Tag: Taxes

Here’s how long it will take to get your tax refund in 2022

© Getty Images/iStockphoto Tax refund

Treasury Department officials warned in January that this year’s tax season will be a challenge with the IRS starting to process returns on January 24. That’s largely due to the IRS’ sizable backlog of returns from 2021. As of December 31, the agency had 6 million unprocessed individual returns — a significant reduction from a backlog of 30 million in May, but far higher than the 1 million unprocessed returns that is more typical around the start of tax season. 

“IRS is in crisis, Taxpayer Advocate warns”

That may make taxpayers nervous about delays in 2022, but most Americans should get their refunds within 21 days of filing, according to the IRS. And some taxpayers are already reporting receiving their refunds, according to posts on social media. 

Getting refunds within 21 days of filing

If all goes well, though, taxpayers who e-file can receive their refunds via direct deposit as quickly as one week after filing based on previous years’ processing time, according to trade publication CPA Advisor. 

Ensuring smooth tax filing comes with a lot on the line, given that the average refund last year was about $2,800. Below are tips from tax experts and the IRS on how to get a tax refund within 21 days of filing.

1. File electronically

This is a step the IRS is strongly urging this year. Although some people may simply like filing paper returns — and others may have no choice — the agency says that taxpayers who file electronically are more likely to have their returns processed quickly. 

“Paper is the IRS’s Kryptonite, and the agency is still buried in it,” National Taxpayer Advocate Collins said  on Wednesday. 

2. Get a refund via direct deposit

The IRS also recommends that taxpayers arrange to get their refunds by direct deposit. The agency says the fastest way to get your money is to use the combination of e-filing with direct deposit, which sends the money into your bank account. 

3. Don’t guesstimate

The IRS checks its data against the figures taxpayers detail on their returns. If there’s a discrepancy — say your W2 shows that you earned $60,000, but you write on the return that you earned $58,000 — the return is flagged for manual review by an employee. 

Once that happens, it’s likely your tax return will face a delay of weeks or even months. That’s why tax experts advise people to check forms carefully to ensure they’re reporting data accurately. Filling out your tax return shouldn’t rely on “word of mouth or the honor system,” Cyr said. “I guarantee that will cause delays.”

4. Save IRS letters about stimulus, CTC

Along those lines, the IRS is sending letters this month to taxpayers who received the third federal stimulus check in 2021, as well as the advanced Child Tax Credit payments. 

These letters will inform each taxpayer what they received through these programs in 2021 — they are important documents to hold onto because you’ll want to refer to those amounts when filling out your tax return. 

Written by Aimee Picchi —With reporting by the Associated Press.

Source: Here’s how long it will take to get your tax refund in 2022 (msn.com)

IRS Warns You Won’t Be Able to File Online Without Doing This First

THE AGENCY IS MAKING A MAJOR CHANGE TO HOW USERS ARE ABLE TO ACCESS ONLINE TOOLS.

The start of a new tax season is fast approaching. This year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is strongly encouraging people to stick to filing their taxes online and not on paper, as the agency is already struggling under the weight of a backlog of paper returns from last year. But before you do that, you should be aware of a major change from the IRS that might affect the way you’re able to file online and access other online tools. Read on to find out what you must do first before filing your taxes online in 2022.

If you do all your taxes online rather than on paper, the IRS is gearing up to make a major change that will impact you. In Nov. 2021, the agency announced that it was updating how users sign in and verify their identity for certain online services. The IRS will now use ID.me, an identity verification tool for sign-in service, to allow taxpayers to securely access most of the agency’s tools in an effort to prevent identity theft.

According to the IRS website, the agency has transitioned to the new sign-in and identity verification system for five different online applications. This includes accessing your account online, which has information on how much you’re owed for your return, your payment history, stimulus check information, payment plan details, and more. You’ll also need ID.me to obtain transcripts, apply for payment plans, manage child tax credit payments, and retrieve an IP PIN, which is a number that prevents someone else from filing a tax return using your social security or taxpayer ID number.

This new identification recognition system will require a number of different things, centered around facial recognition technology. If you have never created an ID.me account with a government agency, you’ll “have to provide a photo of an identity document such as a driver’s license, state ID or passport as part of the identity verification process,” the IRS warns. But you’ll also need to snap a pic: You must have a smartphone or a computer with a webcam to take a selfie in order for the software to match you with your ID document.

“Once they verify their identity, they can use their account across multiple IRS tools and at other government agencies that also use ID.me,” the IRS states on its website.

You can still use your old sign-in credentials until the summer.

The new ID system will most likely end up affecting how you file taxes online next year, as the tax deadline to submit 2021 returns this year is April 18 for most people. However, if any extensions are made or you need to utilize the agency’s online tools and applications this summer or beyond, you’ll want to take note of the change.

According to the IRS, people can use their credentials from the old system to sign in for most applications until this summer, when ID.me will be fully implemented. Existing accounts only need an email and password for access currently, per UPI. “You won’t be able to log in with your existing IRS username and password starting in summer 2022,” the agency warns, noting that taxpayers are “prompted to create an ID.me account as soon as possible.”

There is some backlash against the IRS implementing ID.me.

Not everyone is ready to give into the new IRS system, however. Notable security blogger Brian Krebs reported that when he created a new ID.me account to access online IRS services, the sign-up process was both time-consuming and glitchy.

“Successfully verifying your identity with ID.me may require a significant investment of time, and quite a bit of patience,” Krebs wrote in a Jan. 19 blog post. “For example, stepping away from one part of the many-step application process for a little more than five minutes necessitated another login, and then the re-submission of documents I’d previously uploaded.”

Others point to problems ID.me has experienced in the past. In June 2021, Vice reported that the system had failed to identify unemployment benefit applicants in various states that required it, noting that they also ran into trouble trying to reach anyone from the company to fix the issue. But the IRS has said that there are plenty of other ways for taxpayers to file their tax returns if they don’t want to make and utilize an ID.me account.

“The IRS emphasizes taxpayers can pay or file their taxes without submitting a selfie or other information to a third-party identity verification company,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement, per UPI. “Tax payments can be made from a bank account, by credit card or by other means without the use of facial recognition technology or registering for an account.”

Article for Best Life© written by kali coleman

Photo credit: iStock