-
Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Apr 15, 2014
April 15, 2014
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. -
Some Tax Day Trivia:
--Of the roughly 133 million individual tax returns being filed this year, only about half were filed before April 1st; the rest of us got busy after that. And some 35 million returns get done on the weekend before deadline, so you weren't alone this past weekend.
--Common mistakes: not signing the return (that's the biggest), bad math (that's the second biggest), forgetting to include a check (if you owe money), and including enough postage. Last thing you want is to get your forms back with insufficient postage, and then get penalized for filing late.
--If you owe, don't make your check out to the initials "IRS." That's because if the check falls into the wrong hands, they can change the "IRS" to "MRS" followed by someone's name. Instead you should write out the entire three words "Internal Revenue Service." Or blood-sucking weasels.
--Don't have the money to pay what you owe? You can propose an installment plan by attaching Form 9465 to your return. The IRS will answer within 30 days. They'll also charge you 13 percent interest on past-due balances.
--Maybe you're getting a refund? About 78 percent of us will, and usually, it's because we overpaid our taxes all year long. Think of it as a return on a bad investment. Another way of looking at it: you gave the government a free loan (talk about a bad investment). Ideally, you want to pay or be owed within a hundred bucks. To figure that out, you need to ask your employer to revise the tax withholding from your paycheck (the lovely W-4).
--Waiting for a refund? You can call the IRS Teletax number to find out if it's ready and on its way, or if there's a problem. Call 800-829-4477.Tax day freebies:
That's right --free food for you on tax day! These are only available April 15, and there are some odd strings attached in some cases...
--Arby's: snack-sized curly fries, free with coupons from arbys.com or Arby's Facebook or Twitter pages.
--California Tortilla: free chips and queso with any purchase on April 15, 2014, while supplies last. But you have to say "Taxes, Schmaxes" to the cashier to claim your deal.
--Cinnabon: two free Cinnabon bites from 6 to 8 pm.
--Great American Cookies: a free chocolate chip cookie (one per person).
--Schlotzsky's: a free original sandwich with the purchase of a 32-ounce drink and a bag of chips.
--Hard Rock Café: Perform a complete song between 5-7 pm (local time) on the live music stage at one of 40 locations for a free entree.
--Sonny's BBQ restaurants: their IRS deal (Irresistible Rib Specials) is half off the Sweet & Smokey or House Dry-Rubbed rib dinner plates.
--McDonald's: buy one Big Mac or classic Quarter Pounder with cheese and get the second for one cent (participating locations only).
--Boston Market: two half-chicken individual meals for $10.40. (Get it? Form 1040?)
--Orange Leaf Yogurt: customers can fill their cups for $4.15 with the coupon from the company's Facebook page.
--Sonic: drinks will be half-price all day.
--Subway: a 6'' Spicy Italian Sub for $3.
--Taco Bell: From 2-5 pm, you can get grillers, drinks and Taco Bell's special Sparklers and Freezes for only $1.
--Papa Murphy's: Download a coupon to get $2 off any Fresh Pan Pizza.
--Blimpie: Buy a regular sub and a 22-ounce drink, and get a second regular sub for free.
But here are deals for weary tax warriors AFTER Tuesday's dreaded deadline: Participating Wawa's are offering free regular coffee on April 16. And Office Depot is offering coupons that will let you shred up to five pounds of documents until April 29. (Kaye) -
-