Summary of Individual Income Taxes (Not Self-Employed)
For individual taxpayers, we prepare income tax returns. For federal income taxes, if you are not self-employed, you will file some version of the IRS Form 1040 series (IRS Forms: 1040EZ, 1040A, 1040, or 1040NPR) without a Schedule C. For the tax year, certain tax activities and events in your life will dictate one of the above IRS 1040 form series to file. We prepare indvidual income tax returns for corporate executives with complicated tax lives who are legally trying to pay the less amount of taxes possible to working high school students trying to get back the income taxes withheld from them.
Our experience have shown us that individaul taxpayers can be classified in the following five categories:
- Freshman Taxpayer (Simple)
- Sophomore Taxpayer (Involved)
- Junior Taxpayer (Complex)
- Senior Taxpayer (Complicated), and
- NonResident Taxpayer.
Below, we comment on our services to each class of taxpayers.
Freshman Taxpayer
Taxpayers in the sophomore class normally have pretty simple and straight forward income tax returns. They tend to meet the requirements of filing IRS Form 1040EZ (the “easy form”). Freshman taxpayers usually have more than two of the following characteristics:
- Form W2—Less than 8 Form W2′s
- No Form 1099′s
- No Form 1098′s or only for bank account interest income
- Less than $100,000 of taxable income
- Less than $1,500 of interest income
- No bookkeeping is necessary
- No real estate ownership
- No dependents
- Under the age of 65
- Take standard deduction and do not itemized
- Generally, expect a refund back from the IRS
- No tax to very little tax planning is required
Most Freshman Taxpayers can easily prepare and file their own income tax returns without the assistance of a professional tax preparer. However, due to convenience, some Freshman Taxpayers hire tax preparers to prepare and file their income tax returns. We gladly help Freshman Taxpayers to meet their tax filing requirements and price our services accordingly to match the simplicity of their income tax returns. For prices, see our price section.
Sophomore Taxpayer
Sophomore Taxpayers’ tax returns are a little bit more involved than Freshman Taxpayers. Often, Sophomore Taxpayers meet the requirements of filing IRS Form 1040A (the “short form”). Sophomore taxpayers usually have more than two of the following characteristics:
- Form W2 income
- Few or no 1099′s
- Some Form 1098′s
- Less than $100,000 of taxable income
- May have more than $1,500 of interest income
- May have retirement accounts
- No mortgage interest to deduct
- Did not receive any income via Schedule K
- In general, no large chartiable donations
- Take standard deduction and do not itemized
- Normally no bookkeeping is required
- Generally, expect a refund back from the IRS or tax credit
Some Sophomore Taxpayers can prepare and file their own income tax returns without the assistance of a professional tax preparer. However, due to convenience, most Sophomore Taxpayers prefer to hire professional tax preparers to prepare and file their income tax returns. We gladly help Sophomore Taxpayers to meet their tax filing requirements. For prices, see our price section.
Junior Taxpayer
Junior Taxpayers then to have several more complex tax issues present. Junior Taxpayers most of the time are required to file IRS Form 1040 (the “long form”). However, Junior Taxpayers rarely need many of the supplimental tax schedules filed with their IRS Form 1040. Junior taxpayers usually have more than two of the following characteristics:
- Form W2 income
- May a few Form 1099′s
- Have Form 1098′s
- Income can be more the $100,000
- More than $1,500 of interest income
- May have retirement accounts
- May own a home
- May have some investment gains and/or losses
- May make considerable chartiable donations
- Tend to itemize as oppose to taking the standard deductions
- Normally, require very little bookkeeping, if any
- Tax planning is normally sought out
Junior Taxpayers often want and appreciate the assistance of a quality professional tax preparer. We assist many Junior Taxpayers to meet their income tax needs. For our prices, see our price section.
Senior Taxpayer
Senior Taxpayers will normally have many complex and several complicated tax issues present. Senior Taxpayers are required to file IRS Form 1040 (the “long form”). Senior Taxpayers will normally need supplimental tax schedules filed with their IRS Form 1040. Senior taxpayers usually have more than four of the following characteristics:
- Form W2 income
- May have a few Form 1099′s
- Have Form 1098′s
- Income can be more the $100,000
- More than $1,500 of interest income
- May have retirement accounts
- May have ownership interest in one or more business entities
- May have had tax audits or problems with IRS before
- May owe the IRS back taxes
- Estimated taxes are required to be filed
- May own a home
- May have investment real estate
- May have some investment gains and lossses
- May own interest in trusts
- May make considerable chartiable donations
- Will itemize as oppose to taking the standard deductions
- Bookkeeping is normally required
- Tax planning is necessary
- May have been involved in a tax shelter
- May be wealth or extremely leveraged
For Senior Taxpayers, a professional tax preparer is a must. We work with Senior Taxpayers to reduce the tax liabilities and provide tax planning to save them money through the years.. For our prices, see our price section.
NonResident Taxpayers
NonResident Taxpayers are nonresident alien (non-United States citizens) who are required to file IRS Form 1040NR-EZ or Form 1040NR. We assist NonResident Taxpayers to meet their US income tax reporting requirements. Some time preparing an income tax reutrn for a NonResident Taxpayer can be similiar to preparing a resident taxpayer’s tax return. Other times, there can be some complicated issues depending on many factors such as resident country, treaties, and nature of business activities with US, etc. Due to the many possible factors, we recommend that if you are a NonResident Taxpayer to contact us via telephone at (310) 933-3059 and/or by email.