ONLY TRUST www.irs.gov

I am seeing some
advertisers on my site that are not familiar. The best way to get to a Secured site; like a tax preparation site, you want to go directly to that site.

I. Safety tip! when you look at the Title of a Site you are Searching, it may say File Free Here on the top, but where it says www. there will be the site name ie; irs and since it is a government agency - .gov. Misleading sites will say www. freeirs. com, leading you to think it is irs. The name of the business or agency should be the First Thing after www or don't go there.

II. A site is secure (safe from normal to high intrusion attempts), when the browser address [example: http://www.yahoo.com/yadayada] that is standard. Secure is https://www.taxslayer.com with a padlock on the browser. Continue to check for the "s" at the end of the http_. You are then secure.

While Congress is in Session...

~ Part of Lesson One: If you don't know 'how' you get taxes, then you cannot understand that as a Citizen, you have more influence than you realize when it comes to Tax Code, and Tax Law & Rule Changes.

The reason Tax Payers and Tax Services have to wait until the middle of January to start the Tax Filing Season is because the Congress, the House of Representatives and the Executive Branch (President and Crew) have to finalize and agree with what your 1040 is going to say, what Exemptions will be given, any Credits, Changes of Tax Rates etc.

One thing I will ask those who are able: Contact your State & Federal Representatives and voice your loud Concern over the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). If it is not repealed, or another "fix" put on it, for the Tax Year of 2008, it will be the final straw for many Middle Class Taxpayers.

Incomes from $19,000.00 - $155,000.00 are paying an inordinate rate of their entire income in Taxes. [Remember the tax paid on everything; utilities, state & local, goods, bonuses, fuel, phones, license, registrations, etc].

If the AMT goes on without attention, many of those in the income brackets listed previously will have their usual deductions partly or completely phased out - in other words...Your Mortgage Interest, College Tuition etc will no longer be a deduction for you. For those who will have a huge loss on Schedule D this year, the final straw will be how much tax you will still have to pay.

At present, those making over $200,000.00 pay less as it goes up. Please talk to your Tax Professional, CPA or Accountant about the AMT, then your Congressional Representatives. We are the People and we have a voice, we just don't remember how to use it.