With the coming new year comes tax season again.  Don’t wait till just before the April 15 deadline to plan your taxes.  The time to take action is now.  Here are some invaluable advice on how to plan your taxes for next year so that you pay not more than you should.

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2,600 North Carolinians due for Tax Refunds

2,621 taxpayers in North Carolina are due to receive tax refunds totaling $2,795,614 making it an average refund of $1,067 per person, according to Mark Hanson, IRS spokesman for North and South Carolina. However, these checks are unclaimed because of mailing address errors.

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Tax Submission Deadline Extension for Some Tax-exempt Groups

The IRS has extended the tax submission deadline for tax-exempt organizations with January and February filing due dates, specifically those whose normal filing deadlines are either January 17 or February 15. Ordinarily, these deadlines would apply to organizations with a fiscal year that ended on August 31, 2011, or September 30, 2011, respectively. The deadline has been extended to March 30. If your tax-exempt organization has already obtained an initial three-month filing extension and now has an extended filing deadline that falls on January 17 or February 15, the extension also applies to you.

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A federal court judge has granted permission for a John Doe summons requested by the IRS to be served on California’s Department of Equalization (DOE) seeking information on taxpayers who allegedly tried to evade taxes when transferring property to other family members without paying (or not paying enough) taxes between 2005 and 2010. Under the tax code, a person is allowed to transfer up to $5 million (previously $1 million) worth of assets over a lifetime to another family member without paying taxes. Any amount above the $5 million ceiling is subject to tax. Furthermore, a taxpayer is allowed to transfer up to $13,000 worth of assets to another person per year without having this amount counted towards the $5 million. Anything above $13,000 a year is counted towards the $5 million.

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Have you heard of the “Basis Step Up Rule”? This is arguably one of the tax provisions in the tax code that is least known and least taken advantage of. But if you understand what this rule is, you can potentially save tens of thousands of dollars in capital gains tax. Let me explain.

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