TAX SEASON WILL BE A MESS

Tax season will be a mess. It was going to be a mess even before the government shutdown happened. Now it's going to be an even bigger mess. Will you get a tax refund this year ? Or any refund ? The government shutdown is over (for now) and IRS workers are back on the job, but will 2019 tax refunds be delayed anyway ? And how will the new tax laws affect how you should file taxes this year---and whether or not you'll get a tax refund ? The answers to all of these questions are unclear. We do know one thing for sure. Tax season will be a mess.

Many people. are expecting particularly big tax refunds in 2019--the first tax season that the Trump administration's $1.5 trillion tax cuts are fully in effect. And yes, the consensus is that the average 2019 tax refund will be bigger than last year. Does that mean you'll get a big tax refund this year ? Not necessarily. The tax cuts changed how much people owe, yet most taxpayers benefiting from the changes had less money taken out of their paychecks for federal taxes throughout the course of 2018. So a big tax cut does not mean you'll get a big tax refund. Some in fact will owe more taxes. For those individuals and companies, you may contact us for Tax Resolution Services, including the IRS Fresh Start Program, which is one of many Tax Relief options in the Internal Revenue Code. It all depends on how much you've already paid.

You only get a refund if you overpaid--and unfortunately, because of the tax code changes it's very difficult to tell ahead of time if you overpaid and are therefore owed a tax refund. In addition to lowering individual income tax rates, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act increased the standard deduction and increased the child tax credit, while capping state and local tax deductions and eliminating personal exemptions. Overall, the new tax changes "threw a cloud of confusion over the correct amount to withhold in advance from workers paychecks," the New York Times summed up.