TULSA, Okla. — Monday, Jan. 23rd marks the beginning of the 2023 tax season.
The Internal Revenue Service urges the best way to have a smooth experience is to have all the information you need before filing a tax return.
- You should gather 2022 tax records, including social security numbers, individual taxpayer identification numbers, adoption taxpayer identification numbers, and this year’s identity protection personal identification numbers.
- Make sure you have accounted for all your income and the related documents including W-2, 1099, 1099-K, 1095-A,among others.
**Remember, most income is taxable even unemployment income, interest received, or money earned from the gig economy or digital assets. You must report the correct amount on your tax return.
Now that you've gathered your documents, you should be aware for some changes this year.
- getting ahold of someone with the IRS on the phone has been tricky the past few years, so the agency has taken additional steps to improve service. The IRS says it has hired more than 5,000 people to take calls and added more in-person staff to help support taxpayers.
- more taxpayers may receive a form 1099-K. This is an IRS information return used to report certain payment transactions and helps to improve voluntary tax compliance especially with third party networks transactions. Recently, the reporting threshold for third party settlement organizations was reduced. Now transactions in excess of $600 per year. The IRS says that 2022 will be a transition year for this reduced threshold.
Next, another change to expect is the tax refund amount may be smaller. This has to do with a few changes.
- Unlike 2020 and 2021, there were no new stimulus payments for 2022.
- Some tax credits return to 2019 levels. Changes include amounts for the child tax credit, the earned income tax credit, and the child and dependent care credit will go all back to pre-covid levels.
- There will be no more above-the-line charitable deductions.This is also a covid change. During the pandemic, taxpayers were able to take up to a $600 charitable donation tax deduction on their tax returns. This year, those who don’t itemize and take the standard deduction won’t be able to deduct their charitable contributions.
Overall, filing a complete and accurate tax return can help you to avoid extensive processing and refund delays. If you’d like to help speed up your refund, the IRS suggests you file electronically and choose direct deposit.
Most refunds are issued in less than 21 days, if you file electronically, that is, if there are no issues with the filing, and you opt for direct deposit.
This year people even have three extra days to file, as the deadline is April 18th. For more information, check out this page on the IRS website.
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