Tips For Paying The IRS For Payroll Taxes

Taxes have been around for decades and aren’t going away any time soon. President Lincoln created the Internal Revenue Service and introduced the first income tax in 1862 to pay for the very costly North’s civil war expenses. When there is war, there are taxes to finance it.
Taxes are part of our everyday life. Each week, month or year we pay taxes for our properties, income, etc..

Here are some tips for paying the IRS with care so you don’t get it wrong and wind up with an IRS audit.

Handle Checks With Care

Before you drop that check into the mailbox make sure you annotate your check. In the bottom left hand corner you can put “balance due on 2018 Form 1040” for instance. Or if it is an estimated payment mark it “2019 Estimate Payment”.

Also include your phone number and Social Security Number or EIN number. Those that are filing as a joint return should use your SS# and those that are filing as a business use your EIN (employer identification number).

Keep Payments Separate

If you are paying for more than one payment, keep the separated. It is better to use more checks than confuse the IRS with lumping all your payments together. This is important when you are paying prior year taxes versus paying your estimated taxes for this fiscal year. Writing separate checks makes it much easier for the IRS to identify where the money should be credited.

Itemized Deductions

Here’s a great customer question, “I live in a house that is owned by my relatives and there is still a mortgage on it. We pay the mortgage payments and the real estate taxes on the property. Who gets to claim the mortgage interest and property taxes?

Answer: The person that ins legally obligated to pay those expenses, which usually is the property owner, normally gets to write them off. In this case, no one may get to write them off, because the legal owner isn’t the one paying the fees and the person paying the fees doesn’t legally own the property. Check with your accountant or tax professional for more clarification, too, as we are not tax professionals.
A reminder that a good accountant or tax professional will help guide you in what you can and can’t claim on your taxes each year.
At Check-Write payroll, we specialize in payroll deductions, payroll, and keeping you in the clear with rules and regs. a business use your EIN (employer identification number).