Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Taxes: January-... 2021

Apparently, 2021 also is the year of COVID-19. Dang it!

After dominating our lives for most of 2020, the deadly coronavirus pandemic has shown no signs of letting up, especially since too many people decided to give it a boost by leaving their self-isolation pods and visiting family and friends over the December holidays.

And that's led to this, the ol' blog's third Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Taxes page as we enter the new year. If you want to check out previous COVID-related tax posts, you can head on over to the original page with the March-July 2020 designation or the second one with posts from August-December 2020.

I suspect there might be a fourth page later this year if we can't get ourselves (yes, I am looking at all you fools who don't wear masks and insist on congregating in close quarters) and the virus under control. But let's keep our fingers crossed that we don't need any 2022 versions!

Although there are (for now) three COVID and taxes pages, a couple of things stay the same on all.

First, the items are listed with the most recent post first.

Secondly, this page, like its COVID counterparts, starts off with posts from Don't Mess With Taxes because, well, it's my blog! Then the other sections with coronavirus links from official government websites, professional associations, law and accounting firms, and tax policy think tanks follow.

OK, enough with the housekeeping. Let's get to this third collection of coronavirus tax+ matters.

Dallas man already jailed for tax fraud, pleads guilty to new PPP criminal charges (Oct. 22, 2021)
Proposed $600 bank account reporting rule won't change current cash app tracking (Oct. 10, 2021)
States forgo federal help to replenish unemployment funds. Why? (Sept. 30, 2021)
Expanded child tax credits help families and U.S. economy, say studies (Sept. 24, 2021)
IRS still behind in processing returns and issuing refunds (Sept. 23, 2021)
4 enhanced tax-deductible donation options this year (Sept. 17, 2021)
COVID-19 home tests are now tax deductible (Sept. 14, 2021)
A Labor Day salute to COVID-created new entrepreneurs (Sept. 6, 2021)
GOP tax committee members seek COVID unemployment fraud investigation (Sept. 2, 2021)
COVID email from FTC chief Khan is a scam (Aug. 20, 2021)
COVID pandemic provides new paths for con artists to steal tax (and other) money, identities (Aug. 17, 2021)
Pondering potential AdvCTC payback problems (Aug. 14, 2021)
Paid leave business tax credit expanded to encourage more COVID-19 vaccinations (Aug. 9, 2021)
States came through COVID-stricken 2020 mostly OK financially (Aug. 5, 2021)
IRS delivers another 1.5 million unemployment-related tax refunds (July 30, 2021)
Advance Child Tax Credit opt-out deadline for August payment is Monday, 8/2 (July 29, 2021)
IRS reports progress in tax return backlog (July 25, 2021)
IRS holding more in-person Advance Child Tax Credit assistance events July 23-24 (July 21, 2021)
4 million unemployment-adjusted tax refunds headed to early filers (July 13, 2021)
Advance Child Tax Credit moves (& more!) to make in July (July 05, 2021)
COVID-19 tax-related scams top IRS' Dirty Dozen 2021 list (June 28, 2021)
Reps seek $10,200 tax exclusion for essential workers (June 27, 2021)
IRS hosting tax return filing events to help families get Advance Child Tax Credit payments (June 24, 2021)
Taxpayers now can go online to opt out of Advance Child Tax Credit payments, verify eligibility (June 22, 2021)
Some Advance Child Tax Credit payments might have to be repaid (June 21, 2021)
IRS unveils online tool to help nonfilers get advance child tax credit payments (June 15, 2021)
2.8 million in unemployment tax refunds have been issued (June 6, 2021)
5 tax tasks to take care of by May 17 (May 10, 2021; reviewed and updated May 15, 2021)
More COVID payments — and written confirmation notices — are on the way (April 30, 2021)
IRS updates 2021 EITC amounts changed by COVID relief law (April 26, 2021)
