The 5 Most Asked Tax Questions / A TurboTax expert answers the most common questions she gets from taxpayers.

Lisa Greene-Lewis for US News World Report writes Tax season is in full swing, and with it comes a wide range of tax questions from filers. Whether they’re questions about if you can claim your parent as a dependent or if you can deduct your books for college, I have answered them all.

So what are the most common tax questions from taxpayers? Here is a quick snapshot of this tax season’s top five frequently asked tax questions and answers:

1. What documents do I need to do my taxes? 
There are two common tax forms that taxpayers receive in the mail: a W-2 from your employer or a 1099-INT for bank interest from a savings account. There are also other pieces of supporting information you should have in front of you when you sit down to do your taxes, such as the correct Social Security numbers for yourself, your spouse and anyone you are claiming as a dependent. Also, if you made a charitable contribution within the last year, be sure to gather receipts of your donations to turn your good will into tax-time savings.

2. I didn’t make much money last year – do I still need to file my taxes? 
Americans should file a 2013 federal income tax return even if their total income is below the internal revenue service filing requirement ($10,000 for individuals or $20,000 for married filing jointly under age 65). You need to file the return to get a refund on any withheld federal income tax and especially if you’re eligible for refundable tax credits like the earned income tax credit. Every year, money is left on the table because people don’t think they need to file. The average unclaimed tax refund is more than $600, and it’s important to know that the IRS places a three-year window on claiming these past refunds.

3. Who can I claim as a dependent? 
This question has stumped taxpayers for years and is one of the most frequently asked questions I hear during tax season. Most of us know you can deduct your children on your tax return, but many people forget they might be able to deduct elderly parents, significant others or other relatives who also qualify as a dependent. Do you have a relative or significant other you’ve been supporting or a friend who’s been sleeping on your couch? They may turn out to be a tax deduction if they can be claimed as a “qualifying relative.” They’ll have to meet certain requirements to qualify, but for each dependent you can deduct $3,900, which is likely to reduce your taxes.

4. What tax deductions and credits are available for parents? 
Did you have a baby last year? A child means you may receive a dependent exemption of $3,900, which reduces your taxable income by that amount. Even if your baby was born on Dec. 31, 2013, you are still eligible for this deduction.

• Child and dependent care tax credit: If you paid for child care you may be eligible for a tax credit worth up to $1,050 for your child.
• Earned income tax credit: This refundable tax credit is advantageous and available to low- to middle-income working Americans. The credit could be as much as $6,044 for someone with three or more children.
• Child tax credit: Do you have a big family? This credit may be worth $1,000 for each of your children under age 17.

5. What tax benefits are available for college students? 

To help alleviate the ever-increasing cost of a college education, the tax code provides some relief options, which are available via education tax credits and deductions. Knowing the types of items you can deduct can save you money on college expenses because you may be able to deduct things like tuition or fees, books and supplies for you, your spouse and your dependents. Some education deductions and credits include:

• The American Opportunity Tax Credit: Helps parents and students pay for college education by giving them a credit up to $2,500 per student for tuition and fees, books, supplies and equipment.
• Lifetime Learning Credit: Taxpayers may be able to claim a credit up to $2,000 per tax return for college tuition, fees and supplies paid directly to the educational institution.
•  Tuition and fees deduction: An education benefit which allows you to deduct up to $4,000 from your taxable income for college expenses.   

Three Essential Tools for Collaborating with Clients Remotely

Ryan Lazanis  fpr TechVibes writes: Convenient, simple and easy. That’s what every single client wants from a service provider in this day and age.

So why not give them exactly what they want?

Back in the day, the only way to do business was to setup in person meetings where your client would visit your office or you would visit theirs. You sit in traffic, look for parking, drive from one end of the city to the other and literally rush around like a maniac from meeting, to meeting, to meeting. And if you’re doing that, your clients would be doing the exact same thing.

The good news is that the internet is not only changing how we do business, but who we do business with and where. Traditionally your client base would be within a 20-kilometre radius of your office. Now, thanks to a lot of simple, easy to use technology, we’re finding that our clients are now spread out over different geographic regions and that we now have to work and collaborate with our clients remotely, instead of in person.

The criticisms that come with this is that many say that you simply can’t the same type of relationships with your clients if you’re not actually physically sitting face-to-face with them.

Not true, I say.

As someone who runs a 100% cloud-based accounting firm, I’ve heard these criticisms first hand. My take, however, is that I actually think that the relationship with your clients can be made even stronger because a lot of the inconvenience surrounding in-person meetings is eliminated and from that comes appreciated time savings on the client’s end.

When working with clients remotely, the strength of the relationship is entirely dependent on the technology being used, so you need to make sure you have the right tools in place, otherwise people can get pretty frustrated, pretty easily.

Here is a list of 3 essential tools that pretty much any business should not do without if they’re collaborating with clients remotely.

JOIN.ME

Join.me is pretty much a lifesaver for my line of work and pretty much any business that needs close collaboration with their clients through use of screen sharing and web conferencing.

