One way for low income taxpayers to get help with preparing and filing their federal income tax returns is through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. The organizations participating in the VITA program solicit qualified tax preparers to volunteer to provide services to taxpayers. The services are available to individuals and families with income under $42,000.

VITA was created in 1969, and plays an important role for low income and elderly people. So far this year, VITA volunteers have helped prepare and file over 3 million tax returns. The income tax code is incredibly complex, and even for taxpayers with so-called "simple" tax returns, the process can seem daunting. Certain items like the child credit and earned income credit, both of which many low income taxpayers qualify for, can be confusing and require the help of a professional.

The Internal Revenue Service has just awarded $8 million in grants to organizations participating in the VITA system, so the help available to consumers will be expanded. To locate the VITA sites in your state, call 1-800-829-1040.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

The Internal Revenue Service has about $266 million sitting around, waiting to be retrieved by you. The agency says that 279,000 economic stimulus checks never got to taxpayers ($163 million) and 104,000 tax refunds never made it there either ($103 million). The most common reason taxpayers don't get receive their checks? Address typos or taxpayers who moved without forwarding their mail.

The average stimulus check sitting around waiting to be claimed is $583. That money might come in handy, especially with the current economic turmoil. If you think you might be entitled to a check, you can use this tool on the IRS website to check your stimulus check status and update your address. There's a similar tool for those missing tax refunds.

Remember that when it comes to the IRS, the taxpayer generally bears the full burden of making sure records are accurate. That means if you move, it's your responsibility to notify the IRS. Having the the correct address on file with the agency ensures that you'll get any notices or money in a timely fashion. If you need to update your address with the IRS, you can follow the instructions on this page.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

Could someone please come up with an online tax calculator that includes all of each of John McCain's and Barack Obama's tax proposals? I wrote a few weeks ago about how alchemytoday.com came up with a tax calculator using data from the non-partisan Tax Policy Center. Yesterday the Obama campaign came out with a tax calculator on its own website showing how much your own taxes will be under his plan.

I got a flurry of comments on the old post saying how Obama's tax calculator wasn't non-partisan. Um, yeah, I realize that. That's why I sent readers to this non-partisan tax calculator.

I still think we need a more comprehensive, non-partisan tax calculator that takes into account the various sources of income and deductions. (Though, the more complex a calculator is, the more it's like really doing your taxes and so unappealing.)

Move over, mortgage payment. You're being nudged out of the headlines.

A new report from the Center for Housing Policy reports that almost every major expense associated with home ownership has shot up in the last ten years. (the study looks at the years between 1996 and 2006). The report, "Stretched Thin: The Impact of Rising Housing Expenses on America's Owners and Renters" lays out some sobering realities. But at least you know it's not just your imagination. (make sure to read the comments of this MarketWatch piece. Very interesting).

Not only has the average mortgage payment increased by 46% in those ten years, but property taxes increased 66%. Utilities shot up 43%. Property insurance spiked 83%!

Homeowner Incomes? Those went up by about 36% in those ten years, according to the survey (wonder if they collected that information from mortgage applications. "Liar Loans" were rife in the latter part of that decade).

Renters aren't excluded from this pain, either, as landlords tend to pass their increased costs onto their tenants. According to the report, rents rose by about 51% over the period examined, while renter incomes only rose 31%.

Apart from adding more gloomy news for your weekend, the report does make some recommendations. New housing needs to be far more energy efficient, and built closer to urban centers and public transportation.

For more details, see the entire report here.

The airlines might have found a tax loophole, and you're it. The travel consultancy firm T2 recently published a worrisome blog post that is gaining traction. The airlines' extra fees, it says, aren't just costing consumers more. They're also enabling the airlines to dodge tax to our government.

Until a few months ago, checking a bag was considered a service that came with the base fare that you paid when you bought your plane ticket. That was taxed at a rate of 7.5%. But now many airlines are charging up to $50 for each bag each way, and because it's not part of the base fare, that fee isn't subject to tax. T2 says that cash belongs to the airlines, free and clear.

So a carrier like United, T2 writer Timothy O'Neil-Dunne calculates, would be cheating Uncle Sam out of tax income of $7.5 million for each $100 million it makes on extra fees. Given that United recently surmised that it stood to make $700 million on its extra fees, that's a lot of cash that won't be going to our schools, our roads, our veterans programs, and our elaborate Wall Street bailouts. Not only do consumers get screwed by these extra fees, they get screwed out of the greater good of tax revenue.

Using numbers from the non-partisan Tax Policy Center, the website AlchemyToday came up with a calculator to see how much Barack Obama would raise your taxes. It's a nifty device that should help clarify for people the big differences in economic policy in this election.

Are you making less than $603,000? If so, Obama isn't going to raise your taxes, the data show.