29 million tax returns awaiting manual IRS processing (April 25, 2021)
COVID relief bill, IRS decision ease some pandemic-affected health care costs (April 19, 2021)
Free File can help those who don't usually file taxes get COVID payments and more (April 14, 2021)
Labor Department joins IRS in offering online resources for unemployment fraud victims (April 5, 2021)
Unemployment tax adjustments by IRS in the works, with first refunds to go out in May (April 2, 2021)
Social Security recipients should get COVID-19 relief checks by April 7 (March 31, 2021)
Hawai'i looks to be lone holdout in making May 17 Tax Day (March 28, 2021)
Congress extends PPP, but state tax news isn't so good for the COVID-relief loans (March 27, 2021)
IRS & Virginia provide tax breaks for PPE purchases (March 26, 2021)
Texas man pleads guilty to $24.8 million PPP fraud; IRS touts more COVID investigation successes (March 25, 2021)
IRS says more COVID relief payments on the way, mostly by mail this time (March 22, 2021)
IRS to automatically issue refunds on tax-free unemployment to eligible early filers (March 21, 2021)
IRS acts on Taxpayer Advocate request to discontinue offsets of some COVID relief payments (March 20, 2021)
Answers to some questions raised by the IRS move of Tax Day 2021 to May 17 (March 18, 2021)
90 million COVID relief checks delivered. How to find your EIP's status (March 17, 2021)
IRS tax-free unemployment guidance: don't amend returns if you've already filed; use new worksheet if you haven't (March 16, 2021)
IRS elaborates on delivery of $1,400 COVID relief payments (March 13, 2021)
Tax-free unemployment change could require amended tax return filings (March 10, 2021)
Senate OKs 3rd COVID payment, final House vote next week (March 6, 2021)
PPP and other pandemic tax moves to make in March 2021 (March 1, 2021)
VITA and TCE volunteers work around COVID-19 to help taxpayers file returns (Feb. 25, 2021)
W&M members ask IRS to extend April Tax Day deadline (Feb. 19, 2021)
IRS issues guidance on added flexibility for COVID-affected flexible spending accounts (Feb. 18, 2021)
8 reasons to wait to file your 2020 taxes. Yes, a COVID relief payment is #1 (Feb. 17, 2021)
Biden's proposed Child Tax Credit increase in COVID relief plan gets support … and questions (Feb. 13, 2021)
COVID PPE counts toward teachers' expenses tax deduction (Feb. 5, 2021)
Can't remember how much COVID payment you already got? Find it at your online IRS taxpayer account (Feb. 3, 2021)
Taxpayer Advocate seeks equal debt treatment for all COVID relief payments (Jan. 30, 2021)
EITC claiming option: use 2019 or 2020 income (Jan. 29, 2021)
7 reasons to file your tax return early. Yes, claiming a COVID-19 relief payment is #1 (Jan. 25, 2021)
6 small business tax breaks in current COVID relief law (Jan. 23, 2021)
Is the IRS ready to deliver more COVID relief payments? Its commissioner is optimistic (Jan. 22, 2021)
Don't overlook student loan tax break on amounts paid before COVID relief (Jan. 21, 2021)
A look at what, aside from $1,400 per person, is in Biden's COVID relief plan (Jan. 16, 2021)
IRS says it did a pretty good job in a COVID-affected year (Jan. 9, 2021)
IRS adds info to COVID debit card envelopes to distinguish them from junk mail (Jan. 8, 2021)
Undeliverable COVID-19 payments offer another scam route (Jan. 6, 2021)
Got COVID relief money questions? The IRS has updated its online answers (Jan. 5, 2021)
If you don't get your COVID money by Jan. 15, you'll have to claim it on your 2020 tax return (Jan. 4, 2021)

There also are some posts since the beginning of the pandemic that tangentially reference COVID-19's effects on taxes, but not enough so to make the official coronavirus cut for inclusion on this page.

If you're interested in seeing those, you can browse the new Coronavirus COVID-19 category. The posts above (as well as those on the other coronavirus pages) will show up, too, but just keep scrolling to find others that didn't make this coronavirus tax specific list.

