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October 2021 Tax Tips

Halloween isn't the only scary thing about October.
Millions face the final tax filing deadline of the year (and more!) this month.

Tax tip pencilBoo! Are you ready for thrills, chills, and downright scariness? Then October is your month, and I'm not even talking about Halloween.

Sure the last day of this month is when ghouls and goblins — OK, youngsters in costumes and their sometime sillier attired parents — take over neighborhoods. But before we get there, there are myriad tax deadlines that must be met in October.

The biggie, of course, is one the Oct. 15 deadline for the millions each year who get an extension to file their tax returns.

More deadlines, including one early this month, were created by new tax laws written to provide economic relief as the COVDI-19 pandemic persisted into a second year.

And then there are all the added delays due to major natural disasters.

It's important to meet any deadlines that apply to your personal tax situation. If you miss them, it could cost you.

Done with 2021, planning for 2022: Also, since October marks the start of the tax year's final quarter, it's time to make moves that can help reduce your 2022 obligation to the Internal Revenue Service.

You'll find some ideas on how to do that here on this October Tax Moves page. The tips will be added here as soon as they are, as usual, highlighted in the upper right corner of the ol' blog.

So don't worry if you miss one on its featured day. You'll find them and their links below.

Now, let's fearlessly kick off October's tax tips!

  1. October tax deadlines you can't afford to miss — October is here, but even scarier than Halloween is knowing there are some tax deadlines you must meet. There's the Oct. 15 extended filing due date, of course. But COVID-prompted tax law changes also have created a new — and soon, like Oct. 4 soon — deadline for those who no longer want to get Advance Child Tax Credit payments. Then there are all the major disaster date changes. The calendar alerts and more are among the October Tax Moves to make. (Oct. 1, 2021)
  2. Stop October Advance Child Tax Credit payments now — You've determined that if you keep getting monthly Advance Child Tax Credit payments, you'll have to pay the money back when you file your taxes next year. So stop them. And to end the October through December deliveries, you need to do so by Monday, Oct. 4. (Oct. 3, 2021)
  3. Don't make any of these 12 tax filing mistakes — Yes, you are experiencing tax déjà vu. But since millions of taxpayers got extensions to file their 2020 returns back in May and then put off doing so until the final Oct. 15 due date nears, these reminders bear repeating. As you finally fill out your Form 1040, don't make any of these dozen tax filing errors. (Oct. 5, 2021)
  4. Tax breaks that don't require itemizing — Most taxpayers claim the standard deduction, especially since 2017's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act almost doubled the amounts. But these filers still have the chance to claim many added deductions without itemizing. So check out these 23 tax breaks and claim them if you qualify. Even better, they're available to every taxpayer, even those who do itemize on Schedule A. (Oct. 9, 2021)
  5. Filing tips for tax procrastinators — Have you put off filing your extended 2020 tax return? It's due Oct. 15. Yes, the end of this week. This Friday. Don't panic. These six questions (and answers) can help procrastinators finish filing their 1040s by the deadline. (Oct. 11, 2021)
  6. Free File open through Oct. 15 — Finishing up your extended 2020 tax return this week? If your income is $72,000 or less, check out Free File. It's still operational through the Oct. 15 extension filing deadline, with nine tax software companies offering no-cost electronic tax preparation and e-filing. If you make too much to use the online software, look into using Free File's fillable forms, which also is available through Oct. 15. (Oct. 14, 2021)
  7. Oct. 15: Tax Day for procrastinators — If you got an extension to file, this is Tax Day. Get your return filed, either electronically or in the mail with an Oct. 15 postmark, or you could face late-filing penalties. (Oct. 15, 2021)
  8. Oct. 15 is NOT filing extension Tax Day for some — Some taxpayers who got extensions to file their returns don't have to get them to the IRS today, Oct. 15. They get more time due to major disasters or their combat zone military service. (Oct. 15, 2021)
  9. 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)
  10. More, and possibly taxable, Social Security payments in 2022 — The good news for Social Security beneficiaries is that the amount they'll receive in 2022 is increasing. The bad news for retirees is that they might owe federal income tax on some of their benefits. (Oct. 26, 2021)
  11. Nov. 1 is a big tax deadline — You're not in a tax time warp. Nov. 1 is the extended filing deadline for some Michigan and Mississippi taxpayers who endured major disasters earlier this year. It's also the day for recipients of advance Child Tax Credit payments to opt out of the remaining monthly deliveries or make income changes online that affect the credit amounts. (Oct. 30, 2021)

Halloween_Pumpkins_lighted_black-background_cropped


Looking for more tax tidbits? All the Tax Tip page links below are live. If, however, you click on a month later in the year, you'll be greeted by a fun GIF of a man enthusiastically telling us to slow down, or Whoa Up! as we say here in Texas, instead of finding Internal Revenue Service and Don't Mess With Taxes tax tips.

I know you want to see the animated fellow, so go ahead and click on November or December and enjoy his enthusiastic way of conveying there's nothing (but him) to see. For now.

But he'll gladly relinquish his position to more tax info when the 2021 calendar finally flips to those remaining months.

January July
February August
March September
April October
May November
June December

 

 

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Today's Tax Tip

  • Shopping tips for August's 16 back-to-school tax holidays — Is your state one of the 16 holding a sales tax holiday this month? Before you head out to make tax-saving purchases, check out these 6 shopping tips. They could help you make the most of your state's no-tax August event. (Aug. 5, 2022)
  • Tax Tip; click pencil for all tax tip links

  • The 2022 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

  • COVID-19
    Coronavirus has wreaked havoc
    on the 2020 and 2021 tax seasons.
    These three Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Taxes pages have details:
    March-July 2020,
    August-December 2020,
    January-December 2021, and
    January-… 2022
    You can find medical coronavirus resource links further down this column.

