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On March 1, 2013, the Treasury department will stop mailing paper checks to Social Security recipients. Retirees will be required to choose to have their Social Security payments either directly deposited into a bank or credit union account or loaded onto a prepaid Direct Express Debit MasterCard.
New Social Security beneficiaries have been required to choose an electronic payment option since May 2011, and approximately 93 % of Social Security and Supplemental Security Income payments are already being made electronically.

To get an update on your tax refund call 1-800-829-4477.

The IRS will waive the usual fees and expedite requests for copies of previously filed tax returns for affected taxpayers.
Taxpayers should put the assigned Disaster Designation in red ink at the top of Form 4506, Request for Copy of Tax Return, or Form 4506-T, Request for Transcript of Tax Return, as appropriate, and submit it to the IRS.

Affected taxpayers in a federally declared disaster area have the option of claiming disaster-related casualty losses on their federal income tax return for either this year or last year.
Claiming the loss on an original or amended return for last year will get the taxpayer an earlier refund, but waiting to claim the loss on this year’s return could result in a greater tax saving, depending on other income factors.
Individuals may deduct personal property losses that are not covered by insurance or other reimbursements.
For details, see Form 4684 and its instructions.

The IRS toll-free disaster assistance telephone number, 1-866-562-5227, if you are a hurricane victim with specific questions about tax relief or disaster related tax issues.

The IRS is providing help to the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Special tax relief and assistance is available to taxpayers in the Presidential Disaster Areas.
So far, the IRS filing and payment relief applies to the following localities identified by FEMA for Individual Assistance due to Hurricane Sandy:
In Connecticut: Fairfield, Middlesex, New Haven, and New London Counties and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and Mohegan Tribal Nation located within New London County;
In Maryland: Somerset County
In New Jersey: Atlantic, Bergen, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Essex, Gloucester, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Salem, Somerset, Sussex, Union and Warren;
In New York: Bronx, Kings, Nassau, New York, Orange, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Sullivan, Suffolk, Ulster and Westchester;
In Rhode Island: Newport and Washington counties.
Other locations may be added in coming days based on additional damage assessments by FEMA.

For information on disaster recovery, individuals should visit disasterassistance.gov or http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/Help-for-Victims-of-Hurricane-Sandy

Qualified disaster relief payments made to individuals by their employers or any other person may be excluded from those individuals’ taxable income.
Employer-sponsored private foundations may provide disaster relief to affected employees without endangering their tax-exempt status.

The following tax forms will be accepted by the IRS in late February or into March after updating forms and completing programming and testing of its processing systems. A specific date will be announced by the IRS in the near future.
•Form 3800 General Business Credit •Form 4136 Credit for Federal Tax Paid on Fuels •Form 4562 Depreciation and Amortization (Including Information on Listed Property) •Form 5074 Allocation of Individual Income Tax to Guam or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands •Form 5471 Information Return of U.S. Persons With Respect to Certain Foreign Corporations •Form 5695 Residential Energy Credits •Form 5735 American Samoa Economic Development Credit •Form 5884 Work Opportunity Credit •Form 6478 Credit for Alcohol Used as Fuel •Form 6765 Credit for Increasing Research Activities •Form 8396 Mortgage Interest Credit •Form 8582 Passive Activity Loss Limitations •Form 8820 Orphan Drug Credit •Form 8834 Qualified Plug-in Electric and Electric Vehicle Credit •Form 8839 Qualified Adoption Expenses •Form 8844 Empowerment Zone and Renewal Community Employment Credit •Form 8845 Indian Employment Credit •Form 8859 District of Columbia First-Time Homebuyer Credit •Form 8864 Biodiesel and Renewable Diesel Fuels Credit •Form 8874 New Markets Credits •Form 8900 Qualified Railroad Track Maintenance Credit •Form 8903 Domestic Production Activities Deduction •Form 8908 Energy Efficient Home Credit •Form 8909 Energy Efficient Appliance Credit •Form 8910 Alternative Motor Vehicle Credit •Form 8911 Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit •Form 8912 Credit to Holders of Tax Credit Bonds •Form 8923 Mine Rescue Team Training Credit •Form 8932 Credit for Employer Differential Wage Payments •Form 8936 Qualified Plug-in Electric Drive Motor Vehicle Credit

Following the January tax law changes made by Congress under the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA), the Internal Revenue Service announced today it plans to open the 2013 filing season and begin processing the majority of individual income tax returns on January 30th 2013.
There are several forms affected by the late legislation that require more extensive programming and testing of IRS systems. The IRS hopes to begin accepting tax returns including these tax forms between late February and into March