TaxSlayer Blog
TaxSlayer Blog is your source for tax preparation news, tips and advice.

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Last month’s frugal living tip focused on exploring resources such as eBay, Craigslist and your local classifieds to search for items rather than going to a store and buying them at full price. This month we would like to encourage you to take a moment and reflect on those items you have sitting around the house. You know, that pair of shoes that no longer fits or the Christmas gift you received last year and haven’t even opened yet? It’s time to convert these items into cash in your pocket! Consider selling some items using these methods: eBay auctions: These auctions entail listing your item(s) for a small fee and typically last a week at most. You can utilize eBay’s “Buy It Now” option or set a reserve price to ensure you receive your desired price for each item you sale. Once your item(s) are sold, you will usually pay a small percentage of the selling price to eBay. You can require that buyers pick up your item locally or you can charge to ship. Craigslist ad: You can create a FREE online ad for a specific region of the United States and list a description, price and pictures. Craigslist usually involves face-to-face transactions and no fees. Local Classifieds: You can usually list items for free in your local classifieds. Our local classifieds has a weekly print and online version that lists each ad submitted. Yard Sale: If you have a lot of cheap items that aren’t worth selling elsewhere, a yard sale is a great idea. Some preparation is involved but at least the cost is minimal to set up. Whatever items that you have left over might be worth dropping off at your local Goodwill store and claiming a deduction on your tax return as a charitable donation. Remember to get an itemized list of the items you dropped off!

Categories: Frugal Living Tips and Savings
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Name: Mary Koschene Title: Assistant Supervisor Years with TaxSlayer: 4 years Q: What do you like most about your job? A: The challenge of tax season. I enjoy assisting people with their tax needs and concerns. It is rewarding to know that I help produce a quality product. Q: How does your job change throughout the year? A: During the tax season, I am busy assisting the support staff with customer service needs as well as continually testing the program with any new updates that are required. During the off season things slow down (just a little) and I can concentrate on next year’s program. Q: What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working? A: My favorite thing to do is to curl up on my front porch and read a good book. I also enjoy going to the lake and wakeboarding. Q: Something many people don’t know about you? A: I have an adventurous side. I love to try new things but I don’t think that I would ever go bungee jumping or jump out of a perfectly good airplane. :)

Categories: TaxSlayer Team Profiles
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Even though tax season is over, you can start managing your deductions more efficiently for next year. With the addition of the My Deductions donations tracker, you can keep track of all your monetary, stock, mileage, and noncash donations in one convenient place. To access the My Deductions donations tracker, login to your TaxSlayer.com account, then click on the My Deductions link under the Other Items tab. Once inside the My Deductions menu you can manually add donations as they occur throughout the year. Whether you have an old T.V. you donated to Goodwill or cash tithed to your church, it can all be recorded here. After the deduction is input it will automatically be pulled into your tax return for next year. This is a great time saving tool that is Free to everyone who uses TaxSlayer.com. In addition, the deductions you add can be filtered by Charity, Donation Type, and Organization to help you sort which donations go where. With the My Donations tracker, you will be well prepared come tax season.

Categories: Online Tax Software Tips
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Those of you considering calling TaxSlayer tax support over reject code 1132, or most anything mentioning Schedule M, should consider yourself very lucky in terms of reject codes. This is very easy to fix. You will be through with your online tax preparation and back to anticipating your income tax refund in no time. First let’s take a look at what the reject code means and then we’ll explain why it happens when some taxpayers e-file a tax return, and what we can do about it when it does. First of all, it simply means that you’ve reported on your Schedule M that you received an economic recovery payment in 2010 when you did not. Basically, what is on your Schedule M does not match what the IRS has on record for you. Luckily, the IRS has set up a nifty little place on its website to tell whether you got that economic recovery payment. Go here: https://sa1.www4.irs.gov/irfof-mwp/start.do and answer three easy questions and it will tell you if you received it. I’m not joking. Everyone we’ve run into with this reject code has received it because they thought they had when they hadn’t, and not the other way around. Fix it by going into your TaxSlayer account and clicking on the Forms tab on the right side of the screen, then scrolling down and clicking on Schedule M. When you click Submit, it will take you where you need to be. Some people like to hit that page with a double-whammy – delete the amounts in the blanks and then delete the page as well. This doesn’t delete the Schedule M, just the amounts and you will see your refund increase! Then you’re clear to e-file your tax return again. No more 1132. Now you can forget about tax support and online tax preparation and go back to dreaming about what you’re going to do with your income tax refund.

Categories: Online Tax Software Tips
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