In talking with some of my new clients and other attorneys the gas prices are having a pretty deep impact on businesses and families everywhere.  Specifically, with regard to my practice area - helping people and businesses resolve their IRS problems - people are not able to pay their estimated taxes; businesses are not able to pay their employment taxes, etc. because the cash flow is eaten up by the rising price at the pump. 

One thing that the IRS has not accounted for is the high gas prices.  Recently, the national collection standards were changed; however, the transportation standard is well below what most people have to spend on gas and maintenance of their vehicle each month.  For example, the standard in Greenville County, South Carolina (the South Region) is about $181 per month.  It costs me nearly $70 a week to fill up my tank just to get to work. 

I think the IRS still has some work to do to make their collection standards more fair with the cost of life in America today. 

I just ran across this video on Youtube. Supposed to be working…oops. Thought you would like it no matter what your political stance.

I recently received the following comment on AtkinsSC.com about the tax rebate checks:

my father has alredy recived his stimulus check and his last too digits are past mine and my husbands we have direct deposit and still havent seen our stimulus do you think weve been skiped???? we both got notices in the mail at different addresses because this year was our first year fileing together do you have any advice about what we sould do? or how to find out why we were skipped in the number sequence……. thank

You can find my response here.

I read a post on Taxgirl.com regarding practices by tax preparation companies like Refund Advance Loans that will prevent taxpayers from receiving direct deposit rebates and requires them to receive their rebate by paper check in a few weeks. Interesting…

Just looking through my website stats, I noticed that on April 15, 2008 (Tax Day) AtkinsSC.com received the highest amount of visitors in a single day ever. Thanks guys for checking out this blog. I hope you are finding a lot of helpful information here.

And there really isn’t a major surprise that the most popular posts this month are about the “proper” way to file your income tax returns and, of course, the economic stimulus package and when those payments are getting mailed out.

Thanks again for checking out AtkinsSC.com! Be sure to add our RSS feed to your feed reader!

A welcome announcement came from the IRS today that they are going to be about a week ahead of schedule in directly depositing and mailing the tax rebate checks from the economic stimulus package.

Here is a list of when to expect your payments based on whether you are receiving a paper check or direct deposit:

DIRECT DEPOSIT

PAPER CHECK

For more information about the economic stimulus package, check out the IRS web page set up for this topic here!

Question: What will happen if you moved?  Will the check come to the forward address, or get sent back? Is the a number we can call to give the new address?

Answer: The IRS is going to mail your rebate check to the last known address they have on file for you.  Basically, since your eligibility is based on your 2007 income tax return, your address on that tax return is where the IRS will mail your check.  If you have a different address from your most recent tax return, you should do a couple of things:

First, you should file a Form 8822 (Just click the link to download the form) with the IRS.  This form is a “change of address” form that notifies the IRS of your new address.

Second, you should file a change of address notice with the U.S. Postal Service to ensure that your check is delivered to your new address even if the IRS has not updated your address yet.

Without your current address, the check could be returned to the IRS as undeliverable.  You would still probably be able to claim your check at this point, it would probably just be a major hassle that should be easy to avoid.

Of course, I’m sure you can call the IRS on their toll free telephone number 1-800-829-1040; but you have to be prepared to sit on hold for a while.