Average 2010 Tax Returns Up 10%

According to recent reports from CNN & Thompson Reuters; on average, income tax refunds are up 10% from a year ago, due to tax credits included in the economic stimulus package according to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman. In 2010, the average tax refund was $3,036, up $266 from 2009, USA Today reports.

"The Recovery Act is a major factor behind these larger, record tax refunds," Shulman said. "About half of all Americans haven't filed taxes yet, so we urge them to look carefully at these Recovery provisions."

Surprisingly, part of the reason for the increase in tax refunds is due to high unemployment. "Tax withholdings are based on the assumption that you are making the same amount of money the whole year ... if people only work part of the year, they typically have more withheld than they even need to pay their taxes," said Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, Newsoxy.com reports.The Recovery Act provided a number of tax credits that increased the average tax refund that many Americans were unaware of. For example:

• A tax credit of $400 for workers and $800 for married couples.
• A $2,500 tax credit for qualified college expenses.
• A $8,000 tax credit of for first-time home buyers
• An increase to both the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit.
• A tax break for unemployment benefits making for first $2,400 in unemployment benefits received tax-free.

Of course there is no sense in getting overly excited about your tax returns. They don't mean that you won the lottery. Receiving a tax refund simply means that you overpaid the government and you are getting your own money back.

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Using Citation Building For Better Google Places Optimization For Accountants

With the recent changes in Google, local businesses and Accountants are struggling to find ways in which to further optimize their Google Places Listings for better performance. One of the questions we often receive about Places optimization is why do certain CPA listings getting listed higher than others (independent of their organic website search listings). With the recent changes in Google however, it is no longer a question that includes two different types of search results – both are now intertwine.

In the past, Google Places listings would be displayed is a separate display from the organic results. Now the places listings are added to the organic listings – further promoting the importance of good organic search results and fundamentally changing the ways these listings are displayed.

By now, most Accountants realize that they need to claim their Google Places listing and fully optimize it for better results. But now that other competing CPA's are increasingly doing the same thing, the competitive real estate for these listings is rapidly diminishing. That is where citation building can help.

What Are Citations For Accountants?

The goal of Google is to provide the most relevant and accurate CPA search results to their users. Along with their organic search results, they also need to provide Google Places listings that are the most legitimate and relevant. In order to do this, Google goes beyond their initial claiming validation process and looks for other sources that help validate these listings. These third party sources, commonly referred to as citations, include other local listing sources such as Yahoo, Yelp, Bing, Best of the Web, Localeze, etc. In looking at these citation sources, Google ultimately wants to see your information listed the same on all of these sources – including your website and of course Google Places.

How Can CPA's Build Citations?

1.) Makes sure to claim and optimize ALL of your local listings from the major listing sources on the web. The two best places to do this are by going to http://getlisted.org to see where you are currently listed and to claim and optimize all of these sources. Second, you should create an account and listing in http://www.Localeze.com. Why Localeze? Because they send their complied list of local businesses to the search engines on a weekly basis.

2.) Make sure your accounting firm name and address is consistent throughout all of your listings. If your firm name on Yelp is different than that of Google, it could work against you so make sure they are the same everywhere.

3.) Make sure to claim your existing Google Places listing first. In most cases, existing and unclaimed Google Places listings are there based on citations from other sources which work to your advantage. By deleting these existing listings and starting over, you are actually putting yourself at a competitive disadvantage in more competitive markets.

4.) Remove duplicate Google Places listings based on listings claimed with the same phone numbers, addresses or both. It is OK to have multiple listings based on phone numbers and addresses that are unique to each location but each should be treated separately and not allowed to potentially compete with each other which may cause Google to suspend your listings.

These optimization processes are not something that the average novice Accountant can successfully master and definitely have their downsides when done incorrectly. Unless you have experience with these processes, I would advise that you contact a good search engine optimization consultant to handle this process for you.

Taxpayers Who Itemize Deductions May Have To Wait To File

Itemize your tax deductions? Itching for a refund? You're going to have to wait.

The IRS said that it needs until mid- to late-February to reprogram its processing systems because Congress acted so late this year cleaning up the tax code. The bill, which includes tax deductions for state and local sales taxes, college tuition and teacher expenses, wasn't signed into law until Dec. 17.

The bill ensured that the federal income tax rates would not change, and itemized deductions will continue to be allowed in full for high-income taxpayers.

As a result, the 50 million taxpayers who itemize their deductions will have to hold off for a bit before they file. Of course, not everyone files early: only about 9 million of the 140 million U.S. tax filers filed in January or February of last year.

"The majority of taxpayers will be able to fill out their tax returns and file them as they normally do," said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman in a statement. "The IRS will work through the holidays and into the New Year to get our systems reprogrammed and ensure taxpayers have a smooth tax season."

The delay affects both paper and electronic filers who itemize deductions on Form 1040 Schedule A. That includes those claiming the new Educator Expense Deduction, which credits grade school teachers for out-of-pocket expenses of up to $250.

It also includes those claiming deductions for college students, covering up to $4,000 of tuition, which is claimed on Form 8917, though the IRS said there will be no delays for those that claim other education tax credits.

Though itemizers can work on their tax returns before the IRS is ready to accept them, the government said people should not send them in before it is ready to process the returns.

The IRS hasn't yet said exactly what day it will be able to begin processing the impacted tax returns, but it expects to announce that date "in the near future."

Meanwhile, TurboTax said its customers can e-file with the company as early as Jan. 6, and it will hold onto the filings until the IRS is ready to process them.

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Source: money.cnn.com/2010/12/31/pf/taxes/irs_filing_delay/index.htm