Check your refund from your iPhone

The Internal Revenue Service has unveiled IRS2Go, its first smartphone application that lets taxpayers check on their status of their tax refund and obtain helpful tax information.

Taxpayers can check the status of their federal refund through the new phone app with a few basic pieces of information. First, taxpayers enter a Social Security number, which is masked and encrypted for security purposes. Next, taxpayers pick the filing status they used on their tax return. Finally, taxpayers enter the amount of the refund they expect from their 2010 tax return.

For people who e-file, the refund function of the phone app will work within about 72 hours after taxpayers receive an e-mail acknowledgement saying the IRS received their tax return.

For people filing paper tax returns, longer processing times mean they will need to wait three to four weeks before they can check their refund status.

Phone app users enter their e-mail address to automatically get daily tax tips. Tax Tips are simple, straightforward tips and reminders to help with tax planning and preparation. Tax Tips are issued daily during the tax filing season and periodically during the rest of the year. The plain English updates cover topics such as free tax help, child tax credits, the Earned Income Tax Credit, education credits and other topics.

Creating Tax Plans for smart taxpayers. Reach us at www.LogieCPA.com

FILING SEASON DELAYED FOR SOME TAXPAYERS

The IRS announced that the upcoming tax season will be delayed for certain taxpayers.

The 2011 filing season will begin in January as usual for the majority of taxpayers, but changes due to the 2010 Tax Relief Act mean that the IRS must reprogram its processing systems for provisions that were extended by the Act.

The delay affects both paper-filed and e-filed tax returns that include:

• Form 1040 Schedule A, Itemized Deductions
• Educator expense deductions on Form 1040, line 23, or Form 1040A, line 16
• Form 8917, Tuition and Fees Deduction
• Casualties and thefts claimed on Form 4684
• Form 8859, District of Columbia First-Time Homebuyer Credit

A few other taxpayers will also have to wait to file, due to the impact of other recent changes, primarily those included in the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. Affected will be returns that include:

• Form 3800, General Business Credit
• Form 5405, First-Time Homebuyer Credit and Repayment of the Credit
• Form 6478, Alcohol and Cellulosic Biofuel Fuels Credit
• Form 8834, Qualified Plug-In Electric and Electric Vehicle Credit
• Form 8910, Alternative Motor Vehicle Credit
• Form 8936, Qualified Plug-In Electric Drive Motor Vehicle Credit

Affected taxpayers must wait until the tax processing systems are ready—which the IRS estimates will be in mid- to late February—before filing their tax returns.