Everything You Need to Know to File Your 2019 Tax Return
If you haven’t started getting the forms you need to file your 2019 tax return yet, you will definitely start getting them soon. While we faced a lot of changes last year, this year there will be a lot less trouble. There are a few settings you should be aware of, but for the most part, these will be very familiar to you.
Thomas Cook , a business professor at Georgetown University, said the changes to tax laws for 2019 are minimal. Without the spending package passed by Congress in December, we would have steadily adhered to the changes already implemented by the Tax and Employment Cut Act (TCJA) of 2017.
Dates you need to know
Listen, early birds: The first day the IRS will process your 2019 tax returns will be January 27, 2020.
You must file your tax return by April 15th, unless you live in Maine or Massachusetts, which has an April 17th deadline this year.
If you request an extension, you have until October 15th to file your tax return, but you still have to pay all taxes by April 15th.
What’s left with taxes this year
Here’s a quick overview of those previous changes that are still in effect:
Single tax payers can take a standard deduction of $ 12,200 . Married couples can take a standard deduction of $ 24,400 . Cook said 90% of taxpayers take the standard deduction from the TCJA-related increase.
If your unreimbursed medical expenses are more than 7.5% of your AGI , you can deduct them. (This was supposed to increase to 10% in tax year 2019, but it has been delayed.) Obviously, you won’t do this unless your total deductions add up to more than the standard deduction.
Tax categories and rates are the same as last year.
What’s new in 2019
Fewer schedule A forms
If you don’t use standard deduction and choose granularity instead, you have fewer sifting forms. “Last year, taxpayers were very disappointed when they looked at the [new] Form 1040 and all the tables,” Cook said, explaining that the six forms of Table A have been reduced to three. “They combined some of the information from charts four, five and six and moved them to other charts,” he said, “so we have fewer longer charts.”
Adjustment of alimony
Starting this year, you can no longer withhold the child support you paid. It also no longer counts as income if you received child support. Cook explained that if your divorce was filed before December 31, 2018, the old rules still apply. If you get divorced in 2019, a new rule applies to your child support.
What questions do you have about filing your tax return this year? Leave them in the comments or email me at [email protected] and I will find some answers for you in the next few weeks.