Office Hours

April 17, 2024 to December 31, 2024 – Monday and Thursday 10:00AM to 1:00PM, Tuesday and Wednesday 10:00AM to 3:00PM. CLOSED on Fridays.
January 1, 2025 to January 31, 2025 – Monday thru Friday 9:00AM to 5:00PM
February 1, 2025 to April 14, 2025 – Monday thru Friday 9:30AM to 6:00PM
April 15, 2025—9:00AM to 4:30PM
April 16, 2025 – CLOSED

Throughout the entire year our tax professionals are available by appointment only.

Safety and health guidelines: If you are scheduled for an in-person tax appointment or need to enter our office for any reason and you have a cold, the flu, or other contagious illness, please call us to reschedule your appointment or make arrangements to drop off your tax information and change to a phone appointment. Please be safe and considerate of others!

Beware of scams: Do not provide direct deposit information or any other personal information to anyone who contacts you through email, text message, phone or social media. See Recent Scams under Security Awareness, Scams and Security for more information.

Hi Everyone,

We hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy.

Tax interviews will be handled the same this year. No matter which method you prefer, Denise will review your returns with you as she has always done in the past. We are offering 3 different interview procedures, none of them being new:

• Telephone prescheduled appointment – You need an appointment if you do not already have one. This procedure is not new to those of you who drop off your tax information every year. This is probably the most popular way for most of our clients to schedule their tax interview. We will review, over the phone, the same questions and tax summary review we do during our in-person tax appointments. We do ask you complete the questionnaire, answering as many of the questions that you can. We need your tax information in our office before your scheduled appointment time.

   

  At your scheduled appointment time Denise will start to review and enter your tax documents; for some individuals this will only take 15 minutes to 1/2 hour. For others, it could take up to 1 hour to 1-1/2 hours before she calls you to review your numbers. If you have more than (1) W-2 form along with other expenses and deductions, you will be looking at the 1-hour time span. Unfortunately, we do not know in advance what you will be sending us; trying to forecast the time Denise will call you is impossible. We will try our best to pre-warn you as to when things will happen. Thank you for understanding if you receive a call earlier or later than what is noted above.

• Person-to-Person – (In-Person appointment) – You come into the office at your prescheduled date and time and the interview is completed in the office.

• Drop-off appointments – There really is no change to this process. Dropping off your information can be done through mail, our secure mail slot located on our storm door to the office, or we can send you a secure link through Sharefile and you can upload your tax documents to us. If you choose to mail your tax information to us, please email or call our office so we are aware your information is being mailed. If you decide you would like a prescheduled telephone interview, you will need to call our office so we can schedule your appointment.

The scammers have been going full force since COVID; Sarah has done her best to keep the ‘Security Awareness’ section updated on our website. Please review and share with your friends and family the Security Awareness section of our website.

We appreciate your trust, loyalty, confidence and friendship. If you have any questions or concerns, please call our office. Remember, do something special for someone to make them smile and always be kind and considerate to others. Stay safe and healthy, most importantly enjoy each moment.

Your Friends at Main Street Tax

Denise, Barb and Sarah

DISCLAIMER: Any tax advice noted below is based on the facts provided to us and on current tax law interpretation. Tax law is subject to continual change, at times on a retroactive basis and may result in incremental taxes, interest or penalties. Should the information below be incorrect or incomplete or should the law or its interpretation change, our advice may be inappropriate. We are not responsible for updating our advice for changes in law or interpretation after the date noted above. The following cannot be used as support in any tax audit.

ENERGY EFFICIENT HOME IMPROVEMENT CREDIT INDIVIDUALS

The update to this tax law now increases credits for some of the energy improvements you may make on your home and second home. Those who qualified for credits in the past may now qualify for credits going forward for any energy improvements they might do going forward. Please ask your tax professional about the new credits and the information you will need from your contractor.

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CLEAN VEHICLE CREDIT

The credits for energy efficient vehicles have changed and will also have income limits. You might also qualify for the credit if you purchase a previously owned energy efficient vehicle. Please ask your tax professional for more information.

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REQUIRED MINIMUM DISTRIBUTIONS (RMD)

The Secure Act increased the age for required minimum distributions (RMD).

RMD Commencement Age

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TAX PLANNING WHY OR WHY NOT?

