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2010 Income Tax Refunds Only Available Until April 15, 2014

If you haven’t filed your 2010 return yet you have less than a year to get your refund

Most taxpayers are frightened of the IRS, and understandably so. Not only does the agency force us to go through the tortuous process of filing taxes every year, but it also has the power to implement some pretty drastic punishments when taxes go unpaid. It can levy your wages and bank accounts and force you to sell or mortgage assets to pay your tax debt.

But what most people don’t know is that the IRS is surprisingly lenient when it comes to minor offenses, such as filing a late return. Most late filers assume that they will get hit with massive penalties, so they try to hide from the IRS and avoid filing their taxes for even longer.

Doing so, however, might actually cause them to sacrifice a refund. Late filers are more likely than normal filers to receive a refund, and the tax code’s statute of limitations allows you to claim a refund for three years after the original due date of the return.

That means that the last chance to claim a refund from your 2010 return is April 15, 2014. That’s less than a year away! Take note: after next April 15th your refund belongs to the U.S. Treasury and you absolutely will not be able to claim it. Continue reading “2010 Income Tax Refunds Only Available Until April 15, 2014”

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Can You Still Get a 2011 Tax Refund?

The filing deadline to claim your 2011 tax refund has passed but you should still file

The IRS statute of limitations allows you to claim a refund for three years after the original due date of a return. That means you had until April 15, 2015 to file your 2011 return and claim your refund.

If you didn’t claim your refund by April 15, 2015 then the U.S. Treasury got to keep your refund. You can still file a return, but you won’t get any money back.

Penalties and interest

If you were due a refund here’s some good news: you won’t have to pay any penalties or interest. That’s right, the IRS only charges penalties and interest of people who owe taxes. Letting the IRS keep your refund is the only punishment you’ll face for filing late. Continue reading “Can You Still Get a 2011 Tax Refund?”

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Where’s My State Refund?

How to check the status of your state tax return

There aren’t many things in life that can make you miss the IRS but dealing with your state tax authority is definitely one of them. As byzantine as the federal tax code is, the IRS actually does a pretty good job of providing useful information on its website.

The same cannot be said of the forty-one tax authorities (nine lucky states have no income tax) responsible for administering their state’s income tax.

Trying to get any information out of a state tax website can be a frustrating experience. Most look like relics from the 1990s and they definitely did not have user-friendliness in mind when they were designed.

And yet you still need to know where the heck your state tax refund is. To make your life a little easier we’ve compiled a list of where to check your state tax refund for every state that has an income tax. Click on the link and it should take your right to the necessary page of your state’s tax website. Continue reading “Where’s My State Refund?”