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The Internal Revenue Service announced today that it is providing taxpayers an additional day to file and pay their taxes following system issues that surfaced early on the April 17 tax deadline. Individuals and businesses with a filing or payment due date of April 17 will now have until midnight on Wednesday, April 18. Taxpayers […]

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The State Legislature is considering extending the opportunity for counties to adopt a GET Surcharge (HB2587). Current estimates just received from the State Tax Research & Planning Officer, Department of Taxation, State of Hawaii are double the previous estimates presented to the County Council. This corrected estimate was due to the method of allocation to […]

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MEDIA RELEASE Gov. Neil Abercrombie has signed one bill relating to tax deductions resulting from donations to charitable organizations and two bills related to law enforcement. HB430 (Relating to Taxation) exempts charitable deductions from the itemized state income tax deduction caps. “With the state economy and revenue picture greatly improved since I took office, we […]

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IRS-trained and certified volunteers are ready to help low to moderate income and older taxpayers prepare their returns and claim the EITC they deserve. IRS volunteers believe that preparing an accurate tax return is the most important aspect of providing quality service to taxpayers and have put fundamental steps in place to ensure quality.

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Last week, in his State of the Union address, President Obama said: “Tax reform should follow the Buffett Rule.” Today, U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) and seven colleagues introduced legislation to make that goal a reality and put an end to a tax policy that often asks middle class workers to pay higher tax […]

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Governor Neil Abercrombie signed House Bill 1038 which raises the retirement age for certain new employees to 60 years-old and most others to 65 years-old. The number of years to be ‘vested’ rises from five to 10 years. A dozen other bills were also signed into law by Abercrombie.

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MEDIA RELEASE The Internal Revenue Service has started processing individual tax returns affected by legislation enacted in December and reminded taxpayers that they can begin filing electronically immediately. On Monday, IRS systems began to accept and process both e-file and paper tax returns claiming itemized deductions on Form 1040, Schedule A, as well as deductions […]

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Five states do without a general statewide sales tax: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon. Four of them prohibit local-option taxes as well, so they have a combined rate of zero. Alaska does allow the local option, notably Juneau’s city sales tax rate of 5 percent, and the weighted average of the local rates […]

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MEDIA RELEASE IRS Free File is starting its ninth year of helping make taxes a little less taxing. Everyone can use Free File, the free way to prepare and e-file federal taxes either through brand-name software or online fillable forms. Individuals or families with 2010 adjusted gross incomes of $58,000 or less can use Free […]

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If you’re waiting until the last minute … you don’t have many minutes left. Today is the filing deadline for individual federal tax returns. Post offices across the state closed at the their regular times, but you can still have your tax returns postmarked by midnight at 27 post offices. Collection boxes will accommodate last-minute […]

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State government tax collections totaled $715.2 billion in fiscal year 2009, a $66.9 billion (8.6 percent) decrease from 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today. According to data from the 2009 Annual Survey of State Government Tax Collections, taxes on individual income were $245.9 billion, down 11.8 percent, while general sales taxes were $228.1 billion, […]

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MEDIA RELEASE WASHINGTON — People who give to charities providing earthquake relief in Haiti can claim these donations on the tax return they are completing this season, according to the Internal Revenue Service. Taxpayers who itemize deductions on their 2009 return qualify for this special tax relief provision, enacted Jan. 22. Only cash contributions made […]

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Over 200 people turned out in both Hilo and Kona for a protest of government spending and taxes.

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