Ever wonder what your refund will be while you’re on the go? TaxSlayer.com has taken care of that with the new phone app. Answer a few simple questions, and you will have an estimate of your tax refund for the year. It’s simple, quick, and easy. The following steps will give you an estimate in no time: • Fill out your filing status • Use a pay stub • Get the results When entering your pay stub, make sure to clarify whether it is weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. When tax season comes around again, use TaxSlayer.com to get the largest refund. There is something to look forward to about taxes. A large refund can be a great start to the new year. It is never too early to start preparing. Package Size:0.091 MBInstall Size:0.17 MB. The app is available on the Droid market, and a push has been made to get it on the IPhone as well. Angry birds, Scrabble, Banking. All of these kinds of phone apps have taken off in popularity. Why not taxes? It may seem a little dry at first, but how many of those other apps guarantee money in your pocket? Companies are getting into the smart phone market, and TaxSlayer.com is no different. We want to reach our customers in every way. This app is completely free too. Taxes may seem intimidating; but the more familiar you become, the easier it will be. If you plan on working your job all year, it makes it even simpler. Paying those federal and social security taxes do have a benefit. Before filing next year, it is crucial that you get your W-2 before finalizing tax preparation. Using a pay stub alone can give you a great estimate, but there are countless cases where people get trigger happy at the beginning of the year by just using their pay stub. This can lead to the dreaded amended return that can delay your refund by weeks. TaxSlayer.com is with you the whole way for tax help. Take a look at the phone app just to get a feel for your refund now. When it comes time, use our services for simple web e-file of taxes.

Most people are employees and their employer withholds taxes every paycheck to pay the Federal and State governments. At the end of the year you file your taxes and receive your tax refund. Happy, happy- joy, joy! You are one of the lucky ones. However, things don’t quite work out this way if you are self-employed and required to file a Schedule C. If you were one of the unlucky people that owed this year you may need to consider paying estimated taxes. Filing estimated taxes is simply a method for you to pay your taxes throughout the year on income that is not subject to withholding. That includes not only income from self-employment, but interest and dividends, prizes or awards, alimony, rent, and gains from sales of assets. Taxpayers who expect to owe $1,000 or more after subtracting tax withholding and credits may have to pay estimated taxes. In addition, taxpayers who expect withholding and credits to be less than the smaller of (a) 90 percent of their 2011 tax return or (b) 100 percent of the tax on their 2010 return may need to pay estimated taxes. Federal estimated payments are generally due on April 15, June 15, Sept. 15 and Jan. 15. State estimated payments generally fall on the same dates as well. If you pay State estimated payments and you are itemizing, you should make your Jan. 15th payment by Dec. 31st so you can claim all 4 payments on your current year’s tax return. If you wait until Jan. to make the payment you can only claim 3 of your 4 payments on your current years itemized deductions. The 4th payment will have to be claimed on your following year’s tax return. Paying estimated taxes can be considered a drag but they will save you tax dollars in the future. If you don’t pay your share of taxes on time or not at all you could end up owing the IRS an underpayment penalty in addition to the taxes that you owe. The penalty will be based on the how much and how long you have owed the tax to the IRS. Keep your estimated taxes paid on time to save yourself money in the long run!

A common reason customers seek tax help from TaxSlayer is confusion over using their PIN, an identification number that acts as your online signature when you efile your state and federal taxes. The PIN is used on the signature page of the income tax return during the efiling process. The page has two parts, with slightly different rules. The first has to do with your Current Year PIN, a five-digit number you make up during the final stages of tax prep. The second part of the TaxSlayer signature page has to do with your Prior Year information, which is your information from last year. You will need last year’s Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) from your federal taxes OR last year’s PIN number. If you have last year’s AGI, you can go ahead and use it. We recommend actually having a copy of your prior year tax return handy so that you can pull the numbers you need for this year’s return during tax prep. Here is where you find your AGI from last year: Form 1040 EZ – line 4. Form 1040 – line 37. Form 1040 A – line 21. Your Prior Year PIN is the PIN you used while filing last year’s income tax return. If you don’t remember it, you will need to go to the IRS website and request an Alternate PIN, which takes about a minute. Put the Alternate PIN in the spot that says Prior Year PIN. Do not forget to check the box underneath that says you are using an Alternate PIN. Make sure the numbers are correct and in the right places and you should get through using your PIN without needing tax help when you efile.