Where's My Tax Refund?

Mar 15, 2013 (Government Technology - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The annual Taxes and Savings Survey from Capital One Bank reveals that 85 percent of Americans expect to get a tax refund this year. Those taxpayers expecting a hefty sum back from the government are likely well aware that there is now less than a month until the Monday, April 15, filing deadline.

While the IRS predicts that the average federal tax refund will approach $3,000, most taxpayers still confess to some tax day-related anxiety. Many free tools exist to help the taxpaying public navigate the tricky waters of filing taxes. Here are a few: "Attention online shoppers! This digital tool may be your new BFF!" So says CNN of Slice, which can pull all your purchase data from your email account, allowing you to compile a record of your online purchases. Offered for iPhones, Android and online, Slice can help find deductions you've long since forgotten about, giving you a browsable list than can be downloaded and exported as a .csv file.

The award-winning Bloomberg BNA Quick Tax Reference app (screenshot at left) is a convenient guide to answer tax questions within a few clicks. Find out about individual and corporate tax rate schedules, mileage rates, estate taxes, retirement plan limits and more. Information is available for tax years 2011, 2012 and 2013. The app is available for Apple devices, Android and BlackBerry.

Helping you organize your digital life, and more specifically your tax-related digital life is the widely used Evernote, available online and for Android, iOS, BlackBerry and Windows phones and tablets. Scan and store receipts, financial statements and W-2 forms, and anything else you need come tax time. Shared notebooks mean spouses can contribute and access information from anywhere. Evernote also offers text-recognition technology, making even hand-written documents searchable.

United Way Worldwide, in partnership with the National Disability Institute and Goodwill, is behind MyFreeTaxes.com, which provides free assistance for low-income Americans in filing state and federal tax returns. United Way is using inContact's cloud-based contact center software to deal with major spikes in call volume to its taxpayer support centers, which can be reached at 1-855-698-9435.

Now that your return has been filed, and you're formulating your spending (or savings) plan, you'll want to check on the status of your refund. According to the IRS, 90 percent of returns filed electronically have refunds issued within 21 days. Refund status can be checked within 24 hours of e-filing, via the IRS' Where's My Refund website or by downloading the IRS2Go mobile app, available for iOS and Android operating systems.

Integrated with TurboTax, Mint can ease the filing process by compiling all your financial information in one place, giving you a complete picture of where your money is going. When the refund comes in, Mint offers advice on the best options for growing your money via CDs or high-yield savings accounts. If completing your tax returns results in a balance due, the free service offers practical tips to trim your budget. Mint is available for iOS and Android tablets and smartphones.

Photo from Shutterstock ___ (c)2013 Government Technology Visit Government Technology at www.govtech.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

[ Back To Contact Center Solutions Homepage's Homepage ]

Related Contact Center Solutions Articles

MetricNet Publishes 4 New Australian Benchmarks for IT Support, Contact Centres
[ Read More ]
05/21/2013

Liverpool Bosch Contact Center Hopes for Threefold Expansion by Year End
[ Read More ]
05/03/2013

Bunchball Unveils Augmented Gamification Tools for Jive Platform
[ Read More ]
04/08/2013

Teleperformance Earns the Multimedia Contact Center Award
[ Read More ]
03/19/2013

Shangri-La Unveils Customer Contact Center in China
[ Read More ]
03/13/2013

B. Braun Uses NextiraOne for UC and Contact Center Support
[ Read More ]
03/12/2013

Contact Centre Australia Generates Job Growth in Wellington, New Zealand
[ Read More ]
03/04/2013

[ View all Contact Center Solutions Articles ]

Contact Center Solutions Glossary of Terms

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O

Featured Whitepaper

Microsoft® Lync® in the Contact Center: Integrating with Customer Interaction Center™ to Provide a Barrierâ€free Customer Experience To implement contact center functionality, organizations using Microsoft Lync Server 2010 can follow the unified communications blueprint of open standards interoperability and integrate to a contact center solution of their choice. Customer Interaction Center (CIC) from Interactive Intelligence is a proven best of breed contact center solution that merits consideration ...

Featured Success Story

Interactive Intelligence all-in-one IP communications software suite integrated with Microsoft Lync helps Bentley save $200,000 annually.

Featured Product Demo

Contact Center Solutions Interaction Analyzer™

Interaction Analyzer™
Real-time word and phrase spotting. Alerting. Analytics. Scoring. Coaching. Watch how Interaction Analyzer turns every moment, of every past and present call, into data that lets you deliver an exceptional customer experience.