Top 3 Tax Issues That Matter in 2016

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced that taxpayers can start filing tax returns for the year 2016 from 19^th January. For both, paper and tax software or e-filing, the returns can be filed from the date and IRS offers no advantage to paper-filing over the electronic means.

So, this will enable all the taxpayers at the same level of comfort. The IRS has also been working with the various tax professionals and software makers to deliver more accuracy and ease for the taxpayers. Yet, there are certain issues with taxes that are discoloring the efforts of IRS.

Some of these issues are pertaining since long and others have cropped up this year. They not only disturb IRS but also hurt the taxpayers in many ways. Here are the top three tax issues that matter in the year 2016:

1. Identity Theft

Identity of the taxpayers is not safe and the concern is immense this year. In the gone year, we witnessed many major businesses leaking their employee and customer details. Count of individuals leaking their details goes even longer. All this implies that there is a strong possibility that tax-return detail of taxpayers is available with a number of dangerous minds. And, for those taxpayers, the possibility of identity theft looms large.

Implementing the identity theft, attackers can get the returns that belong to the taxpayers. Tax frauds, so caused, are increasing in the numbers every year. So, it is emerging as the most lethal issue for the taxpayers and no sure-shot solution is available. After securing your tax details, early return filing is recommended as a secure way to avoid such tax frauds as it cancels the chances of an identity thief grabbing your share.

2. Meeting the Deadlines

Thanks to Emancipation Day, the Tax Day is 18 April 2016. So, that adds some 3 more days. Though taxpayers have some additional days than usual to wrap up taxes, there is no reason why they can relax. Failure in meeting the deadlines is an issue that is abundantly noticed among the taxpayers.

This is because of several other issues, such as repeated accuracy checks, receipts/invoice unavailability, lack of regularity with books, lack of information on deduction options, etc. Going lazy with the tax filing is not going to resolve these issues, but only invites penalty.

Meeting the tax deadlines requires a continuous and legitimate effort with the books. Adopting tax software solutions can help many miles because it maintains the books better and keeps the receipts and invoices safer, etc. Hosting tax software on the cloud is, even more, helpful as it allows anytime, anywhere access and multi-user collaboration to automate and swifter processes.

3. Act Right with Acts

To be able to pay the right taxes, an appropriate analysis of income, property, capital gains, gifts, etc. is required. For this, there are various provisions with the taxes at state and local level. Improper filing of the taxes can call upon hefty penalties. To avoid such penalties and filing the taxes right, one must adhere to the current tax acts.

For individuals with smaller income and narrow income sources, the acts are lesser. But for businesses and individuals falling in greater income band usually, have a number of sources for expenses and income. This means they need to precisely take care of all the applicable acts for those sources.

Hiring a trustable accounting professional is one of the most practiced solutions to serve this cause. To make it even better, find a local accountant, which ensures a better command on local government rules.

Wrapping Up

Paying the right taxes is important for the working of the state in a rightful manner. Since most of the citizens shy away from accounting and tax operations, the chances of not filing the taxes right are usually healthy. Overcoming tax issues mentioned in this blog above can help accounting professionals as well as other individuals in mastering the taxes.