Bank account Archives - 2010 Taxes to 2024 Taxes

Filing Taxes Online is just One Step towards Financial Responsibility

There’s only so much that your parents can do to prepare you for being an adult. If you’re lucky, they have done their best to teach you about financial responsibility. At a certain point though, it’s really up to you. Being financially responsible requires discipline. It means having to pass up short-lived fun for long-term stability. It’s not something that you should put off until you’re well into your twenties or thirties. By starting now, you can lay the foundation for a successful life. With any luck, you’ll be able to live debt-free. Keeping a budget, filing your taxes online and reconciling your bank account are just a few things you can do. Learn more about developing financial responsibility below.

Avoid Serious Consequences

It’s easy to brush off the importance of being financially responsible. However, some very serious consequences can rear their heads sooner rather than later. From running up a huge amount of debt to ending up in jail for not paying your taxes, ignoring the importance of financial responsibility can wreak havoc on your life. The good news is that it’s not too difficult to get where you need to be.

Use Your Computer to Create and Manage a Budget

You can’t hope to live within your financial means without creating a budget. In years past, the only way to do so was by whipping out a pencil and a sheet of paper. These days, it’s a lot easier. Whether you use Excel to create a spreadsheet, or if you invest in high-quality budgeting software, getting started is a snap. There are even websites that automatically import all of your bank account and credit card information, so you can always see where you stand.

Reconcile Your Bank Account

Just because you rarely write checks doesn’t mean that you don’t have to worry about balancing your checkbook. Without periodically reconciling your bank account, you could miss discrepancies that could add up to a lot of money. When you do write a check, make sure to deduct the amount of the check from your balance immediately. It may not clear right away, but you need to pretend that it has. Otherwise, you could end up with bounced checks, overdraft fees and all kinds of trouble.

File Your Taxes Online

It is your responsibility to file your taxes every year. No one else is going to do it for you. Many young adults get refunds, so that is an added incentive. However, even if you owe money, you need to stay on top of your tax situation. You don’t have to be a math whiz to do so, and you don’t have to pay an accountant to do it for you. More people are choosing to file taxes online and you can too. It’s a fast, easy, affordable and convenient way to take care of this important business.

Keep an Eye on the Future

Finally, as difficult as it may be to believe, you’re going to retire someday. It’s easy to think that you can put off worrying about retirement, but it really pays to start planning for it as early as possible. Start socking away money now. It will compound over the years, which means that you’ll accumulate quite a nest egg. By doing this, you’ll stay ahead of the curve and set the stage for a financially stable life.

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Jeana Olchowy is a part of an elite team of writers who have contributed to hundreds of blogs and news sites. Follow her @jolchowy25.

How to choose a good accountant

When it comes to doing accounts a huge number of us struggle with controlling the household budget never mind business and tax accounts. This is where a good accountant can come in – these industry professionals can be worth their weight in gold for some people, as they can make life far easier, can help clients to avoid unnecessary charges and costs, and can help them to save money on their taxes.

Of course, you need to consider whether you need an accountant and if so which one to choose. For example, if you are a lone trader and run a very simple business and simply need to file your tax return with details of your income and outgoings (e.g. you have no savings, capital gains, or any other income to consider) then you can probably manage alone. If, on the other hand, you have a lot of different areas that have to be taken into consideration and your accounts are far more complicated then you could really benefit from the services of an accountant.

There are a number of different ways in which you can choose an accountant. Like any other service provider, some accountants will prove better than others for your needs, which is something that you need to bear in mind. Often, the best way to find a suitable accountant is through word of mouth. You may have business associates who use a specific accountant or accountancy firm, so it is worth asking around to see how happy they are with the service that they receive.

Another thing to look at when choosing an accountant is whether he or she has experience of dealing with others in a similar business to yourself. Obviously, you want to get an accountant that will benefit you based on your business and someone with experience in that specific field can prove particularly beneficial.

Of course, another thing that you will need to consider is how much the accountant charges. You don’t want to pay over the odds for the service otherwise you will be saving money on one hand and giving it away with the other. Find out about their charging structure, how and when you will pay, and what they do and do not charge for.

It is always a good idea to choose an accountant that is fairly local to you, as you may need to go in and see them on a regular basis depending on the complexity of your business and accounts.

Andrew writes frequently about personal finance as well as issues effecting both consumers and small businesses, covering everything from savings to mortgages to Wizardmidrand Free credit checks.

4 Extra Financial Accounts to Consider (fastswings.com)
How to Choose an Accountant (2009tax.org)

Tax debt and the ways in which you can pay those off

One of the things that you should never miss paying off is your taxes. Tax debt is of quite a serious nature as this is the money that you owe to the government. If not paid, the government can even garnish your bank accounts. Thus, it is better to keep a watch on the money that you are required to pay to the Internal Revenue System or the IRS. However, if you face problems with your tax debts, you can consolidate debt and include your tax debts into it or else you can also negotiate with the IRS and talk to them about your financial problems.

Ways to pay off tax debt

There are mainly two ways in which you can pay off your tax debt and these are the settlement agreement and the installment agreement. The different installment agreements through which you can pay off your debts are:

Partial payment installment agreement – Partial payment installment agreement is considered best tax debt solutions if your finances do not even allow you to make even minimum payments through either guaranteed or streamlined agreements. In installment agreement, you will get the option to make monthly payments as per your affordability. Other than this, the IRS will also be re-evaluating terms of the agreement every 2 years in order to check whether or not your affordability has increased.
Guaranteed installment agreement – Guaranteed installment agreement is suitable for you only if the amount you owe to the IRS is less than $10,000. In addition, you are also required to fulfill some eligibility criteria. You will be required to agree that you will file and pay the taxes within time for the forthcoming tax years. The IRS however won’t be approving the installment agreement if you had made payments through another installment agreement in past 5 years.
Streamlined installment agreement – In case of streamlined installment agreement, you will not be required to fill out a Form, 433-F which the Internal Revenue System requires so that they can analyze your financial condition and if you are in real financial crisis. If you want to avail of the streamlined installment agreement in order to pay off your IRS tax debt, the amount that you owe should be more than $25,000 and in addition to that you will also have to agree that you are going to pay off the due amount within 60 months.

The options that you have in case you opt for settlement agreement is the penalty reprieve offer, the compromise offer or else you can also seek professional help in order to settle your tax debts. Other than this, you can also opt for IRS tax bankruptcy option only if your situation is such that you will be required to file bankruptcy.

Tax debt: Getting help with debt on IRS payments (2010tax.org)
Tax debt: Ways in which you can pay off IRS debt (2011tax.org)

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Filing Taxes Online is just One Step towards Financial Responsibility

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