File Your Tax Return Earlier This Year
Tax season officially begins on January 28, and experts advise people to start filing this year if they don’t want their refunds to be delayed.
The reason is twofold: First, the government is still closed, and although the IRS requires workers to come to work and process reports without pay (if you want to help federal employees, check out this article ), it is very likely that the case will drag on. If you need help or need to contact the IRS about a problem, especially don’t expect a timely response.
“If the IRS is behind schedule due to a shutdown, you don’t want your bottom line to be amid a potentially huge backlog,” Kiplinger writes.
However, a more important reason is that this is the first year when the come into force of most of the provisions of the tax legislation in 2017 . Combined with the closure, this is the perfect storm for refund delays and tax headaches.
If you need to see the CPA, you will want to do so as soon as you receive your tax forms. While tax professionals have no doubt been preparing for the season, this is still the first time they will work with the new law and its many changes to previous legislation. Not to mention, this is the first year that applicants will use the new “postcard size” Form 1040.
“The closure in October 2013 caused a lot of concern among practitioners, ” Edward Karl, vice president of taxation at the American Institute of Accountants, told CNBC . “If there was a problem and you needed to contact the IRS, you couldn’t solve it.”
In addition, anti-fraud regulations went into effect last year for those claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Child Tax Credit, and refunds were delayed until mid-February . Add two other hurdles and it may take longer to get a refund.
To be clear, you will eventually receive a refund. But if you’re planning on spending that money on something (even if you put it in a savings account ), you’ll want it ASAP. Don’t wait until the last minute to apply this year.