Gather up your W-2s and tax documents. You have about eight weeks left to get your taxes done and filed.
First thing to know --you have a couple of extra days to get them done this year. The tax deadline is April 18.
What’s special about tax year 2022? We’re back to the basics.
John Warren is an enrolled agent—that status is the highest credential the IRS awards - at Medford Tax Experts.
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“2022 is the in-between year,” Warren said. “What we're doing is we're unplugging tax provisions that was special to 2020 and 2021 COVID-related provisions. President Biden had one year when he put child and family tax credits on steroids....they expired. And so now we've gone back to the old credits and the old tax code before COVID.”
The IRS warns that refunds may be smaller this year. Taxpayers won’t receive an additional stimulus payment with a 2023 tax refund because there weren’t any economic impact payments for 2022. In addition, taxpayers who don’t itemize and take the standard deduction, won’t be able to deduct their charitable contributions.
Some good news, the IRS backlog during the pandemic has cleared.
“That was a horrible mess, it's better,” said Warren. “The latest news from the IRS is that there are fewer than two million returns from 2021. The unprocessed 1.5 million are returns that were filed with errors. And the IRS is working to resolve and fix those returns that need adjustments.”
If you haven’t filed previous year’s tax returns, do it as soon as possible. If you file late and owe money there are extra penalties. If you have a refund coming, you only have three years to claim it or it is forfeited. So 2019’s tax return must be filed by April 15 to get your refund.
The IRS Criminal Investigation division warns taxpayers to be very careful when choosing a tax preparer. They see unscrupulous preparers every year, who file false returns to defraud their clients. Remember: even if someone else prepares your return, you are ultimately responsible for all the information on it!
“Make sure that your tax preparer gives you a printed copy of the tax return that the tax preparer signed and identified with their tax identification number,” Warren explained. “They really should be e-filing your tax return. If they're not e-filing it something's not right. ...it would be good to find a tax preparer who's open all year round. ....make sure that your tax preparer belongs to some kind of a national tax professional organization or a couple of them. This means that they have to maintain standards, standards for education.”
If you haven’t received one of the Massachusetts tax refund checks that went out at the end of last year due to the excess tax revenue in the state, call the state help line at 1-877-677-9727 for information.
You can get additional information on those refunds here: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/chapter-62f-taxpayer-refunds.