According to a Gallup Poll, 53% of Americans think Obama is going to raise their taxes, compared with just 34% who suspect the same of McCain. That means that at least 48% of Americans don't really understand what Obama is going to do and one-third don't understand what McCain is proposing. Where would so many people get the crazy idea that Obama's secret plan is to raise taxes? Well, it could be because John McCain tells them that every chance he gets.

A couple big stories out today in BusinessWeek and the Los Angeles Times talk about how state and local governments are getting pinched by both high gas prices and falling home values, which cut property tax revenues. They're just as broke as the rest of us. Governments are coming up money-saving schemes that range from creative to despicable. With expenses up and revenues down, governments are hoping to boost other revenues, like traffic tickets and lottery sales. So unless you plan to make up the budget shortfall, watch out.

Twenty-four states are in the red this year, the Times says, quoting stats from the National Conference of State Legislatures. They're cutting the favorite targets of school budgets and public health benefit. Local governments are cutting back on services like buses or parking the bookmobile. Some places are cutting back on all the unnecessary grass-mowing. BusinessWeek says Stillwater, Oklahoma cut its mowing in half, letting parkland turn into prairie. Somewhere Lady Bird Johnson must be smiling.

As much as no one wants to cut back on public safety, for some districts it's inevitable. Cops around the country have to watch their gas spending. Some are switching to alternate vehicles, like golf carts, or just doing foot patrols. Cops in El Paso County, Colo., saw their gas bill climb from $160,000 in 2003 to a projected $700,000 next year, the Times reported, so they stopped car patrols, a move they say will mean they won't be able to catch as many drunk drivers. BusinessWeek says Arizona is going to boost traffic tickets from cameras -- how many speeding tickets can a cop in a golf cart issue -- and stepped up lottery sales. Earlier this year California hatched a new lottery plan and Colorado decided to increase ticket fees. Expect to see these schemes around the country.

One woman spent it on training her puppy. Another couple spent theirs fixing their car. One woman bought a fancy Dyson vacuum cleaner and commented, (I paraphrase here) "I hope it sucks as good and long as this president and administration has." Ouch. But, you know, a valid observation, nicely tied into the current political/economic morass which produced such notions as economic stimulus checks in the first place.

How'd you spend your stimulus check? Before you tell us, check out others who've gone before you. It's all here at Howispentmystimulus.com.

Started by a Park Slope (Brooklyn) resident Rudy Adler, the site is a collaborative effort to collect the stories of ordinary Americans and their decidedly un-ordinary windfalls. It's fascinating reading. And everyone is invited to post their own tale, along with a photo of the purchase.

Even more interesting are the category breakouts. There are 40 entries for Gifts and Donations, 63 for Invest/Savings, and 104 for Travel/Vacation. There are 80 posts under the Debt/Credit Card category. And 95 classified as "other." What's the story here? You'll just have to go investigate yourself.

As I reported last month, I was supposed to get my economic stimulus check direct deposited some time on or before May 9. But the day came and went and I got absolutamente nada.

I then discovered that the IRS had slipped in a stipulation about how if you had filing fees deducted electronically from your return, your economic stimulus would arrive via paper check. In my case, on or around June 20.

So when I got an envelope from the IRS in today's mail, I got all tingly. Could this be it? And just when I was least expecting it? How delicious!

Many parents are going to be unhappy when they open up their stimulus check in the coming weeks and find that the IRS didn't include their children. Despite a government push for No Child Left Behind, the IRS left 350,000 or more families behind when it comes to the economic stimulus package. The good news is that the IRS has identified the problem and is taking steps to get new checks out to those affected.

The glitch was caused by paper filers not marking a certain box and also by errors in two commercial tax preparation programs. These issues human and computer, led the IRS calculations to miss the children when calculating the rebate amounts. Thankfully affected families do not need to take any action to get the rest of their stimulus package, the IRS will be mailing the additional check out in July.

This is likely to be a bummer to many people and I can see why this is annoying. Unfortunately the old adage, "garbage in, garbage out," applies to rebate processing as well. If you filed on paper and didn't check the box, be happy you get a second check in July. If you used one of the affected programs, live with the wait or email the company and ask for your money back. In the end I'd just be happy the tax software didn't make a bigger error setting you up for an audit!

Lately the water-cooler discussion at work has been surrounding who the ultimate beneficiary of my rebate check will be. Knowing I am obsessed with technology, most of my co-workers assumed that I would take my $1,200 and head straight to Best Buy in search of a bigger TV. Others assumed I might pick up a batch of video games or an iPhone. In reality I used my rebate check for a much simpler and exciting purpose, and no, it wasn't blown on quarter wings at Buffalo Wild Wings.

