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Tag: Tax Refund

  • IRS e-file Season Begins This Weekend

    The IRS officially began processing 2013 tax returns this Friday, starting this year’s tax season. The IRS hopes that their e-filing process, along with their direct deposit system, will encourage users to process their return early, instead of waiting until April 15th. The IRS’ e-file is free for anyone who earned less than $58,000 in 2013. Using e-file and direct deposit, the IRS estimates that you could see your return in as early as 10 days, with the reminder that it usually takes up to 21 days. The IRS is even rolling out a “Where’s My Refund?” site, but advise that you only check once a day to avoid overwhelming the system.

    On average, most users taking early advantage of the e-filing system are those expecting a large refund. Which makes sense – who wants to wait around to receive their money? For those expecting to owe, they tend to wait until closer to the deadline, as there’s no discount or tax break for filing early. (You can even file for an extension too, if you can’t pay by April 15th.) But for most of us – 75% of all taxpayers, to be precise – can expect to see some sort of refund this year (the average refund last year was over $2,500).

    Of course, private companies like TurboTax and H&R Block encourage filers to use their free system, too – with TurboTax even offering extra incentives this year. With its Refund Bonus program, users can choose to use part of their refund to purchase an Amazon.com gift card, and TurboTax will add an extra 5 to 10 percent to the amount of the gift card. Of course, the choice of which program to use to e-file is up to you; just remember to double check all of your important documents and get that e-file in by the deadline to enjoy your maximum refund.

    Image via IRS Official Facebook

  • Mobile Tax Searches Surged in 2012

    The fact that over half of America is now connected via smartphone probably accounts for the fact that mobile Google+Mobile+Ads+Blog%29″>tax information searches jumped over 200% this year when compared to statistics from 2010. Obviously this trend reveals a great opportunity for those in the tax business to capitalize and offer more information via mobile-friendly destinations.

    Below, you can see a graph which was provided by google. The red line shows tax searches for desktop computers and the blue illustrates searches from mobile devices. It’s clear there’s a there month period of high activity centered around tax season. From late July to early April people are hurry for tax-related information. No surprise there.

    If you look at the mobile traffic, you’ll see the amount of activity from 2010 to this year’s tax season is dramatically different. In fact, it’s 206% different. Take a look at the graph:

    What Google Mobile Ads blog wants to remind you, is that mobile advertising is hot right now and that if you’re not capitalizing on it, someone else is. Those folks are most likely your competitors. Google wants to help you with this.

    Google offers tax businesses Google+Mobile+Ads+Blog%29″>this advice about going mobile and reaping the rewards of a mobile platform:

    1. Make sure your websites are user friendly. Mobile optimized sites and apps are incorrectly perceived by businesses as being overly complex or expensive. The truth is that there are now so many developers out there that a mobile optimized presence is in reach for any sized business. For more information on mobile websites and even a free mobile website builder, check out www.HowToGoMo.com.

    2. Develop a company level mobile strategy. It is no longer enough to think about how individual business initiatives can have mobile components. Instead, businesses need to have a concrete company-level strategy about how to win on mobile. This is the the focus of our recently published Mobile Playbook which discusses the 5 questions that business executives should be asking themselves about mobile.

    3. Make sure your business can be found on mobile. This means establishing a clear advertising plan, social media strategy, and ensuring relevant and updated content. Learn more about mobile advertising on www.google.com/ads/mobile/ and stay connected with the blog for updates.