 Internal Revenue Service IRS tax news. Get ready now to file your 2022 federal income tax return. Get ready now. That's quite a demanding tone taken from the IRS here, don't you think? I mean, I'll start my tax preparation when I'm good and ready, dang it. The procrastination is like my natural right. I'm sure it's in the Constitution or Bill of Rights somewhere, like the right to procrastination. Possibly both, like between free speech and like freedom of religion or something. It's got to be in there somewhere, although as we know free speech is basically vanished these days. But in any case, perhaps procrastination falls under the concept of the pursuit of happiness itself. Because like procrastinating and agonizing over having to pay the IRS for as long as possible is clearly a wellspring of happiness. In fact, the pursuit of happiness is what led me to my noble quest to pay as little taxes as possible in the first place. Resulting in the joy of not wasting productivity by giving it to people that think we can power the country by mandating everyone wear like a funny hat with a little propeller on top and requiring us to run a mile each day to like make the little propeller spin, which produces precisely enough energy, which we don't have the capacity to store, to expend on a nice static shock, which you will receive next time you touch a doorknob. And of course, this will result in a law mandating everyone use electronic door openers so as to allow us to store the electronic charge generated from our funny hats with the little propeller on top longer. Also, don't forget to wear a cloth mask to stop the transmission of COVID. And first a joke. To protest global warming, an environmentalist threw soup on and glued his hand to a famous painting in an art gallery of a Las Vegas hotel casino. But why? Beats me. Proclaiming his hand will remain stuck to the painting until all cows in the entire world are equipped with large carbon capture devices attached to their asses. Our early attempts went through several preparations. Preparations A through G were a complete failure. But now, ladies and gentlemen, we finally have preparation H. And yes, donkey should have the same thing attached to their asses as well. What? Why don't you just call it operation ass creaming ass? Even though like the entire donkey is technically an ass, we're just talking about obviously the ass end of the ass here. Dr. Evil, I love your plan. Yeah, right? Ah, Dr. It's a really good plan. In any case, at least this guy's got a plan, right? Yes, Frau. On the whole, I think preparation H feels good. I mean, that's a step up for most of these people. And the best part of this plan is, no one can stop me. Hahaha However, the Las Vegas hotel casino called in the pit boss from the casino. No, no, no. I wanted everybody to know that things would change around here. The hand was left glued to the painting. You dick. And the entire ordeal was a great boon for the hotel casino Ticket sales for the art gallery increasing dramatically while cheating in the casino Simultaneously decreased dramatically And the hand it still stuck to the painting as As sadly the world's cows have not yet been equipped with large carbon-captured devices attached to their assets The Gotham City's earned the rest from crime, but if the forces of evil should rise again To cast a shadow on the heart of the city Call me I mean honestly, how did such a coherent plan to solve the global warming problem fail like this? Oh wait, you're serious. Let me laugh even harder I are 2022-203 November 22nd 2022 Washington The internal revenue service today encouraged taxpayers to take simple steps before the end of the year to make filing their 2022 federal tax return easier with a little advanced preparation a preview of tax changes and convenient online tools Taxpayers can approach the upcoming tax season with confidence That sounds like a lot of stuff here a little advanced preparation a preview of tax changes and convenient online tools Note that over the last couple of years We have had significant changes to the tax code and people's working conditions have generally changed a lot as well So the tax code is complex in and of itself But when we have changes to the tax code that makes it harder for us to kind of comply with it Given the fact that we're supposed to be paying our taxes as we generate or earn the revenue Either through the withholdings that we tell our employer to do with the help and use of the W4 Or by paying them estimate attacks payments in a situation where we have like our own business or gig work Or something like that. So if there's inconsistency We can't really look at the last year to help us to determine what those Kind of payments should be made in the following year So that leads us to need to make more updates in terms of what our estimates are for our estimated payments Either through the withholdings or the estimated payments So now that it is the end of the year in order to pay as little taxes as possible What you would like to do is try to avoid penalties and interest and so you might do kind of like a projection There's online tools on iris.gov to help you to see how much withholdings Are you required to have if you can get those withholdings in or get the payments in place before a year end Then it might be a good thing that could lower penalties and interest for the taxes Also note that some of these changes to the tax code have been impacting Lower income individuals as they change things like refundable tax credits And so tax returns that possibly may have been easy in the past for low income tax returns Are actually oftentimes more complex than like middle income tax returns Due to the complexities on how these kind of refundable credits work that the earned income credit is one of the most Complex credits to kind of calculate the advance, you know The payments for the child tax credit and the changes to the laws related to it from year to year are confusing so so we want to get an idea of those things tax software helps and Making sure that we get our payment on time and possibly using the tools from irs to get a projection of how much of Withholdings would be would be a good idea. So filers can visit the get ready web page There's a link to that here to find guidance on what's new and what to consider when filing a 2022 tax return they can also find helpful information on Organizing tax records and a list of online tools and resources Get ready by gathering tax records when filers have all their tax documentation gathered and organized They're in the best position to file an accurate return and avoid processing or refund delays or receiving irs Letters now is a good time for taxpayers to consider financial transactions that occurred in 2022 if they're taxable and how and how they should be reported The irs encourages taxpayers to develop an electronic or paper record keeping system to store tax related information in one place for easy access So it used to be you get all this stuff the 1099s W2's and whatnot and possibly put them into a folder designated for your Taxes, but now a lot of times people have the electronic kind of payment or processing systems and Companies are trying to go green and whatnot not to save the world, but because it's cheaper But possibly we can do both right and but in any case So now you're gonna might you might have to get those those Documentations from the website or possibly they're gonna email, you know a link to it hopefully in a secured fashion and Store those documentations so taxpayers should keep copies of file tax returns and they're supporting documents for at least three years That's because the statute of limitations is generally three years meaning the irs can come back and audit you Basically for no reason they could just basically just pick it by random and audit you in the three years If there is like fraud that they suspect they could possibly have a longer time frame from that So you might want to hold on to it for more than three years possibly what you don't want to do is feel like oh look I filed the tax return and because it was accepted because they didn't kick it back because they didn't ask any questions right away I'm good and then that could lead people to to take riskier positions And then as time passes people start to take riskier and riskier positions That's what kind of happens in fraud cases of all kinds right people get comfortable And they start expanding the the fraudulent acts that they're doing because they feel like they're not being caught Note that the that the auditing on the tax code side of things is kind of like a Traffic cop auditing speeding meaning you're not going to get caught all the time But when you do get caught the the penalty is supposed to be sufficient enough to dissuade you From doing it in the future or the example of the penalty they hit somebody else with should be significant enough That's the logic kind of behind it in any case before January taxpayers should confirm that their employer bank and other Payers have their current mailing address and email address to ensure they receive their year-end financial statements typically your informs start arriving by mail or are available online in mid to late January so Usually the the employers have till until like the end of January to issue the W2s the 1099s As well should be going out quickly But sometimes those 1099s in my experience they they send them out to clear the deadline And then they have to adjust it later So just be aware of the fact of that kind of problem taxpayers should carefully review each income statement for accuracy and contact The issuer could to correct information that needs to be updated So note that if you get documentation that is incorrect like a 1099 for example That doesn't have the right box checked off for like a retirement distribution Marking it as a normal distribution or an early distribution for example as opposed to a qualified distribution That is not subject to tax for whatever reason a rollover or something like that if that happens Then you can't really fix that by going to the IRS because they sent a copy of that to the IRS as well So if you try to fix it on the IRS side, it's gonna be quite difficult because they got the documentation from the employer Ideally, you would like to go back to the issuer of the 1099 or the W2 or whatever say hey You messed it up. You clicked off the wrong box fix it send a copy to the IRS So when I file the tax return, I don't get I don't get Audit or I don't get a problem with it and notice that that kind of problem is one that you most likely will receive a letter on Quickly meaning if you if you report the wrong number on a W2 form or you report that something was not Taxable on a 1099 when the 1099 said it was taxable Indicated by the box that was checked off. You'll most likely get a really quick response the IRS saying no this is incorrect We're gonna go by the documentation we have unless you're gonna argue against that For whatever reason and that's because the computer can basically pick that up, right? But if you do a more complex type of thing so you you charge too much charitable deduction and you didn't actually give to charity The iris might randomly audit you on that they wouldn't know about it It wouldn't be an automatic thing But they might pick your return for whatever reason and then discover that kind of thing So there's some kind of stuff that they have documentation on which if you counter their documentation W2s 1099s, you're gonna get a response almost for sure that they're gonna question it if you do other stuff that they Don't have documentation on even if it's not supported on your end You might not get an audit for it But if you do get an audit then you know you're gonna be you're gonna have a problem if you don't have the documentation for it Is the general idea now if the employer cannot fix it or the issue of the 1099 cannot fix it You still want to file your return properly in accordance with what you think is right even though the documentation is wrong But it's gonna be a much more cumbersome process To get it fixed in that case then it would if you could just get the issuer to fix it on their end So get ready for what's new for tax year? 2022 with the end of the year approaching time is running out to take advantage of the tax withholding estimator This is their online tool. It's actually a pretty good tool because remember that the tax code is changing a lot and so When you're trying to predict what's gonna happen in the future You can't really rely on the last year return and you can't even really rely on last year's software because the next year is gonna change A lot generally so you really need software to make a projection in terms of what your withholdings should be for the for your W4 withholdings or what your estimated taxes should be if you don't have access to that software or a tax preparer Even low-income people are gonna need some kind of projection software generally and this is getting more and more like a projection software to help you to determine More accurately what your taxes will be beforehand so that you can properly Create your tent your w4 and or your estimated payments So this online tool is designed to help taxpayers determine the right amount of tax to have withheld from their paycheck Some people may have life changes. Uh, let Like getting married or divorced welcome a child into taking on a second job So whenever you have these kind of changes you get married You have a divorce or something you have a child or you take on a second job No matter what circumstances we are in with the tax code Even if the tax code wasn't changing you'd still want to take into consideration What are the tax consequences because they're going to be significant? But even if you don't have those things happening these days just because the tax law changed a whole bunch And a lot of people are going to be changing jobs and whatnot in the last couple years Then you're probably going to more people are going to need to do an estimate even if they had a fairly Unchanging circumstances in comparison to everyone else over the last couple years So other taxpayers may need to consider estimate of tax payments due to non-wage income from unemployment self-employment annuity income or even digital assets the last quarterly payment for 2022 is due on January 17th 2023 the tax withholding estimator can help wage earners determine if there is a need to adjust their withholding Consider additional tax payments or submit a new w4 form to their employer to avoid an unexpected tax bill when they file So if you're under withholding Now you better you might be able to change that quickly and try to withhold a lot If you're way under because it's the end of the year here before the end of the year And then you can possibly avoid penalties and interest on on paying too little and hopefully get a bigger refund Just in in general or pay less taxes at tax time if you're paying estimated payments You pay quarterly and you and so you have till the end of Of january to pay the last quarter of the year But notice if you're a w2 employee then the withholdings happen throughout the year stopping in december So so you don't have that at it you could still make an estimated payment But you don't have that that same withholding capacity It stops, you know through january it stops at december however If you make a withholding and you and you make more heavy withholdings on the plus side to the employees If you make more heavy withholdings in december It's more likely that the irs will just assume that your withholdings were the same all year round And possibly not penalize you for not paying more in january as opposed to december for example Whereas if you make quarterly tax payments the iris might Is more likely to say well you didn't pay enough in january you paid it all in december And therefore we're going to tax you for paying late, right? So if you can get the withholdings up also, notice you get the withholdings up for the last payment in in the in the 2022 you're going to have to adjust it again in january to get it to the right amount So that you have the right amount withheld from your paycheck for the entire year to pay your estimated taxes for next year 2023 Okay, as taxpayers gather tax records. They should remember that most income is taxable So this includes unemployment income refund interest and income from the gig economy and digital assets They're stressing those two here because they think people are being sneaky with those two taxpayers should report the income They earned including from part-time work side jobs or the sale of goods American rescue plan act of 2021 lowered the reporting threshold for third party networks that process payments for those doing business prior to 2022 Form 1099 k was issued for third party payment network transactions only if the total number of transactions exceeded 200 for the year and the aggregate