Happy Post - Tax Season

That wasn't that bad, was it? You located your W-2s and 1099s, you completed your deduction worksheets, you called for an appointment, an organizer or a worksheet, and we completed your returns, we e-filed and your HUGE refund arrived in your mailbox!

 Let's all try to do it even EARLIER next year.

For those of you who are new clients, this is the

South Bay Tax Report,

our monthly newsletter of tax tips, tax law changes and news about us here at Wayland & Vukadinovich.

We think it's worth your time but you can always opt out by clicking the "Unsubscribe" button at the bottom the of the email.  

Where did my taxes go?

The White House recently posted

"Your Federal Taxpayer Receipt"

at www.whitehouse.gov/2011-taxreceipt.

Grab your return, go to the link and enter three figures - your Social Security, Medicare and Federal income tax payments, and in several quick seconds, you will see details, down to the penny, of where your money went.

IRS Ramps Audits of Wealthiest

The Internal Revenue Service expanded audits of Americans earning more than $500,000 last year, with a stark increase for those making more than $1 million.

The agency indicated that they performed audits on 5.4% of the tax returns of Americans who made between $500,000 and $1 million in 2010. That was up from 3.4% of this group who were audited the previous year.

The jump was even bigger for those making between

$1 million and $5 million with 12% of this group audited last year, up from 6.7% the previous year.

On another note, the IRS said it collected $2.4 TRILLION in taxes and processed 234 million returns last year, up from $2.3 trillion and 230 million returns in the prior year.

Extended Returns

We know, you didn't have a chance to finish your tax returns or you're waiting for some additional 1099s.

Remember - you have until October 15th to complete your 2011 tax returns, and if you'd like us to help, we need your information no later than October 1st!

2012 Mileage Rates

The IRS announced mileage rates for 2012:

Business miles are deductible at 55.5 cents per mile,

Medical and moving miles are 23 cents,

Charitable miles are 14 cents.

Foreign accounts

The reporting requirements for assets held overseas are increasing and the penalties for failure to report them are becoming increasingly harsh. Not all foreign holdings must be reported. If, for example, you hold stock in a foreign company through a US broker, those holdings do not have to be separately reported. However, if you hold any other types of foreign assets, including bank accounts and securities accounts, please let us know.

I'd like an electronic copy of my return!

Many of you are refinancing, and you'd like us to provide a copy of your return electronically. We're happy to provide it - at no cost - but we will only provide that copy to YOU, we cannot provide it directly to your loan broker or banker unless you provide us written authorization with an original signature.

Requests for electronic returns usually take 24 hours - some requests can be completed sooner, some a bit later, but contact Gina in our office should you need an electronic copy of your return. We use "Smart Vault," an encrypted cloud-based portal, to hold your copies. You will be sent an email link which you can use to set your own password and access rights. Remember, for security reasons, we don't maintain copies in the cloud forever!

We usually keep them available for about 60 days.