Because of the late passage by Congress of the American Taxpayer Relief Act, the IRS announced that the filing season for individual tax returns should begin on January 30th.

According to the IRS Acting Commissioner Steven T. Miller, "We have worked hard to open tax season as soon as possible.  This date ensures we have the time we need to update and test our processing systems."

This means that the majority of income tax filers will be able to start electronically file their returns starting January 30th, but there are still some taxpayers who will have to wait until late February or even into March before they will be able to file their return.  Individuals who claim residential energy credits, depreciation of property, or general business credits will have to wait for the IRS to complete more extensive testing and updating of their system before those returns will be eligible to file.

According to the IRS, they will not process any paper filed returns before January 30, and that taxpayers will receive their refunds faster by electronically filing the return.

Since I really do not know much about how to blog, I decided that when something tax or accounting related comes around that seems to affect a lot of people or something that is not very well known, that I'll try to write about it.  

I had a client this past year who mentioned to me that she suffers from Celiac disease and that the cost of certain foods were very expensive.  I did not know much about the disease except that people who suffer from it cannot tolerate foods with gluten.  I decided to do some more research to see if there was any tax related deduction that could be used to offset the increased cost of the non-gluten food products.  As it turns out, there have been IRS revenue rulings and court cases to establish a precedent for people who have been medically diagnosed with Celiac or other conditions that require following a gluten-free diet to claim a medical expense deduction on Schedule A of the tax return.

The Internal Revenue Service issued the 2013 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.

Beginning on Jan. 1, 2013, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:

• 56.5 cents per mile for business miles driven
• 24 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes
• 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations