It’s not too early to begin enthusiastic about your 2022 income-tax return, for those who can bear the thought.
That’s since the tax-filing season is scheduled to begin on Monday, Jan. 23, the Internal Revenue Service announced Thursday. That’s lower than two weeks away.
April 18 is the deadline for most individuals to file a return and pay any taxes due. Taking an extension allows an additional six months, giving an Oct. 16 deadline to submit a tax return.
The IRS is expecting greater than 168 million individual tax returns this yr, it said.
Most households come away with a refund, making for a serious financial event through the yr. Two-thirds of individual taxpayers got here away with a refund last yr averaging around $3,200, in line with IRS data through late October.
This yr, refunds will probably be arriving in a time of high inflation and potential recession worries — and experts caution there’s an excellent likelihood many refunds might be smaller, now that pandemic-era increases to certain tax credits have vanished.
Maximizing an income-tax refund starts by staying organized and knowing when to be looking out for the tax forms that pour in from employers, banks, brokers, mortgage lenders and others.
Hurrying too soon, an individual might overlook a credit, deduction or piece of paperwork to back a claim. The identical goes in the event that they’re rushing on the last minute. An error could snag a refund and delay a return contained in the IRS, because it runs one other tax season while cutting a backlog.
The tax agency, flush with more funding through the Inflation Reduction Act, has been hiring and training more staff to assist make this tax season somewhat smoother than recent years, said acting IRS Commissioner Doug O’Donnell.
“While much work stays after several difficult years, we expect people to experience improvements this tax season,” he said in an announcement.
A day earlier, Erin Collins, the IRS’s national taxpayer advocate, said “the excellent news is that for the reason that close of the 2022 filing season, the IRS has made considerable progress in reducing the quantity of unprocessed returns and correspondence.”
“‘While much work stays after several difficult years, we expect people to experience improvements this tax season.’”
“We’ve got begun to see light at the top of the tunnel. I’m just unsure how much further we’d like to travel before we see sunlight,” Collins added.
Listed here are key tax season dates to aid you plan in your maximum refund:
January 23: The IRS will start accepting and processing returns, though tax preparers and software providers may already be accepting returns. Each time taxpayers file, it’s best to do it electronically, with direct-deposit information included. Most refunds are issued inside 21 days, the IRS said.
The IRS Free File program starts Jan. 13. Taxpayers making $73,000 or less can use this system to file their taxes for free of charge through participating tax software providers.
January 31: By this point, employers must have furnished W-2s, the forms that display a employee’s wages, suggestions and other compensation, said Curtis Tatum, director of federal payroll compliance and in-house counsel on the American Payroll Association. The W-2 also lists the cash withheld for income tax and payroll taxes, plus state and native taxes, he noted.
By this same date, independent contractors and gig-economy staff must have received the 1099-NEC, the tax reporting paperwork for non-employee compensation, Tatum said.
Other forms may arrive by the top of January. These include the 1099-DIV (for distributions like dividends), the 1099-INT (for interest income), and the 1099-K (for money received via third-party payment platforms).
The assorted 1099 forms could come by mid-February, and even as much as March 1, in the event that they are coming from a broker, the IRS notes.
Last month, the IRS delayed rules that will have triggered the 1099-K forms after $600 in payments and only one transaction. As an alternative, it’s sticking this yr with the present rules that trigger the shape after the recipient took in not less than $20,000 and had not less than 200 yearly transactions.
February 15: After this point, the IRS can start issuing refunds on returns claiming the earned-income tax credit and the refundable portion of the kid tax credit. The mid-February hold date happens due to a 2015 law, and it holds the taxpayer’s whole refund, not only the cash amount linked to those credits.
The IRS ‘Where’s My Refund?’ tool will start giving updates on Feb. 18 for many of the quick-moving filers who claim these credits, the agency said. (The info on the refund tracker is updated once a day, often overnight.)
Refunds connected to the earned-income tax credit will probably be available for a lot of starting Feb. 28, the IRS said Thursday. The EITC is geared at low- and moderate-income working households and not less than 29.5 million returns claimed the credit last yr, IRS records show.
It’s also an example of a tax credit that’s becoming less generous because the pandemic fades. An eligible employee without children could reap as much as $500 from the credit this yr. That’s thrice lower than the credit’s approximate $1,500 maximum last yr.
April 18: That is Tax Day, the time when people have to file their 2022 return and pay any owed taxes. Tax Day is frequently April 15, but because is later this yr because April 15 falls on a Saturday, and the District of Columbia has an Emancipation Day holiday on Monday, April 17.
In fact, people can get an automatic six-month extension via Form 4868. But a standard mistake is considering an extension delays the duty to pay what’s owed. It doesn’t delay the window for payment. It just adds six months before the IRS will expect the tax return.
Tax Day doesn’t apply to everyone. The IRS often pushes back the deadline for natural-disaster victims. For instance, the IRS recently announced California storm victims now have a May 15 deadline to file their 2022 return and pay any due tax bill.
April 18 also marks the last day when people can make a contribution for 2022 to certain tax-deferred accounts, reminiscent of IRAs and health savings accounts (HSAs).
October 16: This marks the deadline to submit a 2022 return for taxpayers who took an extension. After that, if taxpayers owe money, penalties and interest can apply. If taxpayers don’t owe taxes, they might not face penalties on late filing.
But in the event that they don’t file a tax return to assert their refund inside three years, the cash goes back to the federal government.