2006 filing at a glance

Wednesday, February 8, 2006

Essential facts for the 2006 tax-filing season as accumulated by the Associated Press:

FILING DEADLINE: April 17, 2006 (because April 15 falls on a Saturday).

FILING EXTENSION: automatic six-month extension to Oct. 16, as long as Form 4868 is filed by April 17.

WHAT'S NEW: stricter rules for donating vehicles to charity; tax breaks for hurricane victims and those who helped them; higher mileage rate for business use of vehicles; higher ceilings for IRAs and other retirement savings plans; new definition and tests for ''qualifying child''; new online IRS tools for determining qualification for alternative minimum tax and earned income tax credit; inflation adjustment for various other tax credits, deductions and categories.

IRS FORMS: Download at http://www.irs.gov by navigating to ''Forms and Publications''; order by mail by calling 1-800-829-3676.

ONLINE TAX HELP: http://www.irs.gov

PHONE TAX HELP: 1-800-829-1040 for individuals, 1-800-829-4059 (TDD) for those with hearing impairment, 1-800-829-4933 for businesses, 1-866

-562-5227 for hurricane victims.

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