Congress has made a royal mess of things this year between Stimulus 2, Stimulus 3, and retroactive tax law changes in the middle of tax season! Fortunately, most of you don’t need to do anything to “fix” their mess, but some of you do, so here are the details:
Early season filers missed out on the $10,200 unemployment income exclusion from their Federal taxes. The IRS says, “there is no need for taxpayers to file an amended return unless the calculations make the taxpayer newly eligible for additional federal credits and deductions not already included on the original return.” The IRS will automatically recalculate your tax return and refund the additional $$ this Spring and Summer. Great! What could possibly go wrong there? They are, after all, our gov’t, and they want to help us! In truth, most of you will be fine letting the IRS adjust your taxes for the unemployment income exclusion and sending you more $$, but I will be contacting those of you who we feel should file an amended Federal tax return (as opposed to trusting the IRS to get it right!).
Mid season filers also got caught up in this mess as the states, caught flat footed, had to scramble to adjust their tax laws to include or exclude unemployment income. Depending on where you are and when you filed, a few of you may need to file a state amend, and I will be in touch. Please don’t shoot the messenger ☹
Premium Tax Credit Repayment – (no change from last email) 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 will be keeping slightly shorter office hours through April and then expanding them in May for the sprint to the May 17 filing deadline. Through April 15 our official office hours will be M-F 9-5, Sat 9-2. From April 16-30 we will officially be open MWF 9-5 (no Saturdays). From May 1-17 we plan to resume M-F 9-5, Sat 9-2. We expect May to be incredibly busy, so please make your appointment or get your tax documents over to us as soon as you can!
As always, feel free to call or email me with any questions.