If you are planning on improving your home how are you going to pay for the cost? Pulling the money from your Retirement Savings might cost you way too much in income tax. Using a home equity loan might be a good idea; the problem might be your home equity loan you had for the past 10 years may not be set-up properly. Here is where tax planning might be helpful. We will give you ideas on how to fund the improvements and at the same time review the tax advantages or disadvantages with each scenario.

Do you want to buy a vacation property or rental property? Again proper planning may just save you income taxes. You have a child or grandchild attending college and you would like to gift them some money towards their college tuition. Call Denise so she can tell you the best way you can assist your child or grandchild.

Remember prior to refinancing, purchasing or taking out a home equity loan please call Denise for proper guidance.

Since the standard deduction is so much higher a lot of our clients will not qualify for itemizing. Those clients who fall under Required Minimum Distribution requirements can make special contributions to their favorite charities, when pulling their required minimum distributions from their IRA accounts. This is part of tax planning and might save you quite a few tax dollars. Let Denise know your plans when donating to your favorite 501C3 organization.

Some of you might be able to just call Denise, ask the question and she will give you a pretty quick answer. Others, additional time might be needed depending on the complexity of the question.

Most important to remember is Denise is here to save you time and tax dollars. Please call her anytime.

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BEFORE BAD WEATHER AND DISASTER STRIKES – BE PREPARED!

Being prepared for the worst is always a good idea. Your plan shouldn’t only include bottled water, batteries, candles and an evacuation plan — but also your financial and family documents. While putting together your emergency kit, don’t neglect your financial kit:

• Update emergency plans. Taxpayers should review and update their emergency plans annually because personal and business situations are constantly evolving.
• Create electronic copies of documents. Documents should be kept in a secure place. Secure places include a password-protected WiFi, encryption of the documents and/or perhaps an external drive or flash drive that is disconnected to your computer after loading documents. Documents include, but are not limited to, bank statements, tax returns and insurance policies. Saving electronic copies is much easier right now since most institutions provide you with electronic statements. If you only have access to paper copies, you should scan them to a flash drive or CD or in the cloud.
• Document valuables. Taking pictures or videos of valuables before disaster strikes helps with your insurance claim and tax benefits, if necessary. IRS.gov has a disaster loss workbook to help taxpayers document room-to-room items of their belongings.
• Know what tax relief is available in disaster situations. Information on disaster assistance and emergency relief for individuals and businesses is available at IRS.gov. Also review the itemized deduction for casualty and theft losses. Net personal casualty and theft losses are deductible only to the extent they are attributable to a federally declared disaster. Claims must include the FEMA code assigned to the disaster.
• Remember, the IRS is ready to help. In the case of a federally declared disaster, people can visit Around the Nation on IRS.gov and click on their state to review the available disaster tax relief. Taxpayers who live in a county qualifying for tax relief receive automatic filing and payment extensions for many different tax forms do not need to contact the agency to get relief. Any disaster-related questions, call the IRS at 866-562-5227 to speak to an individual trained to answer disaster-related questions.

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AFTER DISASTER STRIKES—REBUILDING YOUR LIFE

If you were not able to prepare for a natural disaster by taking the steps listed above and have lost your paperwork, you may need documentation for tax purposes, federal assistance programs or insurance claims. Below is some information to help you gather this information.

• Tax Records. You can get free tax return transcriptions immediately using Get Transcript on IRS.gov. Or, you can order transcripts by calling 1-800-908-9946 (follow the prompts).
• Financial Statements. Past credit card statements can be retrieved online or from your credit card company or bank. You can also contact your bank for paper copies of your bank statements.
• Property Records. Any documents related to your property can be retrieved from the title company, escrow company or bank that handled the purchase of your home. If you made home improvements and need to verify the cost and work performed, contact your contractor. You can also get written descriptions from friends and relatives who saw the house before and after the improvements. For inherited property, taxpayers can check court records for probate values. If a trust or estate existed, the attorney who handled the trust can give you this information. If no records are available, check the county assessor’s office for old records that may address the value of the property. If you owned a car, you can research the current fair-market value online using Kelley’s Blue Book, the National Automobile Dealers Association and Edmunds.

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DISCLAIMER: Any tax advice noted above is based on the facts provided to us and on current tax law interpretation. Tax law is subject to continual change, at times on a retroactive basis and may result in incremental taxes, interest or penalties. Should the information below be incorrect or incomplete or should the law or its interpretation change, our advice may be inappropriate. We are not responsible for updating our advice for changes in law or interpretation after the date noted above. The above information cannot be used as support in any tax audit.