I’ve tried all the web conferencing tools out there. Gotomeeting, Webex and a bunch of the others. The problem invariably leads to initial connection issues. Nine times out of ten, the person joining the meeting can’t get something to work properly right out of the gate, there are audio or video issues and I wouldn’t quite call the interface user friendly. Five to ten minutes of fiddling around can either lead to frustration from existing clients or even worse, a lost deal.

Enter Join.me. This is by far the simplest, easiest, fastest to setup screen sharing known to man. At times you may be on the phone with your client and very quickly might need to show your screen. Ask your client to go to the join.me webpage, give them the access code which they enter directly on the home page, and within seconds, you’re sharing your screen. Nothing to install and their end, no complicated interfaces, nothing to fiddle with. Easy peasy.

Apart from screen sharing, join.me allows you use their telephone conference lines as well as internet calling. Personally, when I want a screen sharing option more robust than Skype’s, I use Skype for video calling in conjunction with Join.me for screen sharing.

The best part is that join.me is free. But if you want to spring for it and get their pro account (which I recommend), you will get a slew of other features, such as a branded personal screen sharing link, branded background, recording abilities, presenter swaps, meeting schedulers and much more.

Check out join.me for screen sharing, you won’t look back.

GOOGLE APPS

Everyone knows about Gmail, Google Calendar and a host of other Google services, but not everyone is fully leveraging the power of Google Apps to help collaborate with their clients. In terms of dealing with clients remotely, Google Docs (similar to Microsoft Word), Google Sheets (similar to Microsoft Excel) and Google Slides (similar to Microsoft Powerpoint) are apps that are invaluable for collaborating with clients remotely.

I know there are still a lot of people that are editing things in Microsoft Office documents and emailing it back and forth to their clients and then things just turn out to be a jumbled up mess.

Stop!

Google Apps allows you to collaborate and edit documents in real-time with whoever you’re sharing the document with. That means that you and your client never have to email things back and forth and never have to worry about not using the most up to date document. If you are collaborating with clients and sharing documents that you are both editing, then you need to be using Google Apps.

RIGHTSIGNATURE

RightSignature applies heavily to my line of work although it may be less important for others. In almost every line of work however, you need to have things signed off by your client. Whether it’s contracts, forms or any other types documents, getting a signature has sometimes become a bit of a pain as documents typically needed to be sent out in the mail to obtain an actual signature or the client would have to visit your office. RightSignature helps eliminate having a physical signature by giving you fully legally binding e-signature capabilities.

There are a lot of different options in the e-signature department, but I personally like RightSignature the best and see it as the gold standard.

Simply upload the document you want to have signed to RightSignature, enter the client’s email address and then place boxes with your cursor over the areas you either need them to sign, print their name and/or date. Once the document is sent, they simply click the link in their inbox and can sign virtually with their mouse. Once signed, a timestamp of the date, time and IP address is recorded. You are not only notified when the client signs the document, but also when they initially view it.

Other great features include setting up signature templates for frequently used documents, custom branding creation of online forms that you can integrate directly into your website and much more. RightSignature is a great option for getting things signed quickly and efficiently.

AT THE END OF THE DAY…

If you’re working with clients remotely, you need to use the tools available to help make sure that you are not only properly servicing the client, but also maintaining that personal touch as much as possible. The only way to do this is with the appropriate technology.

Look into the above apps in addition to identifying areas of your business where the collaboration with your clients can be improved so that you can ensure your clients remain happy. Remember, today’s clients want convenient, simple and easy… give them what they want.

The author created Xen Accounting:  Xen Accounting is a fully virtual, online Canadian Chartered Accountant firm geared specifically for micro businesses, consultants and freelancers in the tech community.

Designed for modern day business owners who are always connected and always on the move, Xen Accounting uses cutting edge cloud and mobile accounting technology in order to blend innovative software experiences with personal, professional accounting services.

Online and other tax software options in Canada : "SimpleTax: Pay What You Want...."

Digital Life for the Vancouver Sun Times writes: Now the T4s, RRSPs and other receipts are in, time to think about filing your 2013 income tax. Here are three options, starting with the made-in-Vancouver:

SimpleTax

Fun is not exactly the first word most people would associate with filing taxes.

Remarkably that’s how many users describe SimpleTax, the Vancouver-based offering that was certified by the Canada Revenue Agency just a year ago and is winning customers with a combination of easy-to-use, intuitive browser-based tax-filing software and a price that’s unbeatable — it’s free.

“When we set out to build this I never expected anyone to write us and say I actually had fun doing my taxes, but it seems to be a common thing,” said Jonathan Suter, who left his job in software marketing to launch SimpleTax with his wife Allison Suter, who is a tax lawyer, and developer Justin Reynen.

It’s not unusual for companies to launch with free services and shift into a “freemium” model, with users paying depending on the level of services they choose — think of Twitter and closer to home HootSuite. And other tax software companies offer this option.

But free?

SimpleTax asks users to support them if they like the service. There is no donation requirement, but the company is betting if they have enough users, the percentage willing to pay to support them will sustain the company.

