Quick update time! I’m trying to be brief, so call or email me if you have any questions.
Stimulus 3 – Many of you have already received your 3rd stimulus ($1400 per person on your return), and the rest of you are just a tad bit antsy! The IRS started distributing a second batch yesterday, mostly by direct deposit (if they have your bank info), but some of you will receive checks or even debit cards from the Department of the Treasury. As satisfying as it may be to throw out anything from our gov’t, these letters are keepers. That said, there’s a ton of fraud related to the stimulus, so call me if you are unsure! You can check your Stimulus 3 status here. To confuse matters, the IRS is currently sending out confirmation letters about the second Stimulus payment (yay, only 2 months late)! We don’t need these, so by all means, trash em, er, I mean save them with your tax docs.
Unemployment Exemption – The IRS is going to “auto-correct” returns with unemployment compensation, so if you filed and had unemployment before Stimulus 3 was passed (mid-March), the IRS will recalculate your taxes (nothing can go wrong there!), exempt out up to $10,200 of unemployment income, and send you what they think you’re due. Alas, many states including Georgia have told the IRS to go pound sand and are still going to tax unemployment, so it’s a mess! Most of you are OK and don’t need to do anything, but we have a few clients that will likely need to file Georgia (or other states) amended returns (and pay them some $$ back). If you are affected, I’ll be in touch; don’t hate the messenger!
Premium Tax Credit Repayment – We have a few clients that had to pay back part of their Obamacare credits (PTC). Stimulus 3 includes a retroactive (we just love retroactive !&%#*) tax change to credit some or all of that money back. We are still waiting on IRS guidance, but we expect them to “auto-fix” PTC repayments, so likely no need to amend your taxes. I’ll let you know if you need to do anything.
Office Hours – We are planning to keep tax season hours (M-Th 9-6, F 9-5, Sa 9-2) through April 15, then change to M,W,Th,Sa through May 17 (with shorter daily hours). Not all preparers will be available after April 15, and appointment slots are limited, so please schedule your appointment ASAP for the most flexibility. Of course, you can still use TeleTaxPrep if you prefer.
That’s all for now! Fun fun…