After filing income tax returns, taxpayers eagerly await their refunds. The waiting could be excruciating, and sometimes, maddening. However, the Internal Revenue Service has made it easy for you to check the status of your refund. You will need your social security number, filing status, and the exact amount of refund you are expecting, and then, head on the IRS tracking tool and fill in the numbers.

Here are seven things you should know about checking the status of your refund once you have filed your federal tax return.

1. Online Access to Refund Information

Where’s My Refund? or ¿Dónde está mi reembolso? are interactive tools on IRS.gov and the fastest, easiest way to get information about your federal income tax refund. Whether you split your refund among several accounts, opted for direct deposit into one account, used part of your refund to buy U.S. savings bonds or asked the IRS to mail you a check, Where’s My Refund? and ¿Dónde está mi reembolso? give you online access to your refund information nearly 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s quick, easy and secure.

2. When to Check Refund Status

If you e-file, you can get refund information 72 hours after the IRS acknowledges receipt of your return. If you file a paper return, refund information will generally be available three to four weeks after mailing your return.

3. What You Need to Check Refund Status

When checking the status of your refund, have your federal tax return handy. To get your personalized refund information you must enter:

• Your Social Security Number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number
• Your filing status which will be Single, Married Filing Joint Return, Married Filing Separate Return, Head of Household, or Qualifying Widow(er)
• Exact whole dollar refund amount shown on your tax return

4. What the Online Tool Will Tell You

Once you enter your personal information, you could get several responses, including:

• Acknowledgement that your return was received and is in processing.
• The mailing date or direct deposit date of your refund.
• Notice that the IRS could not deliver your refund due to an incorrect address. In this instance, you may be able to change or correct your address online using Where’s My Refund?.

5. Customized Information

Where’s My Refund? also includes links to customized information based on your specific situation. The links guide you through the steps to resolve any issues affecting your refund.  For example, if you do not get the refund within 28 days from the original IRS mailing date shown on Where’s My Refund?, you may be able to start a refund trace.

6. Visually Impaired Taxpayers

Where’s My Refund? is also accessible to visually impaired taxpayers who use the Job Access with Speech screen reader used with a Braille display and is compatible with different JAWS modes.

7. Toll-free Number

If you do not have internet access, you can check the status of your refund in English or Spanish by calling the IRS Refund Hotline at 800-829-1954 or the IRS TeleTax System at 800-829-4477. When calling, you must provide your or your spouse’s Social Security number, filing status and the exact whole dollar refund amount shown on your return.

Refund checks are normally sent out weekly on Fridays. If you check the status of your refund and are not given the date it will be issued, please wait until the next week before checking back. Getting your checks is great, spending it is even more fun. But always remember to spend your refunds wisely.

Like any other income, a child’s investment income is also subject to taxation. However, it may be subject to either the parent’s rate or the child’s. Under certain conditions, parents maybe able to avoid having to file tax returns by including the child’s income on the parent’s tax return.

The first thing a parent must do is determine how much money their children made and whether the income would be taxed at parent’s rate or at the child’s rate. Children 14 years of age may have to file a separate income tax return just like an adult but won’t be able to claim exemption as he is likely to be reported as a dependent.

The following four facts issued by the IRS will help parents determine whether their child’s investment income will be taxed at the parents’ rate or the child’s rate:

1. Investment Income

Children with investment income may have part or all of this income taxed at their parents’ tax rate rather than at the child’s rate. Investment income includes interest, dividends, capital gains and other unearned income.

2. Age Requirement

The child’s tax must be figured using the parents’ rates if the child has investment income of more than $1,900 and meet one of three age requirements for 2009:

• The child was born after January 1, 1992.
• The child was born after January 1, 1991, and before January 2, 1992, and has earned income that does not exceed one-half of their own support for the year.
• The child was born after January 1, 1986, and before January 2, 1991, and a full-time student with earned income that does not exceed one-half of the child’s support for the year.

3. Form 8615

To figure the child’s tax using the parents’ rate for the child’s return, fill out Form 8615, Tax for Certain Children Who Have Investment Income of More Than $1,900, and attach it to the child’s federal income tax return.

4. Form 8814

When certain conditions are met, a parent may be able to avoid having to file a tax return for the child by including the child’s income on the parent’s tax return. In this situation, the parent would file Form 8814, Parents’ Election To Report Child’s Interest and Dividends.

Different forms are available according to your child’s circumstance and you must make sure you filled out the right ones. More information can be found in IRS Publication 929, Tax Rules for Children and Dependents. This publication and Forms 8615 and 8814 are available at IRS.gov or by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

Tax on your capital gains are usually lower than those applied to your other income, but for 2209, the maximum tax levied on capital gains is 15% while those in the lower income individuals may get 0% tax on all or some of their capital gain incomes. To find out more on capital gains and losses, the IRS put together these ten facts about gains and losses and how they could affect your tax situation:

