There are exactly 25 days until Tax Day. (Don’t shoot the messenger.)
Of course, if you aren’t reading this on March 21, you’ll have to go to the handy Days Until website to see exactly how long you have to procrastinate before you have an IRS issue.
Today we’re going to focus on you non-procrastinators (and moderate procrastinators) who might like some help preparing for April 15 and making the process as painless as possible.
Our advice is simple: head over to your myEarthLink Start Page™, click on the Finance link under Channels, and then click on Taxes in the green bar.
Or, even simpler, click the following link to go directly to the EarthLink Tax Center.
A good place to start is the Tax Basics link in the middle of the page. It will take you to a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to understanding your overall tax situation (your filing status, what forms to use, your rates, etc), preparing for your taxes (understanding deductions, tax credits, and how life events can change your tax situation), and all the little details you should pay attention to so you don’t end up owning more than you should.
The Tax Guide link takes you to Bankrate.com’s excellent Tax Center. There you can check out your state tax rate, get tax forms, and learn some valuable tax lessons, like What the IRS doesn’t want you to know.
The Tax Calculators link offers 11 interactive tools to help you with your taxes. Some will be helpful this year (e.g., 1040 tax calculator) and others will help you plan better to maximize next year’s return (payroll deductions calculator).
And make sure you look through the Helpful Hints section at the bottom of the page for tips like What to do if you don’t get your W-2 or a Tax valuation guide for donated goods.
The Tax Headlines section at the top will be changing frequently. So browse through to see what might be helpful to you.
And good luck on April 15!