking.
To be fair, there may also be a lot of ones that you shouldn’t be taking and if you do come to me I will keep you honest. Note that being honest does not mean that I won’t get you the highest refund or lower your tax liability as best as I can. I am still pretty good at that stuff.
If you handle things now, you may also be surprised that after all your fussing and mussing you may see that you are owed a tax refund instead of owing money. You sometimes never know until you actually get your tax return completed.
Make sure that you do your state returns as well as the Fed. The Fed talks to the different states and vice versa. If you look like you are owing to one agency, you want to see if you owe for the other and take the initiative and set up a payment plan or pay it all off at once (my preferred suggestion if you are asking me, thanks).
You don’t want the Fed or state governments after you, especially in bad financial times like these where everybody is looking for money wherever they can find it. If you don’t believe me, check out in front of all the supermarkets the number of people who are going through trash cans who are looking for aluminum or glass for recycle money. At least here in California we have gone from one person to something like a dozen if you look at the course of a day at some plazas.
So I wish you the best in making dough and if you haven’t had the time, you better make it in order to show the IRS that you have income.
Have a great weekend, gang.
Sep 26 2009
Kim Isaac Greenblatt