1. Almost everything you own and use for personal purposes, pleasure or investment is a capital asset.
2. When you sell a capital asset, the difference between the amount you sell it for and your basis – which is usually what you paid for it – is a capital gain or a capital loss.
3. You must report all capital gains.
4. You may deduct capital losses only on investment property, not on property held for personal use.
5. Capital gains and losses are classified as long-term or short-term, depending on how long you hold the property before you sell it. If you hold it more than one year, your capital gain or loss is long-term. If you hold it one year or less, your capital gain or loss is short-term.
6. If you have long-term gains in excess of your long-term losses, you have a net capital gain to the extent your net long-term capital gain is more than your net short-term capital loss, if any.
7. The tax rates that apply to net capital gain are generally lower than the tax rates that apply to other income. For 2009, the maximum capital gains rate for most people is15%. For lower-income individuals, the rate may be 0% on some or all of the net capital gain. Special types of net capital gain can be taxed at 25% or 28%.
8. If your capital losses exceed your capital gains, the excess can be deducted on your tax return and used to reduce other income, such as wages, up to an annual limit of $3,000, or $1,500 if you are married filing separately.
9. If your total net capital loss is more than the yearly limit on capital loss deductions, you can carry over the unused part to the next year and treat it as if you incurred it in that next year.
10. Capital gains and losses are reported on Schedule D, Capital Gains and Losses, and then transferred to line 13of Form 1040.

For more information about reporting capital gains and losses, see the Schedule D instructions, Publication 550, Investment Income and Expenses or Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax. All forms and publications are available at IRS.gov or by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

Tapping your retirement fund early may have some impact on your income tax return. If you receive payment before you are 59 ½ years old is generally considered by the IRS as early or premature distributions, and therefore subject to an additional 10% tax. However, there are exemptions to early distribution tax, like if you are disabled, if you used your early distribution on buying your first home or if used for certain medical or educational expenses. Early distributions must be reported to the IRS. Here are ten facts about early distributions that individuals must know:

1.     Payments you receive from your Individual Retirement Arrangement before you reach age 59 ½ are generally considered early or premature distributions.

2.     Early distributions are usually subject to an additional 10 percent tax.

3.     Early distributions must also be reported to the IRS.

4.     Distributions you rollover to another IRA or qualified retirement plan are not subject to the additional 10 percent tax. You must complete the rollover within 60 days after the day you received the distribution.

5.     The amount you roll over is generally taxed when the new plan makes a distribution to you or your beneficiary.

6.     If you made nondeductible contributions to an IRA and later take early distributions from your IRA, the portion of the distribution attributable to those nondeductible contributions is not taxed.

7.     If you received an early distribution from a Roth IRA, the distribution attributable to your prior contributions is not taxed.

8.     If you received a distribution from any other qualified retirement plan, generally the entire distribution is taxable unless you made after-tax employee contributions to the plan.

9.     There are several exceptions to the additional 10 percent early distribution tax, such as when the distributions are used for the purchase of a first home, for certain medical or educational expenses, or if you are disabled.

10.   For more information about early distributions from retirement plans, the additional 10 percent tax and all the exceptions see IRS Publication 575, Pension and Annuity Income and Publication 590, Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs). Both publications are available at IRS.gov or by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

The Internal Revenue Service has recently posted a revised tax form that allows employers to claim the newly enacted special payroll tax exemption that applies to newly hired workers.

The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act signed by President Obama recently allows for a 6.2-percent payroll tax incentive, in effect exempting employers from their share of Social Security tax on wages paid to these workers after March 18. The reduction will not have any future effect on the employees’ Social Security benefits, however, the employee’s 6.2 percent share of Social Security tax and the employer and employee’s shares of Medicare tax still apply to all wages.

Employers may also claim a new hire retention credit of up to $1,000 per worker on their income tax return, provided they were retained for at least a year and their wages not significantly reduced in the second half of the year.

Further details on both the tax credit and the payroll tax exemption can be found in a recently-expanded list of answers tofrequently-asked questions about the new law now posted on IRS.gov.

Claiming the Payroll Tax Exemption

Form 941, Employer’s QUARTERLY Federal Tax Return, revised for use beginning with the second calendar quarter of 2010, will be filed by most employers claiming the payroll tax exemption for wages paid to qualified employees. The HIRE Act does not allow employers to claim the exemption for wages paid in the first quarter but provides for a credit in the second quarter. The instructions for the new Form 941 explain how this credit for wages paid from March 19 through March 31 can be claimed on the second quarter return. The form and instructions are now available for download on IRS.gov.

The HIRE Act requires that employers get a signed statement from each eligible new hire, certifying under penalties of perjury, that he or she was not employed for more than 40 hours during the 60 days before beginning employment with that employer. Employers can use new Form W-11, Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act Employee Affidavit, released last month, to meet this requirement. Though employers need this certification to claim both the payroll tax exemption and the new hire retention credit, they do not file these statements with the IRS. Instead, they must retain them along with other payroll and income tax records.

These two tax benefits are especially helpful to employers who are adding positions to their payrolls. New hires filling existing positions also qualify as long as they are replacing workers who left voluntarily or who were terminated for cause and otherwise are qualified employees. However, family members and other relatives do not qualify for either of these tax benefits.

Businesses, agricultural employers, tax-exempt organizations, tribal governments and public colleges and universities all qualify to claim the payroll tax exemption for eligible newly-hired employees, but household employers and federal, state and local government employers, other than public colleges and universities, are not eligible.