News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The deadline to file taxes has been extended by just over a month, providing relief to people filing and preparing taxes this season.
Cannon, Clark, Holman & Associates CPA Jim Cannon said the latest stimulus package played into moving the deadline to May 17. Cannon said the IRS also started processing tax returns two weeks later into the season.
“They actually made a number of laws retroactive and so it’s kind of thrown people for a loop,” Cannon said. “On exactly where do they stand on unemployment, some of the unemployment is now tax free, where as it wasn’t. There’s some marketplace repayments that are now tax-free, as where they weren’t.”
Cannon said depending on changes in income, the IRS will provide the stimulus payments through the tax return.
“Even with the stimulus payments that are going out, a lot of the settle up with the stimulus payments happens in the tax return,” Cannon said. “If a person’s income was high last year but low this year, the IRS is in effect paying them the stimulus payments through the tax return.”
Cannon said despite those changes, people still need to gather W-2’s and 1099’s. He said people do not want to get hung up with the IRS.
“Anything that comes in the mail that says important tax document, it says that for a reason,” Cannon said. “So set aside, bring it to the preparer. So 1099-Interest, 1099-Dividends, 1099-Brokerage statements.”
Cannon said the May 17 extension is a good compromise between the regular April 15 date and 2020’s July 15 date. Cannon said the IRS did not start processing returns until February 12 this year.