Now to other off-blog resources.

First, there are the official government sites. The image above recommends Coronavirus.gov, which basically is a landing page (like this), so below are my suggestions.

Internal Revenue Service (IRS): Coronavirus Tax Relief and Economic Impact Payments

Treasury: How the Treasury Department is Taking Action

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Social Security Administration (SSA): Social Security & Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)

Federal Trade Commission (FTC): Coronavirus - What the FTC is Doing

Health and Human Services (HHS): COVID-19 Portal

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB): A guide to COVID-19 economic stimulus relief

Department of Education (Ed): COVID-19 ("Coronavirus") Information and Resources for Schools and School Personnel

Food and Drug Administration (FDA): Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Frequently Asked Questions

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA): Coronavirus (COVID-19) Response (note the rumor control section)

U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS): Coronavirus/COVID-19 Related Scams

USA.gov: Government Response to Coronavirus, COVID-19

And, of course, there are other sites following the pandemic's tax effects.

Many of my fellow tax bloggers are doing great jobs tracking the intricacies of COVID-19 tax changes. So are the members of the great #TaxTwitter community.

But in order to keep this page from following the excessive pieces of coronavirus legislation when it comes to length, I've focused below on web pages posted by professional firms, associations and other taxcentric entities that are providing valuable coronavirus-related tax information and advice.

National Association of Tax Professionals (NATP): COVID-19 Tax News & FAQ

American Institute of CPAs (AICPA): Coronavirus (COVID-19) tax resources (n.b., the state tax roundup)

Thomson Reuters: COVID-19 resource center

Wolters Kluwer: Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources for Tax & Accounting Professionals

KPMG: Coronavirus (COVID-19) tax developments

Deloitte: COVID-19 tax policy updates

EY US: Responding to COVID-19

Grant Thornton: COVID-19 Resource Center

RubinBrown: Coronavirus Preparedness Resource Center

EideBailly: The New Coronavirus (COVID-19) Organiational & Individual Impacts

Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP): COVID-19 Tax Policy Resources

The Tax Foundation: Tax Policy And The Coronavirus (note the state-by-state legislative and global country-by-country fiscal measures trackers)

Avalara: COVID-19 Tax Relief Roundup

Employee Benefit News (EBN): Coronavirus Impact

But wait, there are more: Naturally, things will change as the virus itself and our tax reactions to it evolve, so I'm asking for your help.

I know I've missed some good sites. Please let me know. I'll probably see your suggestions sooner if you let me know via Twitter where, in case you don't know, I'm @taxtweet. You also can drop me an email note.

I'll update this page as regularly as I can. You'd think that I'd have more time by essentially being on house arrest during Austin's coronavirus stay-home order, but it seems that the hours in the days also are affected by these bizarre circumstances (and my discovery of new things to stream).

Thanks for your assistance and patience. And, of course, be safe!

Taxes are important, but they are just taxes. The well-being of everyone and your families is everything, the only thing.

Original post began April 4, 2020

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Today's Tax Tip

Employee benefits that offer tax savings — It's workplace benefits enrollment season for many workers, the chance to make any changes to workplace enticements such as health insurance, child care, and more. Take time to assess what your company offers. Many popular office benefits have tax advantages, too. Asking these open enrollment questions can help you make better benefits choices. (Oct. 20, 2021)
The 2021 Tax Tips offer ways to file your annual return, along with post-filing advice, important tax news and, of course, ways to cut your current tax year bill. You'll find the monthly assemblages on their own respective pages: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December. Remember, tax tasks and tips don't stop after you file your annual return!

COVID-19 & Taxes

Coronavirus has wreaked havoc
on the 2020 tax season.
These three Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Taxes pages have details:
March-July 2020,
August-December 2020, and
January-… 2021
You can find medical coronavirus resource links further down this column.

All About Kay

OK, some about Kay

Kay Bell — Native Texan (the blog title totally makes sense now, right?). Professional journalist. Tax geek.