My wife and I spent our stimulus package on debt. Yep; unsexy, non-shiny, can't-unwrap-it-debt. Of course we got there in part from spending on things like gifts, the occasional vacation and things you can unwrap as well as a super-fun MRI last year so getting there was fun anyway. From our actual tax return and our stimulus check we have knocked a nice chunk out of our credit card debt, even paying off one card in an attempt to snowball our way to wealth. The decision to pay down a credit card rather than pick up scrapbooking and electronic items was easier than at least I thought it would be.

Just as my fellow blogger Lita Epstein found that making an extra payment to her mortgage translated into savings above and beyond the initial payment, I know that knocking a grand off of my credit card debt no matter my current interest rate will save me even more in the months to come. This payment is part of our effort to be out of credit card debt by the end of the year. After that we can start looking at our student loans!

I know this isn't the most exciting use for the stimulus package, but It was the best use for us and made the most financial sense. Have you received your stimulus check yet? What are you using it for; Fun, debt reduction, starting an emergency fund, hookers?

I didn't know you could attempt to deduct THX from your TAX return but the good folks at Sound and Vision Magazine have covered many of the issues related to deducting home theater equipment.

As an amateur audiophile and gadget addict, this guide is of particular interest to me, however its usefulness may be questionable for the majority of individuals. If you are up to the challenge, the rewards of home theater deduction may be worth the hassle for anyone ponying up for 7.1-surround and a screen larger than 50 inches.

This process's worth to an average Joe is questionable due to the many requirements a deduction of this type requires. First and foremost you'll need to set up a business for which your home theater is needed. If you can manage to do that, you also need to make sure your home theater gets more than 50% of its use for work related activities. On the upside, if you meet all of the requirements -- including generating income from your business -- you can go all out claiming anything related to your haven of sound and video, even furniture, so long as it all meets the 50% rule.

If you need more help determining if your "movie quotes on demand" service is a business or just a hobby to annoy those around you, check a recent post by Tracy Coenen, Is it a hobby or a business. I wish I could start claiming items I purchase for business use but in all honesty I can't imagine anything I do use in pursuit of blogging being used more than 50% for business, if you can, more power to you. Just don't point your finger at me if the IRS comes a knockin'.

This question comes up a lot as people find themselves regularly participating in the social ill of gambling. Most people lose far more than they win. That's why gambling is so stupid. But what if you "get lucky" and win a chunk of money. Do you have to report it? What if you've lost far more than you've won? Then do you have to report it?

The rules surrounding gambling are simple. Any money you win (from lotteries, raffles, horse racing, casinos, etc.) is taxable. The same goes for any prizes you win, such as cars, electronics, trips, or real estate. You may get a form W-2G to document your winnings, but even if you don't get one, you're responsible for reporting the gambling income.

Your gambling income goes on line 21 of Form 1040. Any gambling losses that you have documented can go on Schedule A of Form 1040. However, you can't deduct more than your gambling winnings. You have to keep accurate records of your winnings and losses. Most people don't seem to do that, but it's what the law requires. Be careful: This is a much-abused part of the tax code because most gamblers don't have records that support their deductions. Don't set yourself up to be audited.

More information can be found on gambling winnings and losses on the IRS website.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

I recently received my W-2 form from my employer and it held a bit of nice news. Working in concert with my employer I managed to shield about $3,000 of my income from being taxed. Through various changes in the tax code made during the Bush administration, we can now have a number of different payouts made with pretax dollars. My employer puts these savings under a heading called a "cafeteria plan." Here's how it helped me to reduce my tax bill.

My employer takes the deduction for my health insurance premium pretax. That's $49 per week untaxed. My employer-provided life insurance premium is paid pretax. That's another $4 untaxed. My company-sponsored IRA account gets $5 per week untaxed, as well as the untaxed contributions which my employer makes to my IRA, out of the goodness of their hearts.

There are other payments which you can make with pretax dollars also. Consult with your employer to see if they enable these types of benefits. As far as I know, the law doesn't require employers to provide these options but many employers do because they can improve workforce morale. It might also be advisable to consult with a tax preparation professional regarding the long term effects and conditions of these types of benefits. Pretax deposits to IRA accounts can later become taxable if you access them before you reach certain age thresholds.

Ken and Daria Dolan are widely known as America's First Family of Personal Finance.

Here's a little tax trivia for you...

How many pages long is the United States Tax Code? If you guessed 18,500, you win the prize. It's no wonder that so many of us make mistakes when filing our federal income tax forms.

A mistake or two on your tax return can bring you unnecessary stress, delay your refund and subject you to more pesky paperwork -- or worse yet, an appointment with an IRS agent to fix the problem.

But here's the good news... The most common taxpayer mistakes are, for the most part, very simple to avoid once you know to watch out for them. So let's look at the Dolans' Dirty Dozen. Here are 12 common taxpayer mistakes you can easily avoid: