 Internal Revenue Service IRS tax news IRS free file can help those with no filing requirement find overlooked tax credits and get a refund there's a YouTube video on this it's called why you should use free file there's one in ASL as well so you can check that out there's links to that here IR 2022-84 April 14 2022 Washington the Internal Revenue Service today urged low to moderate income individuals and families especially those who don't normally file a tax return to use IRS free file there's a link to that here to prepare their own federal tax return file electronically and get a refund by direct deposit all for free let me give you my quick recap I'll tell you my little story about this whole thing note that at one point in time and still at this point in time if you were to ask the question if you were to type into the Google search or into the IRS website am I required to file a tax return you're gonna have some conditions where you may not be required to you for example if your income is below a certain threshold because an income tax is usually a tax on income and everybody gets basically a standard deduction therefore if your income is basically below what you would think the standard deduction is in general you would think that the IRS wouldn't require you to file the tax return because you wouldn't owe any taxes at that point in time and therefore the IRS you know won't come after you if you don't file a tax return in some instances however there are few instances these days where you wouldn't really want to file the tax return because you might get benefits including these kind of refundable credits it used to be at one point in time that there weren't as many kind of refundable credits they weren't quite as large as some more people might try to might just want to opt out of filing the tax return because the main thing that you would have gotten if there were no refundable credit would be that if you had withholdings for your W2 withholdings then you those would be refunded to you if you didn't owe any taxes and you would only get those refunded to you if you filed the tax return but if you worked a very little bit then those withholding still might be fairly small you might not have any withholdings but now you've got a lot of refundable credits like the child tax credit like the earned income tax credit and you've got these stimulus payments the economic impact payments and the recovery rebate credits all the kind of linked together those things that could have an impact and could result in what they call refunds even though it's not really a refund at that point in time so if you get money back from a refundable credit and your tax liability was zero then it's not really a refund it's kind of like the tax program is being used as like a benefit program at that point in time but in any case most people would want to file just to check those out now these things these refundable credits the earned income tax credit the child tax credit the advance on the child tax credit recovery rebate credit are confusing these days the advanced credits are confusing the earned income credit has always been one of the most confusing credits and they've made it more confusing now with with trying to make it you know better or possibly provide more benefits but makes it more confusing so you really want to use some kind of tax software in order to file the tax return especially these days on the lower income side of things if these refundable credits are going to be in play and so they've they've got these free file iris free file which are third party platforms that can help people to file the tax return so if you haven't filed a tax return you know anybody that doesn't have the tax return even if they don't need to file the tax return you might as well look into the free file to see if you can file the tax return noting that the free file isn't going to be there forever you know usually like you can't get back into the free files stuff for last year for 2020 it's available in 2021 and so you if you're going to use that tool you want to use it when you have access to it all right there's my recap back to the text the tax software guides people through each section of their tax return using a question and answer format it's safe easy and free to file a federal return individuals who don't earn enough money to require them to file may mistakenly assume that since they own no tax they're not entitled to refund so again the terminology is what might lead people people to make this mistaking assumption if you paid no tax and you owed no tax then you you you might say well I'm not going to get a refund and you're really not getting a refund in that case but you still might get a benefit you might get money which they call a refund which isn't really a refund at that point because it's a benefit program that they put into the tax code that has credits that are going to go beyond the amount of money that was put in it's all kind of confusing but you still might get a benefit because of these refundable credits so they may however be eligible for the earned income tax credits the child tax credits the child independent care credit the premium tax credit or the 2021 recovery rebate credits these credits are refundable and can result in a refund even if the individual owes no income tax so again that terminology you're getting a refund even though you don't owe any taxes but the refund stands for the fact that I paid too much during 2021 and you're giving it back because I overpaid but I didn't pay anything and so how is it called a refund it's not really a refund that's confusing it's like a benefit at that point because it's a refundable credit so more information on these credits is available in irs.irs expanded credits for families highlight tax changes for 2021 many people who don't normally file should file this year and there's a link to that here this year's federal tax filing deadline for individuals is April 18th you got that extra two days