Many people who are having cash flow issues opt for advances on their expected tax refunds. (Photo via Unsplash+ in collaboration with Getty Images) The 2024 tax filing season will officially start, if prior year tax calendars hold, in about six weeks. That's when the Internal Revenue Service will start processing 2023 tax year returns. But millions of people will file as soon as they can in January, even if the IRS isn't ready. They'll use tax software or a tax preparer to get their 1040 form out of the way and to the head of the processing line. These... Read more →
Refund
Individuals who didn't automatically receive an Economic Impact Payment or claim a Recovery Rebate Credit during the COVID-19 pandemic get a second chance at the money. Economic Impact Payments helped many U.S. families financially during the COVID-19 pandemic. But some eligible filers didn't get the stimulus money directly, and didn't claim it later as a Recovery Rebate Credit when they filed. Now they get another shot at the tax relief. Remember Economic Impact Payments? These funds, also referred to as stimulus payments, were issued during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Internal Revenue Service sent most of the payments... Read more →
The Internal Revenue Service isn't playing games with tax refunds. Next tax-filing season, it's popular Where's My Refund? online tracking tool will get some needed improvements. The main questions millions of taxpayers ask every filing season are related to refunds. How big is it? When will I get it? Where the heck is my refund? That last question led to the Internal Revenue Service's creation of its popular online tracking tool, Where's My Refund? Next filing season, which is just three months away, taxpayers will find several improvements to the refund tracker. Popular, but often frustrating, query tool: Where's My... Read more →
If you're just now getting to work on your extended 2022 tax return, which is due to the Internal Revenue Service by Monday, Oct. 16, don't panic. These tips will help you make the most of the little tax time left. (Image courtesy Taxpayer Advocate Service, which also has some tips for Oct. 16 filers.) It's almost Tax Day for extreme procrastinators. The extension you got for your 2022 return ends on Monday, Oct. 16. Since the tax clock is ticking, let's get right to these eight tips that can help you complete your Form 1040 by the fast approaching,... Read more →
Source: IRS The Earned Income Tax Credit was one of the many tax matters mentioned in the Internal Revenue Service's Sept. 8 announcement that, thanks to Inflation Reduction Act funds, it is revising its enforcement efforts. The tax agency's primary goal, per it's news release, is to restore fairness to the tax system. To do that, IRS personnel will focus more on high-earning taxpayers, both individuals and businesses, that have seen sharp drops in audit rates over the last decade. EITC audit reforms on the way: Change also are planned in how the IRS deals with the millions of taxpayers... Read more →
If you live in Minnesota and a letter with a Montana return address shows up in your U.S. Postal Service box, open it. It could be your special, one-time income tax rebate for the 2021 tax year 2021, which the Minnesota Department of Revenue started distributing in mid-August. The amount could be as much as $1,300 for some Minnesota taxpayers. Paper check confusion: Around 2.1 million North Star State residents are eligible for the tax rebate. Most are getting the money as a direct deposit. However, around 950,000 rebate recipients will get their money as a paper check. The checks... Read more →
Millions of people got special state payments in 2022 to help them cover costs that accrued during the pandemic. Some are getting the state relief in 2023, too, prompting the IRS to clarify the federal tax status of this extra cash. (Unsplash+ in collaboration with Kateryna Hliznitsova) COVID-19 did a number on the U.S. economy, prompting federal and state lawmakers to offer a variety of relief programs. At the state level the most notable government help came via stimulus payments. Those payments helped the recipients cover living expenses. They also raised tax issues, specifically whether federal taxes would be due... Read more →
Summertime, despite what the song says, is not easy if you are the target of a tax scam. And that's increasingly likely this season, says the Internal Revenue Service. The tax agency is urging people to be on the lookout for a summer surge of tax scams. Identity thieves are sending a barrage of email and text messages promising tax refunds or offers to help fix tax problems. Neither the good (possible cash back from Uncle Sam) nor the bad (tax troubles) exist. They are just the latest ploys, targeting individual and business taxpayers, that crooks are using to try... Read more →
And if that's not enough to get what's owed, Oregon and other states' child support officials get the U.S. Treasury's assistance in collecting those delinquent family financial payments. Unsplash+ in collaboration with Getty Images It's a given that raising children is an expensive endeavor. When parents split up, that financial burden is shared. That continues, ideally, even when couples split. In those cases, one parent often is held legally responsible for providing funds to the other who has main custody of the youngsters. The payments typically last until the children are legal adults. When the paying parent is delinquent on... Read more →
Photo by Olga DeLawrence on Unsplash If you didn't file a 2019 tax return and missed out on that tax year's refund, you have less than a week to collect your money. You must file that old tax return, which originally was due on July 15, 2020, to account for COVID-19 pandemic delays that year, by July 17. That's next Monday. The Internal Revenue Service announced this fast-approaching deadline, and I blogged about it, back in April. You can find details in that post, July 17, 2023, is deadline to claim $1.5 billion in 2019 tax year refunds. But since... Read more →
