If you are a regular punter, you must not forget that all gambling winnings are considered income and you have to report them. This applies to all winnings regardless of amount. If you win $600 or more at a horse track, win $1,200 at a slot machine or bingo game, or take $1,500-plus in keno winnings, your winnings will be reported to the IRS by the payer. The payer will reduce your payout by withholding federal taxes at the 25% rate and require you to furnish them with your Social security number. If you refuse to give your Social Security number, the payer could take as much as 28% of your winnings and pay it to the IRS.

But if you win at least $1,200 on a single spin (including the original wager) at the casino, the casino will issue you a W-2G to report the amount you won. So the best thing to do would be to journal your wins and losses. Even though you don't have to report your loss data in your tax return, your journal could come in handy if the IRS ever questions your claim on losses. Bear in mind you cannot claim losses more than you won. For example, if you spent $1000 in gambling and won $800, you can only deduct up to $800 not the full $1000. The remainder is the price of gambling.

When tax season comes around (like now), you should report your winnings by filling up line 21, Other Income, of Form 1040. In addition to gambling proceeds, this is where you'd report any prizes or awards (cash or the cash value of merchandise) you won. All this money goes toward your total income amount.

Thankfully, the IRS allows you to write off your losses against your winnings. This can be done in line 28, "other miscellaneous deductions," on Schedule A where you report your gambling losses. You can claim up to the total amount of winnings you entered on your 1040, effectively wiping out any taxable gambling income.

Besides claiming on losses, there is another way to reduce you taxes on gambling income. The law allows a single taxpayer standard deductions of $5,950 on 2012 returns or $6,100 on 2013 filings. But if your gambling losses are large enough to help boost your already substantial itemized deductions, then fill out the Schedule A.

The introduction of FATCA by the IRS has made it mandatory for financial institutions to report details of all of their American account holders to the IRS. FATCA stands for Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and was introduced as part of the Hire Act in 2010. The objective for such an Act is obvious – to curtail tax evasion by tracking the assets of all American citizens worldwide.

IRS has released the draft version of the form to be used by financial institutions to register under FATCA. The form is called draft Form 8957. While the print version of the form has been released, the IRS acknowledges that the registration process can be best carried out through an electronic online procedure that will avoid the need to print, complete, and mail paper forms. It is believed that the online registration portal will be available by July this year.

Draft Form 8957 contains fields to be filled by the foreign financial institution to indicate whether it already has a withholding agreement with the IRS to be treated as a Qualified Intermediary, Withholding Foreign Partnership or Withholding Foreign Trust and whether it maintains a branch in the US. The final version of the form is expected to be ready by July this year also.

Financial institutions are not to use the draft form itself to register. Instead, all financial institutions are strongly encouraged to register online once the system becomes live in July. “Paper registration forms will not be processed until October 2013 and financial institutions may experience a delay in receiving notice of registration acceptance and obtaining the GIIN needed to demonstrate FATCA compliance,” said the IRS.

The FATCA law has not been well received by some government officials, US-born expatriates and those who hold dual citizenship. Their grouses are that FATCA violates national sovereignty and bank secrecy laws. As such, the IRS and the Treasury Department have been relaxing some of the requirements of FATCA, extending the deadlines for implementation, and signing intergovernmental agreements with other countries in conformance with existing tax treaties.

Submitted your tax return? You should have, seeing that tax day just passed. For many taxpayers, it’s now the start of other problems ranging from the likelihood of an audit to penalties and interest charges. In my decades-long career in handling tax problems, I’ve come across myriads of tax return problems and devised countless solutions and strategies to overcome these problems for my clients. Now I’m going to share with you some of the most common tax return problems and their solutions for free. You will get access to the actual advise I have given my clients without paying a dime. Consider it my favor to you.

Here’s the first common tax problem I’d like to share – the fear of audits. You are afraid you will be flagged for an audit, so you avoid claiming any deductions, even those you are legitimately entitled to. Does that sound familiar? Read on.

Some so-called tax professionals will discourage you from making claims that are “too high” lest you trigger and audit. In reality, you should not do that. You would be doing yourself a disfavor because you would pay more taxes than you should be paying. All you have to do is claim every deduction you are legally entitled to claim and by doing so reduce your taxes to its lowest legal level. This way, you would never run the risk of an audit.

Here’s a little tip that I tell my clients who fear audits or who have been given the wrong information to avoid claiming deductions. Fill up IRS Form 8275, Disclosure Statement. This form is not found in the IRS' forms package simply because it actually helps you save on your taxes. IRS Form 8275 allows you to provide information with your tax return that answers any potential questions in the return. By filing Form 8275 along with your return, you give the IRS the answers to their questions even before your case is assigned for a face-to-face audit. How cool is that?

