Jen's Tax Blog

Hurricane-related Extensions

9/17/2021

I hope you all are safe and well after the recent crazy weather! This post is only for people who haven't filed 2020 yet, if you already filed, this doesn't concern you, it's just for the procrastinators :)

You may have heard on the news that the (already extended) tax deadline has been extended from Oct 15 to Jan 3 for people in the areas affected by Hurricane Ida, which includes NYC and surrounding areas, and several counties in NJ and PA. This is true for the FEDERAL government. However, NY, being the crappy brutally taxing state it is, did NOT extend this deadline. So while you have more time to file your federal, NY is not giving you any more time, and you have to do your Federal return in order to do NY so really, you don't get an extension. Please do not delay, get your return done by Oct 15. If that is truly not possible because you were very badly impacted by the storm, let me know and we can work on drafting a request for penalty abatement, but this is not for people who can't legitimately say they were heavily affected by the storm.

PA and NJ, being much nicer states, have followed the federal and extended the deadlines to Jan 3. However, I still STRONGLY urge you not to use this as an excuse to delay if you can help it. Obviously, if your home got flooded, then of course take advantage. But if you are just fine, do not delay. Even though the deadline may be extended, Efile shuts down in early November, so if you wait, you will either have to mail in your return (BAD IDEA!) or you will have to wait til Efile reopens in late Jan, and by then you will be late. Also, I will NOT have a lot of availability to work with you after Oct 15, my schedule is packed with performing commitments in Oct and Nov and I will not be able to guarantee I can help you in time.

So, TLDR, unless you have really experienced serious consequences from these storms and truly cannot get your taxes done in the next month, proceed as though your deadline is still Oct 15. Because for most of you, it really is. I just didn't want to you be mislead by any news stories you might hear that tell you that you have more time, without giving you the full picture. Tough love, I do this because I care about you! :)

Refunds are still VERY delayed

8/3/2021

NOTE: this post is about refunds for regularly filed returns. If you are waiting for an extra refund from unemployment, this does NOT apply to you. There is no way to track those, just wait patiently :)

I'm starting to get a lot of emails from people concerned that their refunds have still not come several months after filing. You are not alone! Literally millions of people are still waiting on refunds as the IRS is behind on processing returns. As of June, it was reportedly 35 million still being processed. Sometimes there is an obvious reason, sometimes there is no reason at all. Unfortunately, there is literally nothing I can do to help you if you are waiting on your refund, assuming there is no actual issue to address. You just have to wait. If you haven't gotten your refund yet and you are worried, here is what you should do:

First, before you do anything else, check Where's My Refund? on the IRS website. You will need to know your social, filing status (married, single etc), and the amount of your refund. If you email me to check, this is the exact thing I am going to do.

Now, what does that say?
1. Your return is still processing. Congrats, the IRS has your return, but you just need to wait. Check the site periodically for any updates.
2. It might say there is an issue with your refund. It might have been taken for debts, or the IRS doesn't agree with your return, and they will be sending you a letter explaining what's going on. If you get a letter saying there is an issue, please do bring it to my attention.
3. It might say that your refund was issued on a certain date, either directly deposited to an account or mailed by check. If you check into that info and it seems your refund has gone astray, let me know and we can work on what to do next.

So if you are in situation #1 and your return is still being processed, why is it so delayed? The most common issue is that you requested stimulus money that you didn't get before on your tax return. These amounts have to be verified by an actual person, and that is taking months. You may have requested another credit like the EITC or Child Tax Credit and that amount is also being double checked by a human. A lot of returns were delayed that had unemployment this year. Even if you have none of these things, some returns just seem to be delayed for no reason I can discern at all, the IRS seems to have randomly decided a person needed to look at something, and again, thanks to Covid, that is taking a long time. Unfortunately there is nothing to do but wait patiently!

Now this is all for federal refunds, if you are missing a state refund, chances are much higher that there is an issue that needs to be addressed, like them wanting to verify your ID or get copies of your W2s or other state tax returns, so let me know if you have issues with them!

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!

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