With newborn baby Clara, who arrived just in time for tax season, now another mouth to feed, is it a strategy that will work?

“We hope over time we’ll build a large enough audience that we can support ourselves,” said Suter. “I think this is something that is worth trying versus just not trying at all and saying, ‘we’ll charge everybody 15 bucks.’

“We get emails from people saying ‘please charge money, I don’t want you to go away.’ ”

It’s that audience, that grew by tens of thousands with the first-year launch and is already surpassing that growth rate this year, that’s helping spread the SimpleTax message.

“We’re maybe different from a lot of other tech start-ups,” said Suter. “We’re kind of building this the old-fashioned way, you build something great, people like what you’ve built and they tell their friends.

“We can’t afford to compete on the pure advertising side of things, we can’t buy television ads.

“On the plus side we have built a product that is worth talking about and doesn’t have to just rely on marketing to convince people to use it.”

Despite the name, SimpleTax can be used for more complicated returns that include such things as business and rental income. You can try it out at simpletax.ca.

UFile and TurboTax

UFile, which offers a number of versions of its paid tax-filing software, including new this year UFile 4 and UFile 12, desktop software for Windows PCs, also offers free online filing, UFile Online. However, UFile Online is limited to taxpayers with simple returns and in specific categories including seniors receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement (a new category this year), post-secondary students, new Canadians, people filing for the first time, those with income under $20,000 and dependent children, grandchildren or parents.

TurboTax, another company that offers desktop software for business and personal taxes, also offers a “freemium” model with its TurboTax Online, although the free version doesn’t include RRSPs, investments and other deductions; the next level up is the $17.99 standard online version.

Mobile Taxes

We’ve come a long way from paper tax returns. Now you don’t even need a computer — you can file your taxes from your iPhone or iPad.

The apps are all iOS, so far none on the CRA-certified list for Android or other mobile operating systems.

SimpleTax is available as an iPad app. TurboTax SnapTax, is available for iPhone and iPad and TaxFreeway, which has tax software for Windows and Apple Mac computers, also has an iPad app.

For a complete list of software certified by the CRA for its 2014 Netfile program, which covers 2013 tax returns, check the CRA site here

Intuit (INTU) Hits New Lifetime High

Jamie Hodge for TheStreet.com writes:   Intuit (INTU) pushed the Computer Software & Services industry higher today making it today's featured computer software & services winner. The industry as a whole closed the day down 0.2%. By the end of trading, Intuit rose $1.47 (1.8%) to $82.20 on average volume. Throughout the day, 2,752,041 shares of Intuit exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 1,894,300 shares. The stock ranged in a price between $80.57-$82.38 after having opened the day at $81.29 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $80.73. 

Trade-Ideas LLC identified Intuit (INTU) as a new lifetime high candidate. In addition to specific proprietary factors, Trade-Ideas identified Intuit as such a stock due to the following factors:

• INTU has an average dollar-volume (as measured by average daily share volume multiplied by share price) of $183.1 million.

• INTU has traded 54,077 shares today.

• INTU is trading at a new lifetime high.

Intuit Inc. provides business and financial management solutions for small businesses, consumers, and accounting professionals in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, India, and Singapore. The stock currently has a dividend yield of 0.9%. INTU has a PE ratio of 34.4. Currently there are 7 analysts that rate Intuit a buy, 1 analyst rates it a sell, and 8 rate it a hold.

The average volume for Intuit has been 1.9 million shares per day over the past 30 days. Intuit has a market cap of $22.9 billion and is part of the technology sector and computer software & services industry. The stock has a beta of 0.83 and a short float of 4% with 4.84 days to cover. Shares are up 6% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Wednesday.

TheStreetRatings.com Analysis:

TheStreet Quant Ratings rates Intuit as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, notable return on equity, good cash flow from operations, solid stock price performance and expanding profit margins. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

• Although INTU's debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22 is very low, it is currently higher than that of the industry average. Along with the favorable debt-to-equity ratio, the company maintains an adequate quick ratio of 1.11, which illustrates the ability to avoid short-term cash problems.
• Current return on equity exceeded its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a clear sign of strength within the company. Compared to other companies in the Software industry and the overall market, INTUIT INC's return on equity significantly exceeds that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.
• Net operating cash flow has increased to $332.00 million or 29.68% when compared to the same quarter last year. The firm also exceeded the industry average cash flow growth rate of -0.99%.
• Compared to where it was a year ago today, the stock is now trading at a higher level, regardless of the company's weak earnings results. Turning our attention to the future direction of the stock, it goes without saying that even the best stocks can fall in an overall down market. However, in any other environment, this stock still has good upside potential despite the fact that it has already risen in the past year.
• INTUIT INC has experienced a steep decline in earnings per share in the most recent quarter in comparison to its performance from the same quarter a year ago. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. But, we feel it is poised for EPS growth in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, INTUIT INC increased its bottom line by earning $2.71 versus $2.53 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($3.57 versus $2.71).