Taxes Online Help

This guide provides general information on the application of tax file number (TFN) withholding provisions for closely held trusts.

Information about lodgment alert letters we will send on 7 September 2010.

How trustees can meet their tax file number (TFN) reporting obligations under the TFN withholding rules, which have been extended to include closely held trusts, including family trusts.

Minutes of the Large Business Advisory Group meeting held on 19 May 2010.

Aug 2010. On 13 August 2010 the Federal Court handed down its decision in the case of Wentworth District Capital Ltd.

Explains the integrity of business systems (IBS) risk. Whether you are a new or established business, we encourage you to review your business systems, processes and controls.

Updates on processing and systems as at 27 August 2010.

As an SMSF trustee, if you intend to claim a tax deduction for your personal super contributions, you must complete a Notice of intent to claim for personal super contributions form before you lodge your income tax return.

Some APRA-regulated super funds are issuing their own notice of intention to claim a deduction for personal super contributions form with their members. Many of these forms do not include the ATO mandatory information to make them valid.

More than a few people are happy to learn they are due a tax refund after filling out their tax returns. If you are one of these people, here is how to check the status of your refund online.

Checking The Status of Your Tax Refund Online

Before getting into checking your refund status, I feel obligated to mention a few things about tax refunds. One involves the nature of refund and the other involves Internet scams.

If you are getting a sizeable refund, you need to give some thought to how much money you are deducting from paychecks or paying in quarterly taxes. While a tax refund may sound like a good thing, it really is not. If you overpay your taxes during the year, you are giving the government a free loan. The IRS does not pay interest on any excessive tax payments, so you are really taking it in the pants by not modifying your tax payments.

The second issue to keep in mind is you can ONLY check the status of your tax refund online by going to the IRS web site. With phishing scams starting to focus on tax issues, you may receive emails regarding any and all facets of tax refunds. These emails are scams! The IRS does not send you emails, and surely doesn’t alert you to the fact you are due a refund. If you want to check on your refund, go to the IRS web site and nowhere else. Do not turn a good thing like a tax refund into a bad thing like identity theft.

To check the status of your tax refund, go to the IRS web site by searching for it in a search engine. Next, click the Where’s My Refund link on the home page. Follow the simple steps, click enter and the status will be shown. FYI, you will need a copy of your tax return.

Once you have completed the above, the IRS software will give you a couple of responses. Summarized, they include the fact the return has been received, but not yet processed; the tax refund has been mailed or wired to your bank account on a particular date; or notice the IRS was unable to deliver the refund to you because of some mailing problem. The IRS will also let you know if the refund is delayed because it has issues with your tax return.

Once again, you may want to tweak your tax payments if you are due a sizeable refund. There is little reason to give the government a free loan during the year. They already take too much of your money.