CPA's. Should I...?
Question:
She said if I filed, since I didn't make anything to file, I would have to file some special paper (I can't remember what it's called) but it would actually maybe cost me.
If I didn't have any income in '06, do I need to file? Is it a big deal if I don't?
Answer:
If you have no income in 2006, you don't need to file. You will not be penalized. Your expenses are only deductible if you have income to offset them. The IRS won't give you any free money. They only give you a refund of what you have paid them in advance and have determined that you overpaid when you filed your returns. But if you don't have any income, then you also didn't pay them any taxes in advance, and therefore, no refund will be coming your way.
If you had expenses, then file taxes - you probably will get some money back from the IRS. And you might look into finding a new CPA.
I cannot tell, from what you disclosed, what your current CPA was suggesting... unless he/she was referring to making an election to capitalize business start-up and organizational costs, for your new business.
Information as to Starting a Business can be found at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p535.pdf.
Refer to Chapter 8 of the above reference, to learn about making the election to amortize (deduct a portion of) those start-up and organizational costs over 5/15 (depending when the start-up and organizational costs were incurred) years. Specifically, see page 26 of that publication at "How to Make the Election."
Even so, my understanding is that, for this purpose, if your new business did not start in 2006, you need not file a 2006 Income Tax Return.
As had been suggested by other users, if you did not pay in refundable withholding taxes or estimated taxes, you need not file a 2006 return.
If you did pay in refundable estimated taxes (which, by your question, it seems that you did not) you should file a 2006 return to get your refund.
As for "free money" from the IRS, that happens when a taxpayer qualifies for the Earned Income Credit, for example. For taxpayers who earned low incomes, relative to their family size, yes, the IRS does redistribute wealth to such taxpayers... "free money," but that does not seem to apply to your case.
Phil
http://www.phillipfostercpa.com/tax.html...
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