to file so that's nice that couple states have one other day which doesn't seem fair to me but for most people April 18th the only way to get a refund is to file a tax return taxpayers can use electronic filing options including the irs free file available on irs.gov through October 17th so they basically pushed it out through that like the extension date so you still have time for the free file software but you want to if you're going to use the free file software you want to get in there use it when it's available to you because it will not be available forever so you want to get in there and prepare file returns electronically irs free file offers free access to leading tax software to anyone who has adjusted gross income agi in other words of seventy three thousand dollars or less if you're over seventy three thousand dollars then you probably want to you know buy the software because you don't want to do it by hand or possibly talk to someone like a tax professional because your tax return is getting more complex most likely on the upper side of things it's kind of funny these days because the the the upper income tax returns have always been more complicated because there's a lot more income and stuff going on with them now the lower income tax returns are actually quite a lot more complicated because of the earned income tax credit the changes to the law the recovery rebate credit the advanced payments and so on the middle returns the ones in the middle actually seem to be the easiest kind of returns these days but in any case available only at irs.gov irs free file offers low to moderate income families those experiencing homelessness students who are now on their own or may have only worked part-time and others a fast and easy way to access these benefits i'm not sure anything with the taxes is easy these days but you know they're doing they're trying they're trying okay anyone can use irs free file by accessing a computer or similar device no computer no problem irs free file product support mobile phone access to i i really don't recommend doing it on your phone like your taxes but if that's all you got then that's fine i'd do it on the phone but i if you could find a computer if i could wait like a while and find a computer i would do it on a computer where the screen is kind of large because this because you would think that the tax forms are like a full page on a computer you got to have good eyes on that but a lot of people do stuff on the phone so maybe you could do it eligible people who did not receive third round of economic impact payment or receive less than the full amount may claim the recovery rebate credits when they file their 2021 tax return so remember the recovery rebate credit is like the the uh the actual credit that the prepayment of the economic impact payment or stimulus payment is so in other words the stimulus is the prepayment of the recovery rebate credit in a similar way as the advanced child tax credit is a prepayment of the actual credit that would be calculated on the 2021 tax return that is filed by April 18th 2022 the difference is that the recovery rebate credit uh you got the full amount in advance if everything went as planned whereas with the prepayment for the advanced child tax credit you really only got half the amount if everything went as planned also note that we're only talking about the third round of economic impact payments for 2021 the first two are related to the 2020 tax return so more information on claiming the 2021 recovery rebate credit can be found on 2021 recovery rebate credit questions and answers there's a link to that and that's where irs free file comes in it's a free way to claim the full amount of tax benefits and ensure that eligible people get their refund look for an irs free file product with quote no minimum income in quote file electronically and choose direct deposit through irs free file leading tax software providers make their online products available for free as part of a 20 year partnership with the irs there are eight software providers in english and two in spanish visit irs.gov forward slash free file for details in addition there's mail mail mail tax available free through the department of defense offers a similar online tax preparation service to members of the military so that's offered by the department of defense i'm kind of curious to see how how that like government funded program is kind of picking up or or compares to private software and i don't think the private software includes like the big one in my name with my opinion which is into its turbo tax for individual individual files for some reason i think they were on the list last year and i don't think they're on the free file list this year although you could try to go to if you want to try turbo tax they might have a free file program but i don't think it's connected to this free file for some reason uh the mail tax i i've i've never used it but the fact that it's that's not like on the market competing with these other softwares that are on the market makes me think that it wouldn't be as as competitive because it's not even those designed specifically for the military so maybe it's maybe it's good but i'm kind of wondering if you got top of the line other software which i'm not sure all these softwares are top of the line i would think that individual software that comes to my mind is hr block or turbo tax although i don't use either one of those even i use you know software for i'll use the assert for a you know corporate kind of cpa firms but i would think those would be the big name ones and so i'm wondering how mill tax kind of lines up in comparison to it given given the fact that it's you know uh it's not uh market-based software so in any case if anybody has any thoughts on that let me know because irs free file returns are filed electronically the service offers everyone a great way to get their money quickly this is especially true for anyone who chooses to have their