Don't Mess With Taxes

February is for doers … of taxes

Ah, February. You're the shortest month of the year, but your 28 days are so full.

There's Groundhog Day and Valentine's Day and Washington's Birthday and this year Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday.

The biggest sporting event, and gambling day, in the United States arrives on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 12.

There's a week celebrating Jell-O. Really!

And, on a more substantive note, all of February's days are dedicated to Black History and extolling the many integral accomplishments of African Americans to our country.

Somewhere in there, we've also got to shoehorn some tax considerations.

I'm not sure Marc Parent was thinking of taxes when he wrote,

"If January is the month of change,
February is the month of lasting change.
January is for dreamers.
February is for doers."

But it fits, which is why the lightly annotated last line heads this page.

Second month, first in tax attention: February is the first full, albeit short, month of the annual tax season. It's when most of us begin to really focus on our taxes.

The myriad documents we need to file our 1040s finally show up (we hope!). Refunds start going out to early filers.

Those tax matters are why we have the monthly tax tips. February's collection is designed to help you take care of your taxes while you also navigate all the other more fun February events.

Most of the featured February advice will focus on filing the 2022 tax return you're working on now. But there also will be a few tax tidbits to help you get an early start on reducing your already accruing 2023 tax bill.

As always, this month's tax tips will be highlighted in the upper right corner of the ol' blog. After their time in that spotlight, the tips then will be permanently ensconced on this page.

Since we only have 28 days, let's get February's fabulous tax tips started!

1. Open a bank account to get your tax refund sooner — You'll get your federal tax refund much sooner if you have the Internal Revenue Service directly deposit it into a bank account. If you don't have an account at a financial institution, here are some options to help you set one up before you file. (Feb. 1, 2023)
2. When to amend a tax return — The Bill Murray movie "Groundhog Day" is a classic. Most of us have watched it, true to the film's conceit, over and over and over. Sometimes a re-do is warranted with taxes, too. Here are 8 tips if you find you need to file Form 1040-X. (Feb. 2, 2023)

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Looking for some more tax tips? Then click on the January link below to see what was featured last month.

And yes, you can click on the March through December links, too. They are live. But they don't have any tips yet because, well, they're not here.

Instead, you'll be greeted by an animated nay-saying fellow making good use of one of my favorite Texas sayings. Tax info will replace that fun and folksy GIF as the months arrive.

Don't worry. The rest of 2023's months and tax tips will be here before you know it, and for many of us, before we're ready to file our 1040s! Time really does fly when you're having tax fun.

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