Minnesota income tax 2015 Archives - EricJohn Ltd | Tax and Accounting Services

Your income tax refund can never come too quickly, and the Internal Revenue Service and Minnesota Department of Revenue are fully aware.

Both tax collectors say an electronic path is the fastest for refunds. File your return online and then have them send the refund directly to a bank account. That way, you won’t have to wait for a check to be printed and mailed.

How much faster does the refund arrive? MN Revenue now says individual taxpayers can start checking for it about 72 hours – or once 3 days have passed – after filing a return online. Compare that with six weeks, which is the recommended wait time for a paper return. Those wait times don’t mean the refund will be delivered to the bank account yet, but they do allow tracking.

MN Revenue is touting improvements to its “Where’s My Refund?” service at its web site. Find it at www.revenue.state.mn.us/individuals/individ_income/pages/draft-wmr-context-page.aspx .

Its main feature is a big, blue button. Click that and you start tracking. You’ll need to enter your Social Security number, birth date and the refund requested on the tax return. (We should note that all this only works for returns filed in the last 12 months.)

The remake is designed to be simple. One feature, called “When Can I Expect My Refund?”,

shows the location of the return in the processing system. Once processing is completed, it reports the date the refund was sent.

The IRS also has a “Where’s My Refund.” See https://www.irs.gov/Refunds .It’s faster. You can begin tracking 24 hours after an electronic filing and four weeks after a paper return is mailed. But the IRS also says not to start inquiring about a refund for at least 21 days and six weeks respectively.

Like many tax preparers, we at EricJohn Ltd., are experienced in filing returns online and tracking them for your speedy refunds. Call us for more information!

Parents, that smartphone you’re carrying can do more for school shopping than reach the children at the other end of the discount store. It could be a convenient way to prove a tax break.

Many Minnesota families with children attending grade schools, high schools and home schools can subtract costs of school supplies and other expenses from incomes on state tax returns. Even better, some families with limited incomes can qualify for tax credits, the most powerful breaks available. Credits offset state taxes on a dollar-for-dollar basis.

While stocking up on pens, notebooks, erasers, calculators, etc., this month, try this tip:

o After check-out – perhaps in the car between stores – take photos of those itemized receipts with your cell phone.
o Give each picture a name to describe the purchase, such as “2015 school supplies John.”
o Place the photo in a folder in the phone’s memory, or, better, email it to yourself for saving with other tax notes. You’ll have it when you need it next April.

That little click of the phone’s camera could have a significant effect. The Minnesota subtraction can lower income on your 2015 tax return as much as $1,625 for grade school students and $2,500 for high schoolers.

How do you know which expenses will qualify and which won’t? Minnesota’s Department of Revenue offers two fact sheets to help with those details. Look online for Income Tax Fact Sheet 8, called “K-12 Education Credit and Subtraction.” Eligible expenses for home schooling are spelled out in Income Tax Fact Sheet 8a.

In case you’re wondering, that handy smartphone can help bag a tax break for education, but it can’t be one. “Cell phones” is the first item on Minnesota Revenue’s do-not-include list in the fact sheet about the K-12 deductions and credits.

Tag: Minnesota income tax 2015

“WHERE’S MY REFUND?”—THE IMPROVED VERSION!

PHONE TIP CAN BACK UP SCHOOL SUPPLIES DEDUCTION