My Other Accounts

Tick ... Tick ... Tick

Tax Year 2021 Countdown
It's over! We cleared the final 2020 tax year extended filing deadline, unless you get more time because your filing deadline was affected by a major natural disaster or military service. You can find which areas of the United States got delayed due dates in this further-extended extended filing deadline post. For most of us, though, the passage of Oct. 15 means it's now time to focus on the Form 1040 that we must file next year.

In most cases, we have until Dec. 31, 2021, to make moves that will reduce our already accruing tax bills. The countdown clock below will make sure we don't miss that deadline.

And the calendar-keyed Tax Tasks below the counter will highlight some tax-saving actions to take in each of the remaining months of the year.
Note: I'm in the Central Time Zone, so adjust accordingly for where you live.

Time for Tax Tasks

BOO!

Halloween, of course, is one reason that October is the scariest month of the year. But there's also Oct. 15, the tax filing deadline for folks who got an extension to complete their annual returns. And again in 2021, we're still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. But these tips should help ease at least your tax fears this month.

Read about the history of jack o'lanterns

Oct. 1: In addition to medically masked adults and costumed child-size Halloween goblins and ghouls descending on your neighborhood at the end of this month, one of the scariest October items is that countdown clock a little higher up in this column. As noted at the top of this tax tasks column, the clicking clock is a stark reminder for millions of ultimate procrastinators that their deadline to file those 2020 Internal Revenue Service forms they shoved aside back in May must be done by mid-month. Don't worry. I'll remind you again as Oct. 15 nears.

But why push the deadline? Gather all the documents you need to file your Form 1040, like your W-2 and all the otherstatements, forms, and receipts you need to finish up your taxes.

And if job upheaval during the coronavirus pandemic prompted you to go to work for yourself, either via many gigs or a full-time business of your own, don't overlook the tax responsibilities and breaks associated with self-employment.

Oct. 5: OK. You're ready to finally file that Form 1040 before the 15th. Great! Now make sure you don't overspend to do so. Check out Free File, the online no-cost tax preparation and e-filing partnership between the IRS and the Free File Alliance.

The official Free File site at IRS.gov this season offers nine participating tax software options if your adjusted gross income is $72,000 or less, regardless of filing status. If you make too much to use the online software, look into using Free File's fillable forms. Both are available through Oct. 15 … if you want to wait a few more days.

Oct. 11: So another week slipped by without you filing your taxes. No judging. I've been there. The good news is that today is the federal Columbus Day holiday or, in many states and cities, now designated Indigenous People's Day. If you don't have to head into the office or check in on some work from home Zoom calls, this is a great day to deal with your extended taxes. In addition to the filing tips offered earlier in this list, as well as the monthly tax tip collection links under the pencil image at the top of this page, the IRS has some suggestions on getting the job done.

Oct. 12: Until the Delta variant showed up, many had resumed Before Days events, like eating at favorite restaurants. Some eateries are still offering table service. If you're comfortable going to them, be sure to share your happiness about being served in person again with your waiters. If you're still a bit hesitant about going to a packed diner, also tip the food delivery folks still bringing meals to your door.

If a tip isn't included in your restaurant check or food delivery charge, click the image above to calculate how much to tip.

Those of you getting the tips, remember that your tips are taxable income. If you got such added financial thanks that came to a total of at least $20 last month, whether as a waiter/waitress or hair stylist or valet or whatever job where gratuities are common, you need to account for them today. Report them to your employer on Form 4070.

Oct. 15: It's here! The absolutely, positively final filing deadline for your 2019 return. Get to it! You have until midnight your time to electronically file. But I suggest you don't push that deadline to hit the send button on your computer keyboard. A late technical problem, either by the IRS or your software provider, could turn into a costly late-filing issue.

Or if you're old-school and mailing a paper return, get to your local U.S. Postal Service branch in time to have your envelope postmarked today. That's proof that your paper filing was on time.

