As part of our new title sponsorship with the Gator Bowl, TaxSlayer.com developed a new contest in November during the final 2011 college football push – ‘TaxSlayer Player’. By providing a means for these fanatics to share their college game day rituals, fans were encouraged to load their photos and videos on the contest website and have their friends and family vote for them. During Round 1, the last four weeks of the college football season were featured, weekly photo and video winners were selected, along with two overall winners; each for photo and video submissions. Following the announcement of the Florida Gators and Ohio State Buckeyes as the 2012 participating teams in the TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl, fans of these teams were encouraged to participate in the ‘TaxSlayer Player - Road to the Bowl’. The final leg of the contest, held for one week, garnered 779 votes for the 7 videos submitted and 1,713 votes for 39 photos. The participating school winners were Korin of Florida and Joey of Ohio State; who were treated to the ultimate VIP experience during the 2012 Bowl weekend. With their participation in the Gator Bowl Parade, the Tailgate Party and pre-game festivities, the text-to-vote campaign was in high gear. During half time of the Bowl on January 2, 2012, the winner was announced on the field for all to witness. Over 1,100 votes were texted to help declare Joey the ‘2012 TaxSlayer Player of the Game’ – of which this Ohio State Buckeyes fan was elated to learn. TaxSlayer.com wishes to thank those who participated and voted in this inaugural contest and looks forward to the 2012-2013 college football season! Check out all the ‘Road to the Bowl’ finalists at roadtothebowl.taxslayerplayer.com.

Many people go throughout the year leaving money on the table when it comes to filing tax returns. Many feel they shouldn’t file because they earned very little income; CAUTION this could be a huge mistake! People across the U.S. realize that the IRS has income requirements based on filing status, age, and type of income that needs to be met before you are required to file a tax return. However, many people don’t know that you should file even if the IRS doesn’t require it. Everyone knows that understanding taxes isn’t the easiest thing but a simple check could fatten your wallet. Here are seven points you should consider before deciding not to file: 1. Federal Withholdings From Your Income - Practically everyone allows their employer to withhold Federal and State taxes from their pay throughout the year. Many people even make estimated tax payments or have a prior year overpayment applied to this year’s tax. If this year’s tax is less than your payments you are due a refund. 2. Earned Income Tax Credit - For some tax payers that work but did not earn a lot of money, you may qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit if you meet all the requirements. The Earned Income Tax Credit is a refundable tax credit that is treated as a payment to help offset taxes and whatever is left over can be used to increase your refund. The Earned Income Tax Credit for tax year 2011 can be as much as $5,751 if you qualify. However, the only way to know if you are eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit is to file a tax return. 3. Additional Child Tax Credit - This is another refundable tax credit that may be available to you if you have at least one qualifying child and you didn’t get the full amount of the Child Tax Credit. 4. American Opportunity Tax Credit - This partially refundable tax credit is available to students or parents/ guardians that are eligible to claim the student. Students in their first four years of college may qualify for the credit. As much as $1,000 can be refunded back to you for each eligible student. 5. Adoption Credit - If you have adopted a child you may be able to claim a refund on qualified expenses you paid to adopt an eligible child. 6. Health Coverage Tax Credit - Eligible candidates must be a Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation payee or Trade Adjustment Assistant recipient who receives Trade Readjustment Allowance (TRA) or Unemployment Insurance in lieu of TRA. If you qualify and pay 100% of your health plan premiums throughout the year, you can claim and be refunded 65% of your payments on your tax return. 7. First Time Homebuyer - Service members that meet certain time periods outside the United States on qualified extended duty may qualify for up to $8,000 if they meet requirements for the First Time Home Buyers Credit. As you can see, it can possibly cost you thousands of dollars if you decide not to file without looking into it. TaxSlayer.com can help by simply starting a tax return and letting our software guide you on your way to ensuring you receive the maximum refund possible. We guarantee it!

Tax time is upon us. The IRS will begin accepting tax returns on January 17th and TaxSlayer.com is already processing thousands of tax returns every day. The question is, what should you do if you don’t have all of your tax forms?? If you are without some of your tax forms don’t fret, as a matter of fact most tax payers have yet to receive all of the forms required to file the tax return. Federal law allows employers, as well as other companies preparing tax documents (such as bank, educational institutions, day care etc.), until January 31st to provide these documents to you. With that being said you may want to get a jump on things so here are some suggestions to make sure you get these documents in your hands ASAP. • Ask your employer: While many companies don’t have to prepare the forms until the end of the month they may be able to generate them easily, especially smaller companies. Make sure you check with your boss and/or payroll department and they may be able to get it for you on the spot. • Check your address: If you have recently moved, the forms could be sent to the wrong address. A lot of the time you may forget to update your address with those that don’t send to you on a regular basis. If this is the case they may be able to resend the documents. • Check online: Many reporting agencies such as banks, mortgage lenders, and school may post the required forms online. In most cases these forms are available online long before you would receive them in the mail so make sure to check. • Contact the IRS: If all else fails you can contact the IRS in early February and they can help you track down the forms and information that you need. In most cases the information will be reported to them as well and they should be able to help. Just make sure that before you call you have all of your personal information ready to dish out. Once you receive all of your paperwork you can submit your return with TaxSlayer.com. With that being said it is not too late to get started regardless of whether or not you have everything you need. You can still register today and get started. TaxSlayer has more tools than ever to help you get the maximum refund possible and our calculations are always guaranteed. So what are you waiting on?? Get started today!!!

It may not be close to April 15th yet but hundreds of thousands of Americans are getting a jump start on filing their 2011 tax returns. TaxSlayer is seeing increasing volumes of tax returns on a daily basis. While the IRS won’t being officially accepting returns until the 17th of January, customers can complete their return now (as soon as they receive all of their paperwork) and it will be held in a batch at TaxSlayer’s secure processing center and will be processed and transmitted immediately to the IRS as soon as they open for acceptance. TaxSlayer has a completely revamped and much more user friendly interface this year that makes filing your taxes with TaxSlayer faster and easier than ever before. Customers who file their return before January 17th can receive confirmation of their accepted return as early as mid-morning on the 17th and could have a refund direct deposited as early as January 26th…now wouldn’t a big refund be a nice way to kick of 2012??? Make sure you log on to TaxSlayer.com and register today, many returns even qualify to be filed COMPLETELY FREE!!!