Our government may shut down, but don’t think for a second that the IRS isn’t considered “essential”. Someone has to collect THEIR money! T-H-E-I-R-S. Freak spelling coincidence?
Anyway, the IRS is now open (seriously late this year!) and we’ve already filed several tax returns, but much like last year, they are holding most refunds until at least February 27 to help minimize fraud. If you really need at least some of your refund sooner, you can request a RAL (Refund Anticipation Loan) of up to $2500 this year. We have already had a few happy clients receive those funds within roughly 24 hours.
New tax law! Wow, so much press for something that has almost no effect on this tax season. You will likely notice a bump in paychecks starting in February, but most of the actual tax law changes (there are a lot!) affect next tax season.
SecureFilePro – Many of you have already used our SecureFilePro web portal, and we urge everyone to use this solution instead of email to send us your tax information. While emailing password protected files adds some measure of security, it’s vastly inferior to the end-to-end encryption our portal provides.
New this year, we will also be using e-signatures and e-pay through our SecureFilePro Portal. This should make the process of signing signature forms and paying your preparation fees much easier for those of you that “drop-off” your tax returns without actually visiting our office.
I’m told by old (ok, older) people that new isn’t always better, so please feel free to contact me with any feedback on our new systems.
If you need any help getting organized or want to make an appointment, please call our office (770-471-3003) or email me, and if you know anyone looking for very experienced tax preparers, please forward our name to them!