Kanye West is still making headlines, and not for good reason. On a recent podcast episode, West says he could have gone to prison for owing $50 million to the IRS.

IRS issues are actually a lot more common than you think. According to Jackson Hewitt, statistics show that people are more likely than not to run afoul of the taxman. Each year, nearly 30 million taxpayers will receive some sort of penalty from the IRS for failing to file their taxes correctly. As of 2019, more than 20 million people owe taxes to the IRS but cannot pay them. And millions of people, each year, either under-report their taxes or make a math error on their taxes — which, of course, results in more penalties and fees. If there’s one thing the IRS is going to do, it’s get the money that you owe them! In this regard, too, celebrities are just like us when it comes to IRS issues. We’ve all heard at least one story of one celebrity who has been slapped with a gobsmackingly large tax bill. And while many of these issues can be resolved with a good attorney and a reasonable proposal to the omnipresent government agency, it can still be distressing when a tax lien comes to...

Don’t let tax time sneak up on you. Planning now can save you from making errors that could keep you from receiving the full refund to which you’re entitled. Or you might accidentally pay less than you owe and have to pay a penalty and interest on the unpaid balance. Whether you’ll need to complete an individual or a business tax return, here’s what you can do now to get a jump-start on your 2021 tax return: Filing an Individual Return Start by pulling together receipts for any items you plan to list as itemized deductions and gather your dependents’ information, such as their childcare expenses, as well as any child support payments you may have received. Put all these documents in a single secure place, so you have them when you get ready to file. You’ll also want to determine which tax preparation method you’ll use. If you need a third-party preparer, shop around now. At the start of the year, gather all the documents you’ll receive from third-parties, such as: Income statements,...

Filing taxes can be a major pain, especially with many services charging hundreds of dollars. You might be wondering why the Internal Revenue Service doesn’t just make their own program to help, but it’s complicated. In 2002, the IRS made an agreement with tax software companies — like H&R Block and TurboTax — known as the Free File Program . This agreement let Americans making under $66,000 per year access tax software companies’ systems for free. However, the IRS agreed to not make its own competing software. A controversial provision to the Taxpayer First Act would’ve made that agreement permanent by making it illegal for the IRS to develop their own software . Now, it seems that won’t be a part of the bill, according to Gizmodo . It’s not hard to see why the tax industry would want to ban the IRS from creating its own free, online system. Nobody is going to dish out hundreds of dollars to a third-party if you can file directly through the government. Although this decision...