Michael Finney's Consumer Blog

What is your risk of being audited?

You paid your taxes on time, now what is your risk of being audited? Kiplinger.com has put together a calculator using 2011 government figures. It is a three step process: 1) Punch in your numbers 2) See the results 3) Hold your breath.

Angus Steak from Panda Express

Finney’s Friday Free Stuff! After filling out all those tax forms you need protein. Panda Express is offering a free single serving of Shanghai Angus Steak!
http://www.facebook.com/PandaExpress

NOTE: More freebies to come! Watch ABC7 News at 5 PM for Finney's Friday Free Stuff. Details regarding those offers will be posted at ABC7NEWS.COM at 5:30 PM.

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This giveaway is not conducted by 7 On Your Side. If there are technical problems or issues with the product, concerns should be directed to the offering supplier.

 

Free treats from Cinnabon

Finney’s Friday Free Stuff! Cinnabon is offering up sweet treats to those who drop by between 6 – 8 p.m. on April 17th: http://www.cinnabon.com

NOTE: More freebies to come! Check the blog again at 1:00 pm!

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This giveaway is not conducted by 7 On Your Side. If there are technical problems or issues with the product, concerns should be directed to the offering supplier.

Free curly fries from Arby's

Finney’s Friday Free Stuff! On Tax Day, Arby’s is refunding every customer with free curly fries.
http://www.facebook.com/events/362151277138399/?CID=e_arbysextras04042012

NOTE: More freebies to come! Check the blog again at 11:00 am!

Sign up tor receive Finney's Friday Free Stuff and Michael Finney's Consumer Blog newsletters!

This giveaway is not conducted by 7 On Your Side. If there are technical problems or issues with the product, concerns should be directed to the offering supplier

 

 

Free Seattle's Best Coffee

Finney’s Friday Free Stuff! Here's a last-minute tax tip: Remember to get a free cup of Joe from Seattle’s Best Coffee after sending in your forms.

http://www.seattlesbest.com/

NOTE: More freebies to come! Check the blog again at 11:00 am!

Sign up tor receive Finney's Friday Free Stuff and Michael Finney's Consumer Blog newsletters!

This giveaway is not conducted by 7 On Your Side. If there are technical problems or issues with the product, concerns should be directed to the offering supplier

 

Free bilingual tax assistance today

Today at the Mt. View public library there is free bilingual tax assistance. Volunteers from the computer and communication industry association will be using Turbotax Freedom Edition. The software helps find and claim all of the tax credits and deductions available. Taxpayers are eligible for this event if they had an adjusted gross income of $31,000 or less, are eligible for the earned income tax credit or were on active military duty and earned $57,000. The event begins at 2:00pm and ends at 7:00 p.m.

What you can learn from Newt and Mitt's tax returns

My friends over at Kiplinger.com thought they'd go over the tax returns of the two GOP leaders to see if there are any tips for the rest of us and found Romney overpaid his taxes because of a misplaced deduction: "A special rule allows qualifying self-employed workers to deduct 100% of their medical insurance premiums, even if they don't itemize deductions. That might have helped Romney, who reported that he paid $14,176 in self-employed health insurance premiums in 2010. But he didn't get the tax break. Rather than claim the special deduction, Romney reported the premiums as a medical expense on Schedule A, where a deduction is allowed only to the extent such expenses exceed 7.5% of adjusted gross income. Romney's $14,176 of premiums fell well short of $1,623,488 (7.5% of his AGI)." Mitt could have saved himself about three grand, poor baby.

The IRS is set to give you a tax break

Every time you go to the grocery store prices seem to have gone up. Ditto the gas station. Bad news for shopping, good news for your tax bill. The government is looking at passing along a modest tax cut. By law the IRS is supposed to keep track of inflation, then, when necessary, change the tax brackets so you and I don't pay more just because of inflation. Your break? Depends on how much you make, but the IRS is looking at adjusting the brackets by about 4% so that can be a nice savings for middle class families.  

>>Sandra Block has a good write up at USA Today

Here’s how to dodge the IRS

Are you still paying taxes? You silly poor person! Just do what the rich and corporations do, and dodge the whole paying taxes thing. Here’s a special report outlining how the well-to-do make sure they don’t pay, so you can pay more.

Amazon.com makes threat over California sales tax

Amazon is threatening to stop doing business with about 10,000 California companies, if the state starts making online companies collect a sales tax. Currently, Amazon is not required to collect sales tax, because it has no physical presence in the state. Avoiding that sales tax is one of the reasons buying from Amazon and other online retailers is so attractive; savings of nearly 10%.  The state could be collecting as much as $150 million dollars more a year in taxes if the state required online retailers to collect sale taxes.