You may be able to claim a credit for other dependents if you pay for the majority of your roommate's expenses. If you qualify, this deduction can reduce your tax bill, but you must make sure you meet strict criteria before claiming this deduction on your tax return. 

The IRS can seize your tax refunds if you owe money to the government or delinquent child support. 

Tax avoidance and tax evasion both reduce your tax bill. But tax avoidance involves using legal strategies to reduce how much tax you owe, while tax evasion is a crime punishable by fines and possible jail time. Staying on the right side of the law requires you to understand the distinctions between these two concepts - if in doubt, use TaxCure to find a tax professional to help you. 

The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 that was passed late last year extended an eligibility requirement change through 2012 that was created under The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The eligibility requirement change allows workers to claim the credit as long as their income was $3,000 or more. This is what people are referring to when they talk about the “additional child tax credit.” In essence, individuals who are paying no taxes, are eligible to receive a tax refund. So how does this all work?

A few weeks into Trump's 2nd presidency, I started receiving automated phone calls about a so called new tax forgiveness program under the Trump Adminstration. This isn't the first time misleading claims about tax forgiveness programs have circulated via robocalls as we reported one a few years ago about the "Biden Tax Forgiveness Plan" or the "Zero Tax" plan. The recent call I received followed the same patten. Below is the transcript of the automated call I answered.