Hello, July! Yeah, I know my welcome to the first full month of summer is a bit late. But admit it. You don't really focus on the month either until after you wrap up July 4th celebrations. Since Independence Day this year fell on Tuesday, that meant an extra-long holiday weekend for lots of us. But the fireworks are over and, sadly, we'll never be independent of taxes. So it's back to work this first week of July, and back to making tax moves that can at least keep a few more dollars out of Uncle Sam's clutches. Here are... Read more →
Unscrupulous tax return preparers once again made the Internal Revenue Service's annual Dirty Dozen scam list. That's not a surprise. The IRS and reputable tax community members are constantly battling shady tax pros and the schemes they use to lure taxpayers to use their so-called services. While the tax world is divided in how to best combat these crooks and scams, the IRS has long argued for tighter tax professional regulation. President Joe Biden also has expressed support for more tax pro oversight. And this month, members of Congress introduced the latest bicameral effort to protect taxpayers from dishonest tax... Read more →
Photo by Karolina Grabowska Nearly 1.5 million people across the United States are due tax refunds they didn't claim in 2020 by filing a 2019 tax year return. They can get that money, which totals almost $1.5 billion, by filing that old return. Even better, they don't have to mess with the old filing by this year's April 18 filing deadline. Instead, they get until July 17 to file for their 2019 refunds. 3-year window's opening and closing: Tax law gives taxpayers three years to file a return and collect the associated refund. The three-year filing period is from the... Read more →
Residents in 21 states got some good news from the Internal Revenue Service earlier this year. In 2022, they received general welfare, disaster, or stimulus payments from their state officials. These generally were referred to as refunds. Basic state tax refunds in some instances are taxable at the federal level. But the IRS announced on Feb. 10 that in most cases these special 2022 state payments were not. The affected taxpayers live in Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia.... Read more →
Through March 10, the Internal Revenue Service had issued more than 49 million refunds, which came to a total of $146.2 billion. If you're still waiting on your part of that, you're probably getting a bit frustrated. I get it. You want your cash. At the very least, you want answers as to why it's taking so long for your tax refund to show up in your mailbox or bank account. That frustration is why lots of folks every filing season fall for myths, misconceptions, and just plain wrong information they think will help speed up the delivery of their... Read more →
via GIPHY Where's your tax refund? Use the IRS' online tracker to find out The first look at 2023 tax filing data revealed that while returns were coming in at a brisker pace than last year, the average tax refund amount was smaller. That's still true, three weeks into the season. The average refund amount issued for the week ending Feb. 17 is less than at the same period in 2022. Again. However, that comparatively smaller refund so far this year actually is a decent amount, specifically $3,140. I haven't filed yet, so I don't know what my refund will... Read more →
When it comes to paycheck tax withholding, you want to get it just right to avoid a bear of a tax problem. (Goldilocks caught in Baby Bear's bed drawing by Leonard Leslie Brooke via Wikipedia Commons) Almost 29 million taxpayers have filed returns so far this 2023 tax season. Most early filers are tax refund recipients. Those of us who tend to owe send our 1040s to the IRSs closer to the April deadline, which is on the 18th this year. Both filing tendencies underscore a need to get tax withholding right. Overwithholding costs: IRS data show that most taxpayers,... Read more →
That's all?!? (Photo by Karolina Grabowska) As we hit mid-February, more tax refunds will start going out. The Internal Revenue Service has been waiting, per 2015's Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes, or PATH, Act, to issue refunds on returns where filers claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC). The mandated delay was designed to give the IRS more time to catch fraudulent refunds based on these two popular tax credits. The IRS expects most EITC and/or ACTC related refunds to be available in taxpayer bank accounts or on debit cards by Feb. 28... Read more →
Image via California Franchise Tax Board Individuals who got special tax or inflation relief payments from their states last year won't have to worry about handing over a portion to the U.S. Treasury. The Internal Revenue Service announced late Friday, Feb. 10, afternoon, that, "in the interest of sound tax administration and other factors," recipients of the payments won't have to report the amounts on their 2022 tax returns that are now being filed. Disaster and general welfare exemptions: The IRS said that it will not challenge the taxability of payments related to general welfare and disaster relief. This means... Read more →
It's never fun having to re-do your taxes. But if it means you'll get a refund, or a larger amount than with your original filing, it's worth it. And now amended filers can have that refund amount sent straight to a financial account. The Internal Revenue Service announced today that people who e-file a Form 1040-X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, now will be able to select direct deposit as the money's delivery method. More X filing going electronic: The IRS began accepting e-filed 1040-X forms in 2020. Most tax software programs have added the amended filing option to... Read more →