If you look through headlines lately, it catches one’s eye just how many stories are written with some take on ‘What does this mean?’ President Donald Trump and his administration are pursuing so many of their goals in unorthodox ways that what will happen at the end (and just when that end will come) after first steps are made is not always clear. This has soaked into the tax world in a big way considering the time of year as there seems to even be some confusion out there about whether people need to complete tax returns this year or if they will receive their refunds if they do.

To at least tackle that quickly – yes, you still need to file your taxes and, yes, if you are owed a refund, you will receive it.

But it is easy to see how people could think this when the IRS already has endured job cuts during their biggest season and only seem to be in danger of facing more of them.

Even beyond those immediate concerns, though, we are in a spot where future confusion only appears inevitable. After all, Republicans on the whole have promised a list of tax cuts while in the House they have also set a $4.5 trillion limit on the money the federal budget can lose over the next 10 years due to tax cuts.

Just extending the tax cuts that were put into place during the first Trump administration would take up much of that limit. This is going to make it difficult to also include promises to not to tax tips or overtime, lower taxes on Social Security benefits, and increase the deduction for state and local taxes.

I suppose the good news in this is that it looks like you will have to be in a special situation to end up paying more taxes once this all shakes out. The bad news is that it is difficult to plan for anything upcoming when you can’t know exactly what is upcoming.

So, let’s go back now to the idea that you do still have to file a tax return, for the way to operate in the immediate future is just as you are operating now. Until we get to a final stage where things actually change, we have to go with what the current rules are. This includes the fact that taxes and the IRS still exist.  If and when something does happen, though, it looks like most are just going to get to call it a pleasant bonus. 

Warmly,

Josh Bousquet
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I feel like it has been a while since I wrote a blog about scams, which must be a good sign. But let’s be sure to read this sign the right way – it is not saying that scams have been eradicated but that more people seem to be aware of them than there were when they started to become so ubiquitous. There are always new scammer tactics, though, so it is probably time to at least give some reminders here.

The first thing to mention must be how much text messages are now being used to work these scams. Is there anyone out there who hasn’t received a text (and likely multiple) telling you how much you owe for tolls?

That particular one may have become prevalent enough that most are aware of it and ignore it from the start (and coming from foreign numbers is also a good tipoff that it can ignored), but there are enough others out there that we can’t pretend bad actors won’t slip through. So, if you receive a text message that you aren’t sure if it’s real or not, remember some of the key tips that can be used to keep yourself from falling victim to a scam.

The biggest thing to remember here is to give yourself time to figure out if it’s real or not. For instance, if a text comes with a link to a website where you can pay an apparent bill, even one purporting to be from an account you know you do have, sign into your account from a new browser window instead of using the link.  Then you can be sure you are on the actual website and not one set up by the scammers to look like the real one but is an impostor set up to get your money.

Another thing I want to note here may not necessarily involve a scam but could still lead you into issues, and that is to be careful on social media. For you know what they say about if something sounds too good to be true …

And on social media you can hear some of those things from ads that could be actual scams or at least incredibly misleading. Possibly more dangerous, though, could be regular people promoting knowledge or expertise that they do not have. All of us don’t want to pay more in taxes than we have to, so if you hear about some way to decrease that bill, it’s possible to latch onto it without first ensuring that it’s legitimate.

But again, these are other things that can be held off from becoming bigger problems if you spend the time to ensure things are legitimate before fully jumping in.

Warmly,

Josh Bousquet
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Without fail, every year we end up preaching about how procrastination will have no positive ramifications on the outcome of your tax return (or life in general). This is true for many good reasons and we continue to stand by them. This year is extra special, though, and has an extra reason for why you may want to be sure you get a jump on things as government employee cuts stand a chance to slow things down the road.

These cuts have already hit the IRS, which has laid off thousands of employees.  Granted, we aren’t looking at an amount that means returns and refunds are going to be held up in an indefinite status, but that is still enough employees that it’s bound to have some impact. And when it comes to simply looking at how quickly your return is processed or how quickly your refund gets to you, there is no way that it is going to make them happen quicker.

I don’t want to get too deep in the weeds here, but if you are interested in learning a little more, you can read this article about how former IRS chiefs see this as potentially leading to delays.

My personal take on this is that the biggest benefit to filing earlier now is that it could improve your situation down the line. Granted, most tax returns are filed, processed as they are, and nothing else is thought about it from there. Some do come with issues, though, which could need to be outside of the regular return season. And trust me, this is when you will feel the issues with the IRS’s customer service and understand the horror stories that emerge about it. So, if this is already something that can be difficult, how is it going to look if the agency has to face further cuts? And what if this were only to happen in a few weeks?

We start by talking about holding off procrastination as just a good idea for everyone and that is certainly still the case. The current situation just proves that point even more. If you don’t know exactly what’s coming and how it’s going to make things look for you – isn’t it best to take care of what you can while you can?

Warmly,

Josh Bousquet
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