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Visiting a tax professional is always a good way to go during tax season. But you still need to prepare, even if someone else going to be doing your taxes for you. We’ve outlined nine tips for making the most of your accountant experience. And hopefully, by following these rules, your accountant is so appreciative they work extra hard to get you the money you deserve.

It’s tax season readers, and we’ve been offering up tons of advice (here, here, here, and here) to help you make it through. But even with all the advice in the world, there’s a chance you could be audited. Dun Dun Dunnnnnn!

We gathered a first-hand account of what it’s like to be audited, giving our brave author anonymity to spare her any further pain. Read on and take heed.

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I was audited. It’s everyone’s tax-time nightmare and it can happen to the little guys. In fact, I was 27 years old when it happened, living in New York and making under $50,000 a year. When I got the letter in the mail, I didn’t know what to do. I imagined people yelling at me and demanding thousands more dollars, even though I had dutifully paid my taxes each year.

When the official letter arrived, it was very bare bones. It said I was being audited for the 2008 calendar year and said to come to the IRS office at a set date and time. It then listed several issues that I should be prepared to discuss, including “cash contributions,” “legal and professional services,” and “gross receipts or sales.” What does that mean? Also, the audit could run as long as four hours.

I immediately thought back to 2008 to figure what happened that year. I paid someone to do my taxes because I was freelancing. But that was the year I transitioned from freelancing back to a full-time position, so everything had been confusing.

I was terrified. I emailed my tax guy with a scanned copy of the letter from the IRS. He did nothing to comfort me, just saying audits happen and he would gladly be my representative for the IRS meeting for several hundred dollars. I declined.

Next, I called the examining officer who was assigned to my case, nearly in tears, and asked him if he could tell me more of what I should expect. I was planning to move into my own apartment that spring and didn’t want to spend all the money involved with that if I owed the government thousands of dollars. He, of course, told me there wasn’t much he could say over the phone, but I must have sounded so sad and scared that he eventually looked at my file and quickly calculated a worst-case scenario of owing like $800.

That chat slightly eased my concerns about the money, but I was still terrified of what exactly this audit would entail. A finance-focused friend from my church read over the letter and heard more about my situation, explaining what exactly everything meant and what I can do to prepare.

The Double Saving Divas, Tai and Tarin Perry

Our last Facebook chat with the Double Saving Divas tackled a variety of issues having to do with budgeting, saving, and personal finance. Here’s a quick summary of nine of the topics we tackled.

We host Facebook chats with the Double Saving Divas twice per month. Don’t miss the next one! Besides their regular articles, which appear on the MN Business site, we also send reminders on Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to follow us on social media to keep up with the latest!

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In case you didn’t realize it, there’s an organization called the National Association for the Self-Employed, and they have a program launching today that will offer tax tips and other information and advice on the NASE website. The goal is to help small business owners and the self-employed to file accurate tax forms.

According to the press release announcing the program, there will be weekly tax tips posted on the organization’s website, webinars to answer questions and share details about the filing process, and information about the different ways that the tax code has changed for this year. For instance,  ”The standard mileage rate for business use of an automobile has changed from 2011 rates to 55.5 cents per mile for 2012 (and 56.5 cents for 2013).”

The organization is also offering advice about deductions, which many people often don’t take full advantage of.

The NASE has already participated in a story on Yahoo Small Business that offers some tips and tricks to the self-employed and small business owners, as they prepare their tax filings. The NASE is also accepting new members, for those looking for a resource throughout the year.

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Everyone’s looking for the best possible refund from their taxes this season, and the best service to use to get the most money back. With an average of $3000 as the tax refund for most filers in 2012, Americans are looking for better and faster ways to maximize refunds in 2013, with many filers looking online for preparation resources.

If you are still looking for tax preparation resources, an e-filing service or a reliable tax calculator to help you out this season, do your research on these nine online tax preparation services.

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Tax refunds help Americans in more ways than one. Instead of spending on shoes, clothes and other frivolous items, many Americans are looking forward to their tax money being spent on bills, past due payments and their families, especially with the economic outlook of 2013 and its impact on American spending. Even the IRS has been having trouble keeping up with the influx of tax return requests, asking taxpayers to give them more time to complete filings, which could slow down your refund.

There are about seven weeks left until the final April 15 deadline. But with so many people getting a jump, it’s not too soon to give some thought to how best to use that refund. Find better ways to spend your tax dollars this season, and even get ahead for next year’s tax season, with these wise tax season purchases and investments. You’ll be glad you took the time (and money) to do so!

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The 2013 tax season is here, and with many close friends, family members and acquaintances offering their personal services and advice, they might overlook a few of the tax deductions you could possibly qualify for.

Filing your taxes may seem simple enough, but make sure you are getting all you deserve from the year and take note of these commonly overlooked tax deductions before filing and completing your taxes for the season.

As this year’s tax deadline has arrived, many of you have already filed your personal income taxes for 2011. Some of you even filed extra early because you had a big refund coming. But here’s something you should remember about tax refunds: if you’re getting a refund, you’re probably doing something wrong.

Here’s the way your income taxes work. When you start a job, you fill out a W-9 tax form that tells your employer how much you’d like him to withhold from your paychecks to send the IRS in anticipation of your tax obligation. When you file your income taxes the next spring, the IRS compares what you actually owe to what you’ve already paid through paycheck withholding. You only get a refund if you paid too much.

Of course, getting money back is obviously better than owing money. But a tax refund isn’t a bonus. It’s the money you overpaid. It’s just that you’ve essentially allowed the government to hold onto that money all year. They didn’t pay you interest on it. They didn’t give you a nice card. They didn’t even say thank you. They just sent you a check like they’ve done you some sort of favor.

Now some people can’t save any other way or just prefer to receive this money in one big lump sum every year. But if you’re someone who doesn’t need the government to hold your money all year and then hand it back to you when they’re ready, you don’t really want a tax refund. Instead, you could use that extra money to live on throughout the year. Or you could invest it and earn money on it. If that sounds better to you, you should fill out your W-9 tax form in a way that limits the amount your employer takes out of your paycheck so that you’re about even at the end of the year.

Fortunately, the IRS has an online withholding calculator to help you figure out how much you should be sending in from your checks. Using it, you can adjust your W-9 tax form so that you’re paying just what you owe instead of overpaying.

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(Smart  Money) — It’s now pretty clear the economy won’t be returning to good health this year. Until further notice, next year doesn’t look so hot either. So let’s revisit some tax-saving opportunities that are especially relevant between now and when the gloom lifts. I’ve covered all these before, but now they’re cataloged in one place right here.

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(Smart Money) — For the 2009 tax year, an estimated 47% of U.S. households did not pay any federal income tax. The percentage was a bit higher than normal due to the lousy economy and some allegedly temporary tax breaks that may not be renewed. The long-term percentage of non-taxpaying households is apparently around 40%. This is according to the Tax Policy Center, a Washington research outfit.

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