All About Kay

  • OK, some about Kay
    Open sign
    Kay Bell — Native Texan (the blog title totally makes sense now, right?). Professional journalist. Tax geek.

My Other Accounts

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Tick ... Tick ... Tick

  • Tax Season 2022 continues!

    Tax Day 2022 is finally over … unless you're one of the millions who have more time to file — looking at you taxpayers abroad and those in major disaster areas — or you got an extension to file your 2021 tax year return. That's fine. In fact, the Internal Revenue Service appreciates some of us spreading out our filings, especially when we and the agency still are dealing with all the complications of COVID-19 and taxes.

    That's why the ol' blog's focus now is on all y'all still working on returns. But I haven't forgotten my organized taxpayer readers, who are already looking for ways to reduce their 2022 tax year bills. Yep, that amount is adding up, but there are moves you can make. The monthly tips and reminders a little further down this column can help everyone, regardless of which tax year you're working on.

    Those on extension should keep a keen eye on the countdown clock below. It will help you track the days tick, tick, ticking off toward that absolutely final fall filing due date of Oct. 17. Yep, it's a few days later this year.
    Note: I'm in the Central Time Zone, so adjust accordingly for where you live.


Time for Tax Tasks


  • monthly tax moves


  • The Dog Days of Summer
    are here!

    For many of us, that means taking it easy like the pup below during these hot, sultry August days as summer winds down.

    via GIPHY


    But we can't dog it too much.
    Making some potentially money-saving tax moves this August can really pay off. So let's get to it!


    Aug. 1: School soon will be back in session. That means students need supplies. Good news for them and their parents: this month 15 states are holding back-to-school sales tax holidays. These no- or reduced-tax events are in Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

    Aug. 5: The tax holidays will help ease the high cost of school supplies and other qualifying purchases a bit, especially in these inflationary times. But some taxpayers are agetting more help. Sixteen states are issuing inflation relief payments. If you're in one of them, make sure your state tax department has your correct information, since that's how most of the inflation aid money will delivered.

    Aug. 10: Restaurants are still recovering from the challenges of operating during a national health crisis, especially now that new COVID-19 variants are spreading. If your favorite eatery is now seating diners indoors, still take precautions, aka mask on until that meal arrives, please! If you're still doing take-out and deliveries, those business owners appreciate that support, too. And regardless of whether you're eating out or still getting food brought to your house, remember to tip your server or delivery person.

    restaurant check tip iStock
    If a tip isn't included in your food delivery charge, click the image above to calculate how much to tip the person who brought it to you.

    As for servers who now are back on the job, remember that your tips are taxable income. If you worked at least some of July at a job where you got gratuities, you need to account for them today if they came to at least $20 last month. Use Form 4070 to report your tips today to your employer.

    Aug. 17: Did you get an extension back in April to file your tax return this fall? Well, that new due date — Oct. 17 — is now just two months away. But you don't have to wait until that day is, well, just days away. You can get to work on your tax paperwork now and be done with it any time before then.

    Whenever you do get around to finishing your tax return, the IRS recommends you do so electronically. Check out ways to e-file at no cost, including via Free File, which is, as its name says, free. The official electronic filing webpage is Free File on IRS.gov is available to qualifying taxpayers until midnight, Eastern Time, on Oct. 17.

    IRS Free File; click image for details

    Free File this year is available for taxpayers whose adjusted gross income is $73,000 or less. That income level applies to all filing statuses. This year, 8 software programs are available to eligible filers. Spoiler: The two biggies, Intuit's TurboTax and H&R Block, are not among the choices. The two leading tax prep programs decided to end their participation in the program.

    Aug. 22: The early part of the 2022 Atlantic/Gulf of Mexico hurricane season was, thankfully, not that bad. But August is when things tend to literally start heating up. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Hurricane Center says that most tropical storm activity occurs between mid-August and mid-October. If you haven't yet prepared — physically, financially, and tax wise — it's time to do so

    Hurricane satellite image

    Uncle Sam's official forecasters at the NOAA Climate Prediction Center expect 2022 to bring as many as 21 named storms, with six to 10 possibly becoming hurricanes. Three to six of those could reach major status, which is category 3, 4 or 5 with winds of 111 mph or higher. Regardless of the count, it only takes one to wreak havoc. The countdown clock below can help you keep track of how many more days you have to worry about tracking any size or type of tropical storms.



    You also might want to check out the ol' blog's special Storm Warnings.
    These 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 an itemized tax deduction.

    Aug. 26: The stock market has been up and down, then up and down, then … You get the idea. All the gyrations mean it's time to review your portfolio. Periodic rebalancing to meet your financial goals also could provide a tax break. If some of your taxable holdings have dropped in value, you can sell them and use the loss to offset other assets' gains. Remember, though that this tax loss harvesting strategy should be used only is you really want to sell the asset, not just use it to cut taxes. As the old (and apropos this month) saying goes, never let the tax tail wag the financial dog.

    Aug. 31: If you've already filed your 2020 taxes, were you surprised by either the size of your refund or how much you owed? If so, now's the time to make sure that doesn't happen next year. The IRS' online estimator can help you more accurately adjust your payroll withholding.

    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 Pub. 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

  • 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 Talking Tax Forms page.

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  • DMWT Politics Posts
  • 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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