So all you have to do is use Form 8275 for any claim you feel may be considered “high” or questionable by the IRS. Now let me put the record straight. I am not saying you should use Form 8275 to claim any deduction you are NOT entitled to. That is not the purpose of Form 8275. It is to be used to facilitate claims to deductions to which you are legally entitled.

Today is tax day. You should have already filed your 2012 tax return by now. But if you have not, today is the last day. Today I’m going to share the first of a series of articles on tax return problems and their solutions. If you cannot make the deadline today, you would have a problem. So if your tax problem is filing your tax return late i.e. not being able to file on time, your solution is to apply for an extension of time. You will be granted an automatic 4 month extension till August 15, 2013 if you file an extension application. You do not even need to provide a reason for your request.

All you have to do is file Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File Individual Income Tax Return. But you have to submit your Form today, the deadline for tax return submissions. But bear in mind this is a request for extension to submit your tax return, NOT an extension of time to pay. So you must still pay your taxes by the original deadline, April 15.

So you should mail the estimated tax you owe with Form 4868, the request for extension and your tax return form. Form 4868 allows you to estimate the amount of tax due. By doing so, you avoid the risk of the IRS disapproving your extension application.

If, come August 15, you are still unable to file your tax return, you may apply for another extension of time to submit by filing up Form 2688, Application for Additional Extension of Time to File Individual Income Tax Return. This second extension is not automatic and will grant you a maximum two-month extension if approved. You should file Form 2688 before the expiry of your first extension.

Now if your problem is not being able to afford the tax you are liable for, you should still apply for the standard extension to file your return. This obviously gives you more time if you cannot pay the full amount by today (tax day). In addition, here’s what to do to solve this problem of inability to pay – seek an extension of time to pay. This is NOT the same as an extension of time to file your return.

While Form 4868, the filing extension, does not provide an extension of time to pay, for an extension of time to pay you must use IRS Form 1127, Application for Extension of Time for Payment of Tax. Note that the IRS would often deny there is such a thing as IRS Form 1127, but it actually exists and you have the right to use it.

But you have to show the IRS that you are unable to pay the tax on time even though you exercised reasonable care in providing for your tax debt but due to circumstances beyond your control, you cannot afford to pay your taxes by tax day. You must also show that coming up with the money will cause a financial hardship and that you have little or no financial resources and assets that can be liquidated.

If the application is granted, you can be granted up to six additional months to pay the taxes, without penalties.

With the spiraling increase of healthcare and medical costs in the country, health insurance is no longer an option for most people. Some taxpayers are fortunate enough to be covered in their companies by their employers but not everyone has that benefit. If you are paying for your own health or medical insurance coverage, you should be aware of the health coverage tax credit you may be eligible for.

The United States government in association with other federal agencies, state governments and private healthcare groups has formulated this credit to enable people to afford basic healthcare insurance coverage. If you are eligible, this tax credit may include your family members as well. Eligibility for this credit also depends on what type of health insurance you have. The health plan must be approved by the IRS in order for you to qualify for the health coverage tax credit. Also, you have to be paying at least 50% of the qualifying health insurance premium.

If you are eligible for it, the credit will pay 72.5% of your healthcare insurance premiums every year. Some categories of taxpayers are ineligible. These include those who are already enrolled in Medicare Part A, B, or C, Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). In addition, they cannot be enrolled in Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) or already be receiving military healthcare benefits under the US military health system (TRICARE).

Those who are incarcerated in federal, state or local prisons are not eligible for the health coverage tax credit, neither are those who are being claimed as a dependent on someone else's return. Another category of those taxpayers who are ineligible are those receiving a 65% COBRA Premium Reduction.
On the other hand, you must also be

• a beneficiary under the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) or other trade-related government agency who is 55 years old or older

• a recipient under the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), Alternative TAA (ATAA), or Reemployment TAA (RTAA) or

• a qualified family member of a taxpayer who is eligible under one of the categories listed above at the time of Medicare enrollment, death, or divorce.

If you are eligible for the health coverage tax credit, the IRS will mail you a kit for you to claim your credit. To do so, complete IRS Form 8885 and submit it with their personal tax returns. You may claim your credit in monthly installments or collect it yearly. If you choose the yearly option, you pay your insurance premium first then fill in and submit IRS Form 8885 to claim the refundable credit on your federal income tax return.