refund deposited directly into a savings or checking account don't have a bank account to direct deposit a refund visit the fdic website there's a link to that here or the national credit union administration using the credit union labor tool for information on where to find a bank or credit union to open an account online veterans can see the veterans benefit banking program the vbbp i like that name the veterans benefit banking program the vbbp there's a link to that here for access to financial services at participating banks many reloadable prepaid card cards have an access and routing number that can be provided to the irs for direct deposit people should check to ensure their card can be used to to have their refund applied to the card and to obtain the routing number an account number which may different from the card number so the irs urges everyone to consider taking advantage of the speed and convenience of irs free file including or this includes people experiencing homelessness as long as they are not someone's dependent chances are they still qualify for the recovery rebate credit even if they have little or no income so a lot of people that are experiencing homelessness these credits hopefully you know and a lot of people i think they're beneficial they i think they may in some instances says make targets out of homeless people but if you know anybody that hasn't filed the tax return that that might benefit from it then then you know you can help you can help them out through that process most likely because you know there might be these refundable credits for them so they can still use free file even if they're only access to the internet is through a smartphone look for an irs free file product with quote no minimum income in quote people experiencing homelessness may list the address of a friend relative or trusted service provider such as a shelter drop-in day center or trans transitional housing program on the tax return families who had a baby or adopted a child during 2021 or who added a dependent including a parent a nephew or a niece or a grandchild on their 2021 income tax return who was not listed as a dependent on their 2020 income tax return likely did not receive a stimulus payment for that qualifying child or dependent they may be eligible to claim a 2021 recovery rebate credit and must file a 2021 tax return to claim a credit uh of up to 1400 all eligible parents of qualifying children born or welcomed through adoption or foster care in 2021 are also encouraged to claim the child tax credit worth up to $3,600 per child born in 2021 on their 2021 income tax return low to moderate income workers and working families who don't normally file a return may miss out on certain credits for individuals included the EITC the earned income tax credit the child tax credit the child and dependent care credits the premium tax credits if they don't file in order to validate and successfully submit an electronic filed tax return to the irs taxpayers need their adjusted gross income or agi from their most recent tax return for those waiting on their 2020 tax return to be processed there's a special tip to ensure the tax return is accepted by the irs for processing so remember if you're helping anyone or if you're doing your own taxes if you file 2020 and then you're trying to file 2021 you might think i can't file 2021 because i need the agi for 2020 to file 2021 but when i put in the agi for 2020 to file 2021 the iris doesn't think it's the right agi because they haven't processed the return yet so maybe i have to wait till the iris processes the return so they know what the agi is so that i can e-file my 2021 tax return but that's not true because you just got to know the secret code it's like that secret game code you got to hit left right left right a a b a left right down and the secret code here is that you got to put a zero in there for the agi so you can still file the 2021 tax return even if the 2020 tax return had not been processed even if you need the agi adjusted gross income to validate the electronic filing of the 2021 tax return but you have to put a zero in there you got to know the code you got to know the code that's why you're here that's what i'm doing for you here i'm giving you this information secret stuff so make sure to enter zero zero dollars for last year's agi on the 2021 tax return for those who used a non-filer tool in 2021 to register an advanced child tax credit or third economic impact payment in 2021 they should enter one dollar as their prior year agi so one more time for those who used a non-filer tool now that non-filer tool means that you were trying to get like the child tax credit or someone was trying to get the stimulus payments and they didn't want to file the actual tax return because they weren't required to so the easiest thing you could have done then was to use the non-filer tool which is kind of like a very simple tax return just giving the information needed to to get the refund so if they used the non-filer tool then the secret code is a one instead of a zero so for one more time for those who used a non-filer tool in 2021 to register an advanced child tax credit or third economic impact payment in 2021 they should enter one dollar as their prior year agi this is critical information to file the tax return here this is the secret codes you got to have them you got to go you got to be in the know so everyone else should enter their prior years agi from last year's return remember if using the same tax preparation software as last year this field will be auto populated for those who are not comfortable doing their own return irs trained community volunteers offer tax help at more than 11,000 tax help sites nationwide and they have like a whole cheat sheet of these codes these secret codes those are the main ones so to find the nearest site visit irs.gov forward slash volunteers or call 800-906-9887 there's a link to those items here there'll be a link to this in the description