Tax Help 101
Everything on this page is the groundwork. If you read it once, the rest of the site, and most of what a preparer says to you, will make sense. Every claim links to the IRS or another primary source so you can check it yourself.
1. What a return actually does
A federal return runs one long subtraction. You add up income, subtract adjustments to get adjusted gross income, subtract the larger of your standard or itemized deduction to get taxable income, apply the seven tax brackets to that, then subtract credits. Finally you compare the result with what was already withheld or paid. The difference is your refund or your balance due.
Two consequences follow, and they explain most tax misunderstandings. Your marginal bracket is the rate on your last dollar, not on all of it, so a raise never costs you money by pushing you into a higher bracket. And a credit beats a deduction of the same size, because a credit comes off the tax while a deduction only comes off the income.
2. Who is allowed to prepare it
Anyone paid to prepare a federal return must hold a Preparer Tax Identification Number and must sign the return. Beyond that, three credentials carry unlimited rights to represent you before the IRS: certified public accountants, enrolled agents and attorneys. Everybody else has limited rights at best, which matters the day a letter arrives rather than the day the return is filed.
Verify anyone before you hand over documents. The IRS publishes a directory of credentialed preparers searchable by ZIP code, and its guidance on choosing a tax professional is short and worth reading.
3. The deadlines that are real
- Mid-April: individual returns are due, and so is payment. An extension moves the filing date to October and moves the payment date not at all.
- April, June, September, January: estimated tax payments, for anyone whose income is not withheld on.
- Three years: the usual window to claim a refund or amend a return. Miss it and the money stays with the Treasury.
- 30 days: the response window on most IRS notices, and the deadline for the appeal rights that come with a levy notice.
The failure-to-file penalty is ten times the failure-to-pay penalty, so file even when you cannot pay. Details are on the IRS pages for the failure to file penalty and the failure to pay penalty.
4. Free help exists, and it is good
Volunteer programmes prepare returns free for people under an income threshold, people with disabilities, limited English speakers and taxpayers over 60, with every return reviewed by a second person. Guided software is free below an income limit through IRS Free File, and VITA and TCE sites operate in libraries and community centres from late January.
For disputes rather than preparation, the Taxpayer Advocate Service is independent, inside the IRS, and free.
5. How the IRS contacts people
By post, first. The IRS does not open with a phone call demanding immediate payment, does not text about refunds, does not email links, and never asks for gift cards or cryptocurrency. Every genuine notice has a number in the top right corner that you can look up on the IRS notice index. Most letters are not audits, and most audits are conducted entirely by post.