Legally Easy is a free source of legal help, news and information from Charley Moore and the legal team at RocketLawyer.com. Rocket Lawyer is the easiest way to make a legal document, find a lawyer and get free legal advice for yourself and your business.
Tax Day and Filing for an Extension
Tax Day is here! Don't forget to file your tax return today. Need an extension? IRS Form 4868 is a simple Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Tax Return. You can do it yourself and send it in to the IRS today. If you do, don't forget to import the form into your Rocket Lawyer account and save it for your records in the File Safekeeper!
Or
If you need help with your tax return or extension, just start with Rocket Tax. In partnership with H&R Block, Rocket Tax has all the forms you need, including a free filing extension request. Simply complete the filing extension and send it to the IRS today, April 15.
Avoid the Tax Reaper with the 2009 Tax Savings Guide - Tax Tips to Save You Time and Money
Now more than ever, many people need good tax advice due to the economic downturn. Whatever your situation, the new Rocket Lawyer Tax Savings Guide can help you understand basic tax terminology and point you in the right direction. This year, RocketLawyer.com has partnered with H&R Block to bring the latest tax savings information directly to Rocket Lawyer members.
The Tax Savings Guide can help you with the following important tax issues:
Planning Your Estate - Estate Taxes are Here to Stay
According to the Wall Street Journal and other news reports, the Obama administration and congress are planning "to move soon to block the estate tax from disappearing in 2010, suggesting the levy might outlive the 'Death Tax Repeal' movement that has worked against estate taxes for many years. Approved by President Bush and congress in 2001, elimination of most inheritance taxes has been phased-in over several years, pending full abolition of such levies as of 2010; however, again, according to a Wall Street Journal article, "the Senate Finance Committee will move within weeks" to reverse the Bush law, in order to preserve the estate tax.
Based on the WSJ report, there are a couple of likely scenarios:
Under the plan articulated during the campaign, the Obama administration would lock in the estate tax at the most recent roll-back rate and exemption levels (i.e., exempting estates of $3.5 million to $7 million for couples from estate taxes while taxing estates above that level at 45%.
On the other hand, if congress were to roll-back the estate tax rate to the levels seen during the Clinton administration, then the first $1 million would be exempted from taxation with the remainder of the estate taxed at 55%.
Now is the time to engage in your own estate planning. There are several tactics that you can employ to reduce the exposure of your estate to taxation while providing for your charitable interests and love ones. RocketLawyer.com's Estate Planning Legal Help is a good place to start, along with creating your own trust and finding an estate planning lawyer to help you.
Now that the election is over, Rocket Lawyer will work to help you understand what the transition to a new government, led by President-elect Obama and the new congress, will mean for you and your family, your business or your law practice. The election results clearly indicate that next year will be marked by change. We can certainly expect a flurry of legislation targeted toward economic recovery, potentially including sweeping action on taxation, health care, energy and education.
How can you plan for the new government? What opportunities and risks will emerge in the coming months as a result of America's new political direction? These are important questions that Rocket Lawyer will help answer. The Rocket Lawyer Free Legal Help center will continue to be a good place to find simple answers to your legal questions.
We plan to be very active on behalf of consumers, small business owners and legal professionals. We'll be asking for your opinions so that we can understand how best to serve you. We hope that you will take the time to complete our survey and tell us what you think and what legal services and information you need, in this time of change.
Doing your taxes yourself has never been easier. Here are some tax time tips to help you get the most out of the many free and low cost tax return filing resources available online. Filing your taxes yourself can be really simple or more involved, depending on the amount of information you want to consider.
Where to start?
RocketLawyer.com offers discounted H&R Block® tax return services online. Every Rocket Lawyer member saves up to 30 percent off the cost of their online tax return. Since everyone needs tax services, this is a great way to get the most out of your Rocket Lawyer membership. If you are already a Rocket Lawyer member, login to access your discounted tax filing services. If you don’t have a membership yet, now is the time to become a Rocket Lawyer member and save even more. Go to: http://www.rocketlawyer.com/.
RocketTax.com makes it simple to complete and file your tax return in a few clicks online. You can trust the tax services from Rocket Tax because it's in partnership with H&R Block, the leader in tax help. Go to: http://www.rockettax.com/.
IRS.gov includes every U.S. Tax form, such as the U.S. Tax 1050 form, the 1050 EZ form, tax Schedule C and all of the other official tax forms, schedules, tax worksheets and tax instructions.
Whether you decide to do your tax filing homework or to just let the easy interactive tax return interviews at RocketTax.com do it for you, filing your taxes yourself should take less time and money than ever.
