Stacie's Tax Stuff

IRS Tax Tip 2014-01, January 28, 2014

Do you need to file a federal tax return this year? Perhaps. The amount of your income, filing status, age and other factors determine if you must file.

Even if you don’t have to file a tax return, there are times when you should. Here are five good reasons why you should file a return, even if you’re not required to do so:

1. Tax Withheld or Paid.  Did your employer withhold federal income tax from your pay? Did you make estimated tax payments? Did you overpay last year and have it applied to this year’s tax? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you could be due a refund. But you have to file a tax return to get it.
2. Earned Income Tax Credit.  Did you work and earn less than $51,567 last year? You could receive EITC as a tax refund if you qualify. Families with qualifying children may be eligible for up to $6,044. Use the EITC Assistant tool on IRS.gov to find out if you qualify. If you do, file a tax return and claim it.
3. Additional Child Tax Credit.  Do you have at least one child that qualifies for the Child Tax Credit? If you don’t get the full credit amount, you may qualify for the Additional Child Tax Credit. To claim it, you need to file Schedule 8812, Child Tax Credit, with your tax return.
4. American Opportunity Credit.  Are you a student or do you support a student? If so, you may be eligible for this credit. Students in their first four years of higher education may qualify for as much as $2,500. Even those who owe no tax may get up to $1,000 of the credit refunded per eligible student. You must file Form 8863, Education Credits, with your tax return to claim this credit.
5. Health Coverage Tax Credit.  Did you receive Trade Adjustment Assistance, Reemployment Trade Adjustment Assistance, Alternative Trade Adjustment Assistance or pension benefit payments from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation? If so, you may qualify for the Health Coverage Tax Credit. The HCTC helps make health insurance more affordable for you and your family. This credit pays 72.5 percent of qualified health insurance premiums. Visit IRS.gov formore on this credit.

To sum it all up, check to see if you would benefit from filing a federal tax return. You may qualify for a tax refund even if you don’t have to file. And remember, if you do qualify for a refund, you must file a return to claim it.

The instructions for Forms 1040, 1040A or 1040EZ list income tax filing requirements. You can also use the Interactive Tax Assistant tool on IRS.gov to see if you need to file. The tool is available 24/7 to answer many tax questions.

Additional IRS Resources:

• Publication 596, Earned Income Credit
• Publication 972, Child Tax Credit
• Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education
• Health Coverage Tax Credit 

IRS YouTube Videos:

• Do I Have To File a Tax Return? – English | Spanish | ASL
• Education Tax Credits – English | Spanish | ASL

IRS Podcasts:

• Education Tax Credits – English | Spanish

IR-2014-6, Jan. 24, 2014

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service will make available a special series of daily Tax Tips beginning Jan. 28 to help people prepare their tax returns.

More than 60 IRS Tax Tips will be available through a free email subscription or by visiting IRS.gov. The tips, one available each business day through the April 15 tax deadline, offer single-topic briefs on tax topics affecting millions of people.

The easy-to-read tips cover a wide range of topics to help people with the 2014 filing season, which begins Jan. 31. Many tips offer information on money-saving tax credits and deductions that can be easy to overlook and could affect your refund.

Topics for 2014 include:

• How to avoid tax scams
• Help available through IRS.gov
• Who can claim the Earned Income Tax Credit
• Free File
• Free volunteer tax help
• Fastest and safest way to get your refund
• How to choose a tax preparer
• Tax help ‘en Español’
• Tax return errors that slow down your refund
• The home office deduction
• Education tax credits
• Helpful tips for paying your taxes

You can receive the Tax Tips automatically each day via email by signing up for a free service on IRS.gov. From the Subscriptions page, choose the “Tax Tips” drop-down menu, then click on “Subscribe.”

In addition to more than 60 filing season tips, several special edition tax tips will be available on the IRS website. To see the Tax Tips, visit the News section of IRS.gov or type “Tax Tips” into the search box.