Jen's Tax Blog

Pre-law change Unemployment refunds

6/14/2021

Hi folks! I have now emailed everyone who filed before the law with unemployment income or health insurance subsidies they paid back. So if you think that's you and you haven't heard from me, do email so I can check on you.

Reminder, the federal govt should be automatically sending out these refunds over the next few months (at least one client has let me know she got it!) so just chill and wait for your money. You only need to contact me if you get less than I said you would, which I know at least a few of you will based on the IRS guidance. We will then file an amendment to get you the rest.

I am assuming they will direct deposit the money to the same account if you got a refund, but if you originally paid, they will probably mail it, so if you don't want that check to go to the address on your 2020 return, you need to update your address with the IRS ASAP!

Reminder: 2nd Quarter Estimated Payments Due June 15

6/12/2021

Make sure you pay your 2nd Quarter Estimated Payments by Tuesday June 15! If you are not sure how to make the payment, there are videos for Federal and NY on the How-To Videos page. If you don't know how much you should be paying, email me!

Post Season Updates!

6/6/2021

Hi folks! So the season is over and I am catching up on things at a leisurely pace. I'm cooking everyday, going to the gym, and actually spending time with my husband, its wonderful :)

1. I am starting to go through people who filed prior to March 18 with unemployment or health insurance subsidy paybacks. The IRS has started to send out automatic refunds, but it might take a while to get through the millions of people. I'd say give it at least 6 months - so November. They've already stated that people with complex returns and married people will be going last. I will put a note on this blog when the IRS says they are done and to contact them if your refund is still missing. Please do not email me asking where your refund is, I have no information. All we can do is wait patiently. I will send you an email telling you how much to expect in the next month or so, and if you don't get your full amount we will work on it!

2. I will be on vacation from July 10 through July 22, seeing my parents and in-laws for the first time in 2 years! (Yay for amazing vaccines!) I will only be available then for emergencies, so plan accordingly.

3. If you filed an extension, the deadline to file is Oct 15. If you owe, you are racking up penalties and interest every day, so get on that. Efile closes around Nov 15, and you do not want to have to wait another 2 months til filing opens again, so don't dilly-dally!

Thank you to all of you wonderful people for your patience this year! This was by far the most ridiculous tax season ever, and you folks make it all worth it!

IRS payments not going through

4/19/2021

I have had several reports now of IRS payments set up through direct debit when the tax return was filed not going through. They are working to fix this issue, but in the meantime, do make sure your payment went through. If it did not, you may need to pay it yourself online (good idea) or mailing in a check (not a good idea). But give it 2-3 weeks first, we have til May 17 so its fine.
I will be doing a video on return payments soon, you can make payments at https://www.irs.gov/payments/direct-pay

Update: Payments are going through again, so hold off on paying yourself, wait a couple weeks to see if it goes through! If its getting close to May 17 check in with me!

Estimated Payment Videos!

4/14/2021

So I am fighting through the massive backlog of state returns I have, but I am surfacing for air long enough to remind you that estimated (AKA quarterly) payments are still DUE APR 15! That deadline did NOT get extended!

And just in time to help you, I have created two new How-To Videos walking you through making payments to federal and state, check them on on the How-To Videos page!

NY and States Unemployment Update

4/8/2021

Yesterday Cuomo's budget director officially confirmed that unemployment benefits in NY are staying taxable in full, there will be no break like the Federal. Womp womp :( So if you only were waiting on NY, I am going to go ahead and start working through and getting you filed.

If you were on a tour last year and have like 7 or 8 states to file, there are still a few states doing some wrangling, so I will likely save you for last to give max time for the software to be correctly updated. So I probably won't be contacting you for a couple of weeks.

So to sum up, here is what I am doing:
1. Contacting in order all clients that were waiting on ONLY New York's decision on unemployment, letting them know how much they owe and confirming whether or not they want direct debit, and then sending NY efile docs and filing. This will take approx 2-3 weeks.

2. Once I finish that, I will be going back through and dealing with clients that were waiting on multiple states (so tour people) and making sure all those states are being dealt with correctly, then emailing to confirm refunds/amounts owed and debit options, then sending efile docs and filing. I will start with this the last week of April and get it done first week of May still in plenty of time!

What do you need to do? Nothing, hang tight, I will get to you. If you are in Group 2 and you want to re-confirm with me what you might owe, shoot me and email and I will get you a quick response if I can, but otherwise don't worry, just wait til I contact you!

NY update

4/6/2021

So NY just reached a budget deal, and I don't see anything in it about unemployment tax relief. I want to give it a few days to see if any news on this emerges, but if there isn't news about it by April 12, I am going to guess it's not happening. But since we have until May 17, we can afford to wait a little bit longer, though I will need to start filing people by Apr 26 in order to get everyone in on time. If you don't want to wait and want to just go ahead and file, let me know!

New Video and Update on NY

4/5/2021

So NY is still having a fight over their budget, and it will be a couple of days before it gets finalized, so I am advising we wait and see if the unemployment exemption gets tossed in, and see how it looks later this week!

Also, I have a new video up on the How-To Videos page, where I walk you through making a Federal Estimated Tax Payment! I hope to have one up for NY state by the end of the week! First quarter payments are due Apr 15, no extension!

Update on States

4/1/2021

First - ALL states have now extended EXCEPT HI, they extended to April 20. So thanks, HI? So no worries about a random state that will penalize you. (AZ hasn't officially yet, but it's moving through the legislature and looks very likely)

Still waiting a bit longer to see if NY is gonna grant unemployment relief, there is a bill floating around, but they are currently having a massive budget fight so we might need to wait another week for the dust to settle on that to see how it looks. I have even gone so far as to call and email some state senators, but no response.

Update for those who filed pre-March with unemployment!

3/31/2021

Hi folks! Big announcement from the IRS about how they will be handling returns filed before the delightful retroactive tax law change!

They will be automatically adjusting returns and starting to issue refunds in May (they are doing single people first, then married). For a lot of you, that will be sufficient! But for a lot of you it will not, because your reduced income might qualify you for new credits etc, and some of you might want to also amend your state return.

After May 17, I will start going through all the previously filed returns and checking into what your new total should be. I will send you an email checking in with you about how much you got from the IRS and if it matches what I think you should get, great! If it does not, then we will amend and get you more money. There are about 100 of you, so it's going to take me at least a month to get to everybody. Please don't email me unless you haven't heard from me by July 1, I will get to you as soon as I can!

Make sure your address is updated with the IRS - they will probably use your bank account if they have it, but if not they will be mailing checks.

Link to IRS press release: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-to-recalculate-taxes-on-unemployment-benefits-refunds-to-start-in-may

There have yet to be any announcements (or any guidance at all) about those of you with Health Care Tax Credit issues - my bet is we will need to amend those. I don't even have a patch to file those currently, but hopefully I will get that soon.

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