April fifteenth is a long way away. But, if you want to get a head start on filing your income taxes, the Internal Revenue Service will start accepting your paperwork today. The IRS is also pushing a new on-line service called free file. It’s the same thing as the internet tax program called e-file. But, the free file program is free of charge if you earn less than sixty thousand dollars a year. IRS spokeswoman Alejandra Castro-Nunez** says it’s a good way to go because the system keeps track of your information as you put it in…
“That is fastest way, that is the safest way, and the most efficient way to actually submit your tax return because there are less mistakes. If you’re missing something, it will let you know, if the math isn’t making sense, it will let you know. And it’s safe, it goes directly from the software to the IRS.”
This is also the first year that tax payers have to verify that they have medical insurance on their tax return. It’s a new requirement under the Affordable Care Act. If you don’t have coverage, then the free-file or e-file systems will help calculate whatever penalties you owe Uncle Sam.
Employees of the CINRAM compact disc factory near Tuscaloosa applied for new jobs today. West Alabama Works held a job fair this morning for the approximately one hundred workers who received a pink slip. CINRAM occupied the space once used by JVC to make compact discs. The business abruptly shut down earlier this month and workers were sent home.
LeNa’ Powe is the director of West Alabama Works. She says their hiring system has placed eight hundred west Alabamians in jobs in the past year and should be able to help out the former CINRAM employees…
“We figured that this was our way of being able to contribute quickly to helping them find solutions, as well as ensuring or hopefully ensuring that they will stay in west Alabama and continue to be vital parts of our work force.”
A number of businesses in the automotive, manufacturing and health care industries participated in today’s job fair, which took place at the Belk Community Center in Tuscaloosa’s Bowers Park.
A judge has sentenced a 25-year-old man to life in prison for killing two former Auburn University football players and another man during a shooting at an off-campus party.
Lee County Judge Jacob Walker upheld the jury's recommendation of life in prison without parole for Desmonte Leonard. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty.
