Did you know that it is a felony in Florida for the failure to file six consecutive sales tax returns in Florida? Apparently, neither did a Naples, Florida auto repair shop owner.
On April 25, 2013, [name omitted], owner of Tony Rosado Automotive Services, Inc. located at 1890 Elsa St., Naples, Florida was arrested by the Collier County Sheriff's Department on felony charges for allegedly FAILURE TO FILE SIX CONSEQUETIVE SALES TAX RETURNS. The Naples, Florida resident faces up to 5 years in prison and up to $5,000 in fines in addition to repayment of any taxes, interest, and investigation expenses. According to investigators, [name omitted] collected sales tax from customers in the auto repair business but during periods of 2007 through 2010, he failed to file sales tax returns as mandated by Florida law. Florida law requires business owners that provide auto repair services to act as a sales tax collection agent to the state and they must file returns and remit all sales tax collected to state of Florida. Unfortunately, there is a lot of confusion in the industry because a pure labor service is not subject to sales tax. However, if any tangible personal property transfers to the customer, then the whole transaction is subject to sales tax – even a drop of oil. Thus, the industry faces close scrutiny from the Florida Department of Revenue. Further, Florida sales tax is required to be separately stated on the customers invoice and Florida law mandates that the taxes collected be the property of the state from the moment it is collected from the customer. Therefore, despite putting these amounts in their own checking accounts, business owners must segregate sales tax collect and remit it to the state in a timely fashion/
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The Internal Revenue Service is looking to return tax refunds that were not
delivered earlier this year because of mailing address errors. Taxpayers who did not get their refund in the mail as expected and believe their refund check may have been returned to the IRS should use the “Where’s My Refund?” tool on IRS.gov. Taxpayers can access a telephone version of “Where’s My Refund?” by calling 1-800-829-1954. Nearly three-quarters of all individual income tax filers claim a refund on their annual tax return. Although the vast majority of those refunds are issued as direct deposits, nearly 30 million taxpayers request paper refund checks. The IRS recommends filing tax returns electronically and using direct deposit. Electronic filing eliminates the risk of lost returns and reduces errors on tax returns that can cause refund delays. Direct deposit prevents the possibility a check being returned to the IRS as undeliverable and ends the danger of paper checks being lost or stolen. Taxpayers should be aware that the IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by e-mail. E-mail informing taxpayers of pending tax refunds and asking for personal information are phishing scams. The agency urges taxpayers receiving such messages not to release any personal information, reply, open any attachments or click on any links to avoid malicious code that can infect their computers. The best way for an individual to verify if she or he has a pending refund is going directly to IRS.gov and using the “Where’s My Refund?” tool. 5 Things You Should know about Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) from Retirement Accounts5/16/2013 Required minimum distributions (RMDs) are amounts you are required to take from qualified retirement plans and IRAs in order to avoid a 50% penalty on insufficient annual distributions.
Here are 5 things to know: 1. If you turned 70 1/2 in 2012, for example, you must take your first RMDs before the end of this year unless you postpone it until April 1, 2013. However, postponement means taking two RMDs in 2013 and that can adversely impact taxation of Social Security benefits in 2013 and result in increased Medicare premiums for Parts B and D in 2015. 2. If you are still working, you can postpone your RMDs from company retirement plans until you retire; this rule does not apply to IRAs. 3. RMDs for IRAs can be taken from one or more accounts. Total up all IRAs and then decide from which one or more accounts to take the required distribution amount. This rule does not apply to qualified retirement plans; separate RMDs are required from each type of retirement plan. 4. No lifetime distributions are required from Roth IRAs for the owner, but beneficiaries usually must draw down the accounts over their lifetime (a special rule applies to spouses). 5. The penalty for insufficient withdrawals can be waived if you ask the IRS to do so. You must explain why you failed to take RMDs and show that you remedied the situation as soon as you discovered the insufficiency. April 15 is the annual deadline for most people to file their federal income tax return and pay any taxes they owe. By law, the IRS may assess penalties to taxpayers for both failing to file a tax return and for failing to pay taxes they owe by the deadline.
Here are some important points about penalties for filing or paying late: 1) A failure-to-file penalty may apply if you did not file by the tax filing deadline. A failure-to-pay penalty may apply if you did not pay all of the taxes you owe by the tax filing deadline. 2) The failure-to-file penalty is generally more than the failure-to-pay penalty. You should file your tax return on time each year, even if you’re not able to pay all the taxes you owe by the due date. You can reduce additional interest and penalties by paying as much as you can with your tax return. You should explore other payment options such as getting a loan or making an installment agreement to make payments. The IRS will work with you. 3) The penalty for filing late is normally 5 percent of the unpaid taxes for each month or part of a month that a tax return is late. That penalty starts accruing the day after the tax filing due date and will not exceed 25 percent of your unpaid taxes. 4) If you do not pay your taxes by the tax deadline, you normally will face a failure-to-pay penalty of ½ of 1 percent of your unpaid taxes. That penalty applies for each month or part of a month after the due date and starts accruing the day after the tax-filing due date. 5) If you timely requested an extension of time to file your individual income tax return and paid at least 90 percent of the taxes you owe with your request, you may not face a failure-to-pay penalty. However, you must pay any remaining balance by the extended due date. 6) If both the 5 percent failure-to-file penalty and the ½ percent failure-to-pay penalties apply in any month, the maximum penalty that you’ll pay for both is 5 percent. 7) If you file your return more than 60 days after the due date or extended due date, the minimum penalty is the smaller of $135 or 100 percent of the unpaid tax. 8) You will not have to pay a late-filing or late-payment penalty if you can show reasonable cause for not filing or paying on time. |
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