Oct. 20: Now that your 2020 return is finally done, it's time to work on reducing your 2020 tax bill. One easy step to take now is to review your payroll withholding. If you find, whether you filed this month or back in May, that you owed a lot or got a big refund, you should use the IRS' online withholding tool to make sure a more appropriate amount of income tax comes out of each of 2021's remaining paychecks. If your withholding tweak gets you more money each payday, consider putting some of it into your retirement savings, either your workplace 401(k) or a traditional or Roth IRA .

Oct. 26: Many folks' retirement money is in that just mentioned 401(k) plan. That's just one of the employer-provided benefits that companies offer their workers. And October is open enrollment season at many companies. Take time to carefully review what's offered before enrollment ends.

Oct. 31: Sure, it's Halloween. But even scarier than the ghosts and monsters wandering your neighborhood tonight is the knowledge that we still have another month of hurricane season ahead of us. If your area hasn't been hit by any tropical system so far, good for you. But your luck might not hold, as the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico hurricane season runs through November. The countdown clock below lets you know how many more days you have to worry about tracking tropical systems.

So that you're ready for another Hurricane Ida, which made landfall in Louisiana and moved on to New York, or, hopefully, a less severe storm, prepare now if you haven't already.

The ol' blog's special Storm Warnings section can help. The multi-page collections of posts offer tax advice on preparing for, recovering from and helping those who sustain damages from the many ways that that weather goes wild. That includes claiming uninsured losses from a major natural disaster as on itemized tax deduction. And remember, your prep can pay off any time, since all types of disasters occur year-round.

Small Business Tax Calendar: Important filing, deposit and record keeping dates throughout the year that your company needs to know. You can get more tax calendar information at the IRS' online calendar page and view the full year's important business and individual tax dates in IRS Publication 509.

State Tax Help

Don't forget your state taxes!
Forty-three states and D.C. collect personal income taxes. But even if you live in of the seven states without an income levy, you still face other state (and local) taxes.

State Tax Departments provides links to your state's Web page. The companion page, Tax Tidbits, is the compilation of blurbs about each state's tax laws. And for more state tax news, check out all our state tax bloggings.

Tax Forms

Thanks to our increased use of tax preparers and computer software, many of us don't see our tax forms until we sign and file them. But knowing what's on these documents, either in paper or digital form, and why the IRS wants it is key to understanding our tax system. And knowledge definitely is power, especially when it comes to tax savings. Find this valuable information in the ol' blog's special Tax Forms Fiesta! page.

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0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ...

Taxes are all about the numbers.
Check out these (mostly) weekly
By the Numbers figures.

Kudos Et Cetera

National Association
for Women in Communications
Winner, Best Personal Blog
2012, 2014 & 2017
Plutus Financial Bloggers Awards
Celebrating the Best
in Personal Finance
Winner, Best Tax Blog
2011 and 2013
Lifetime Achievement Nominee 2020

I gotta tell ya ...

AKA Disclaimer:
I am a professional journalist who has been covering tax issues since 1999.
I am not a professional tax preparer.
The content on Don't Mess With Taxes is my personal opinion based on my study and understanding of tax laws, policies and regulations. It is provided for your private, noncommercial, educational and informational purposes only. It is not a recommendation of any specific tax action(s) you should or should not take. Similarly, mentions of products or services are not endorsements. In other words, my ramblings on the ol' blog are free advice and you know what they say about getting what you pay for. That's why when it comes to filing your taxes, I urge you to get additional, professional, paid-for guidance from an accountant, Enrolled Agent or other qualified tax preparer who is familiar with your individual tax circumstances.

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is a registered trademark
of S. Kay Bell.

All content on this site is
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October 2021

Tell it to the Hill

While it's easy to rail at the IRS, for the most part we can thank — or blame — our tax laws on Congress and the White House. So if you have an issue with tax legislation or want a tax bill passed, you need to let your federal legislators and the White House occupant know of your concerns. You can find out who in Washington, D.C., to contact (and how), as well as get information on your local lawmakers for matters, tax or otherwise, closer to home, at USA Gov.

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