Tag Archives: IRS Payment

How to Get Your Prior Year Tax Information from the IRS

Taxpayers who need certain prior year tax return information can obtain it from the IRS. Here are nine things to know if you need federal tax return information from a previously filed tax return.

  1. There are three options for obtaining free copies of your federal tax return information – on the web, by phone or by mail.
  2. The IRS does not charge a fee for transcripts, which are presently available for the current tax year as well as the past three tax years.
  3. A tax return transcript shows most line items from your tax return as it was originally filed, including any accompanying forms and schedules.  It does not reflect any changes made after the return was filed. Continue reading →

IRS Announces 2011 Air Transportation Tax Rates

The Internal Revenue Service today announced the 2011 inflation adjustments to the excise taxes on air transportation.

Excise taxes apply to the domestic segments of taxable air transportation and to the use of international air facilities. The Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2010, Part IV, signed into law on Dec. 22, 2010, extends these excise taxes to air transportation that begins or is paid for no later than March 31, 2011.

These excise taxes are adjusted annually for inflation:

  • For 2011, the excise tax on the domestic segment of taxable air transportation is $3.70, unchanged from 2010.
  • The excise tax for 2011 for international flights that begin or end in the United States is $16.30, up from $16.10 in 2010.
  • The tax on use of international air facilities also applies at a reduced rate to departures of interstate flights that begin or end in Alaska or Hawaii. For 2011, the international air facilities tax on these flights is $8.20, up from $8.10 in 2010.

The new rates take effect Jan. 1, 2011.

Further details pertaining to the excise taxes on air transportation can be found in Form 720, Quarterly Excise Tax Return, and its instructions.

Tax cuts package extends ethanol incentives

The $858-billion package includes a one-year extension on a tax credit that pays 45 cents per gallon for ethanol blended into gasoline, a move that’s estimated to cost about $6 billion. Congress also extended a tariff on foreign-made ethanol. Industry officials say the credits help ethanol stay competitive with oil and preserve jobs tied to ethanol plants.

The major national ethanol subsidy — called the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit, or VEETC — pays 45 cents per gallon to ethanol blenders. Ethanol supporters estimate that leads to a 4.5 cent per gallon decrease at the pump.The tax-cut package also extends credits for small ethanol producers and owners of alternative fuel vehicles. And it keeps a tariff of 54 cents per gallon on ethanol made outside the United States.

Tax Credit for Form 2290 Heavy Vehicle Use Tax payers

If you are paying the Heavy Use Tax (IRS Form 2290) and plan to sell your truck during the tax period, you can apply for a credit – meaning you’ll get a pro-rated portion of the tax back.

Sold Truck Credit:

In previous years, you had to pay the $550 tax and if you sold your truck during the tax period, you did not get anything back. You could provide the form to the person you sold the truck to so that they didn’t have to pay the tax in addition to what you already paid. But once you paid the tax, your money was gone. Continue reading →

Do You Need to Make the Switch to EFTPS?

IRS has issued proposed regs designed to expand the making of electronic tax deposits. The regs would eliminate the use of paper-based federal tax deposit (FTD) coupons after 2010. The existing rules for making electronic deposits would otherwise generally remain unchanged.

Currently, taxpayers whose aggregate annual deposits of certain taxes exceed $200,000 are generally required to use Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) to make FTDs. Taxes taken into account in determining whether the $200,000 threshold has been met include withheld income and FICA taxes, corporate income and estimated taxes, certain taxes imposed on tax-exempt organizations, taxes withheld on nonresident aliens and foreign corporations, estimated taxes of certain trusts, FUTA taxes, and excise taxes, as well as others. Once taxpayers exceed the $200,000 threshold, they have a one–year grace period before being required to use EFT, and then they are required to use EFT in all later years even if their deposits fall below the threshold. The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) is the EFT system currently used by IRS to collect FTDs. Continue reading →