Welcome to firesidetax.com.
It is a breakthrough season for Fireside Tax. Call for an appointment today at 330-478-1505. You MUST have your all of your W2 and 1099's in order to do your taxes. Our regular office hours are 10am to 7pm every day except Sunday. We make appointments later as needed.
Delayed Refunds
The IRS has implemented a new and supposedly improved efiling system called Modernized Efile. This system was supposed to result in faster refunds, better information and do more to prevent fraud. It has not worked well at all. In years past, the IRS issued a Refund Cycle Chart and rarely failed to meet that timeline for issuing refunds. This new system has resulted in common delays of up to a week and in some cases delays of 3 to 6 weeks.
You can track the status of your refund by clicking here https://sa2.www4.irs.gov/irfof/lang/en/irfofgetstatus.jsp.
You will need your tax return in hand for reference information. This website has experienced significant problems as well due to increased volume created by the refund delays. Failing all else, you can also call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 but avoid Mondays for long delays and during the rest of the week wait times are longer due to increased call volume also caused by refund delays. I am sorry for the inconvenience but we are unfortunately all just along for the ride as the IRS works out the bugs on the new system.
About Fireside Tax
Fireside is a firm providing income tax preparation. There are a lot of changes in the industry and many preparers will be forced out by the new changes. Fireside is a solid firm that will continue to do income tax returns. One of the major changes is that tax preparers MUST register with the IRS and have a valid PTIN (Preparer Tax Identification Number). As part of registering, many new standards of competency and background must be met.
Among these are agreeing to standards and submitting to a background check which will protect you from unethical tax preparers that can get you into trouble. Preparers will also now have to submit to a competency exam and continuing education. For myself, this is already the standard and so this does nothing to change Fireside other than eliminating competition from preparers who do not meet the standards.
Another major change is the pressure from a number of sources to eliminate Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs) or Rapid Refunds. This has come from bank regulators, the IRS, state attorneys general and other sources. One big hit was to H&R Block, whose bank was barred from providing this service. This will simply mean that you can get your refund in one to three weeks because of electronic filing. There is a lot of talk in the industry of the IRS providing faster refunds directly but none of this is likely to occur in this coming tax season in early 2012.
Fireside is partnering with EPS Financial to provide refund checks or prepaid cards to those who don't have bank accounts or would like the fees taken directly out of their refund. The time fram for these refunds is 8-15 days. The costs for these services is as follows:
E1 Visa Prepaid Card: $5
Direct Deposit: $10
Check: $20
Speaking of electronic filing, the IRS is now requiring all tax preparers to provide this service. If your preparer does not provide this service you will want to find a new provider. Another sign is any preparer that does not sign a return they prepare. This will be especially prevalent now that preparers are required to register.
To read up on new developments and timely discussions on tax, go to my blog at http://firesidetaxchat.blogspot.com/.