IRS’s Direct Pay Service Is Gaining Popularity

Everyone seems to love things that are automatic. In fact, when it comes to financial transactions, cash is hardly ever involved anymore, these days, as everything happens with either swipes or pushing buttons. The same is true with taxes, including the popular e-file option for millions of taxpayers every year.
It turns out getting your refund isn’t the only way to do things electronically with the IRS. The federal tax agency is also very glad to take your money through electronic means. In fact, according to the IRS, it has now processed more than one million electronic tax payments through its Direct Pay option, for a grand total of more than $1.7 billion.
The IRS’s Direct Pay system allows people to pay their tax bills or estimated tax payments online. It is a free service and payments go directly from your bank account to the IRS. The system is not just for tax season, either. With the tax correspondence season now hitting full steam, additional tax assessments and bills for unpaid taxes will soon be arriving in taxpayers’ mailboxes.
With Direct Pay people can make those payments 24 hours a day, seven days a week and the IRS hopes many people will use this service. If you should mess up you also have the option to fix your mistake so long as the payment hasn’t already been processed. Of course, if you do use Direct Pay, make sure you have money in your account to cover the bill.
The Roth Way to Riches
The Roth Way to Riches By Roy Lewis With all the recent tax-code changes, it seems a number of taxpayers have forgotten the Roth IRA. That’s a shame, because it’s far more than an ordinary retirement savings account. Roth IRAs are tax-favored accounts to which qualified taxpayers can make non-deductible, after-tax contributions. Those contributions can…
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) Medicare legislation enacted in December 2003 provides for a prescription drug benefit that won’t exist until 2006. But also part of the new law is a provision that went into effect on January 1, 2004—the creation of the Health Savings Account (HSA). By opening an HSA, you may be allowed to…
Choosing Your Executor and Trustee
Choosing Your Executor and Trustee You know that it’s vital to make a proper will and keep it up to date. No less critical is the need to select your executor or personal representative with care. You may believe that any friend or relative whom you might select could do the job. Perhaps so. But…
Estate Planning is Not “One Size Fits All”
Estate Planning is Not “One Size Fits All” Married, never married, widowed, divorced—each of us has unique needs when it comes to how and to whom we make our bequests. Here, in a brief discussion, are a few checkpoints for developing an estate planning strategy for people who are on their own. Review your will…