amount of these transactions exceeded 20,000 now a single transaction exceeding $600 Will trigger a 1099 k so notice The obviously the irs remember how this whole thing works We have an income tax the irs doesn't trust people to report their income and therefore they're going to try to get leveraged They're going to try to get information on their side. How could they do that? They're going to go to the issuer typically of the money the ones that paying the money So an employer the irs has co-opted them has has basically corrupted them into being a tax collector, right? The employer do you what they're saying? Hey, do you want to have a deduction of wages if you do? Then we want you to not only tell us what they made with a w2 so we can charge them income taxes But actually withhold from them before they get the money And then if you have 1099s you have a similar situation although they don't have the withholdings But they're still going to pressure the payer to issue the 1099 to basically rat out You know the person that received the money so they could double check that the person that received it is paying the irs their taxes Now you've got other situations where you've got these intermediary Transactions this has to do with like gig economy and stuff where it's more difficult for them to uh to to check in on people The classic thing where it was hard for them to check on people is of course Like when people get paid cash from customers hair salons Massage parlors bars and stuff Those have been notoriously difficult for the irs to regulate Because the people paying them aren't a business and they don't get a deduction You can't you can't force someone getting a haircut to issue the person that cuts your hair a 1099 Why because you're not getting a deduction for the 1099 so there's no leverage on the irs side The new thing of course is the gig economy Where the platforms are connecting two people together, but aren't really hiring anybody So that's becoming bigger and bigger So we got all these all these little businesses that have their own business But are working through a platform the irs wants to get in there somewhere and and get information so they can Strangle the economy to death But at least get some taxes in the meantime and so they're going to go into the intermediaries like the platforms themselves And the and the credit cards that might be issuing the payments and the and the intermediaries like the Like the pay pals and whatnot to try to get in there somewhere So they can issue the 1099 and see who's earning what at a fairly low threshold as we could see to try to Get the get the information for taxes So the lower information reporting threshold and the summary of income on form 1099 k enables taxpayers to more easily Track the amounts received. See they're doing it for you. It's all for you. You understand. It's not that they're trying to Oh my god, okay remember money received through third party payments applications from friends and relatives are personal gifts or reimbursements for personal expenses Is not taxables those who received 10 to 99 k Reflecting income they didn't earn should call the issuer So again, you could have issues with this 1099 k like okay Well, what if I got it and it wasn't actually income it was something else a gift or something I don't know Well now the irs has it and and if you don't report it then the irs is going to have a problem How are you going to fix it? You got to go to the issuer of the 1099 And that's the easiest way to fix it. Otherwise, it's going to be more cumbersome of a prasim The irs cannot correct it. So credit amounts also change Each year like the child tax credit the ctc earned income tax credit e itc and dependent care credit taxpayers can use the interactive tax assistant on irs.gov to determine their eligibility for tax credits Some taxpayers may qualify This year for the expanded eligibility for the premium tax credit Well, others may qualify for a clean vehicle credit through the inflation reduction act of 2022 refunds may be smaller in 2023 Taxpayers will not receive an additional stimulus payment with a 2023 tax refund because there were no economic impact payments for 2022 So those were all 2000, you know the prior years. So in addition Taxpayers who who don't itemize And take the standard deduction won't be able to deduct charitable contributions the irs cautions taxpayers Not to rely on receiving a 2022 federal tax refund by a certain date, especially when making major purchases or paying bills so we don't generally want to Depend on the money before we get the money unless we just really have to Some returns may require additional review and may take longer for example The irs and its partners in the tax industry continue to strengthen security reviews to protect against identity theft So identity theft is becoming bigger and bigger as they have expanded in the last few years Things like refundable credits making it a more profitable thievery thing So additionally refunds for people claiming the the earned income tax credits Or the additional child tax credit the actc can't be issued before mid february The law requires the irs to hold the entire refund not just a portion associated with eitc or the actc So these ones I get they're trying to say my interpretation being That they're going to take a little bit longer because these are the kind of credits that people are more likely to try to Commit fraud in order to receive because these are the refundable credits So they have to have another level of kind of security check on them So these laws help ensure taxpayers receive the refund They're due by giving the irs time to detect and prevent fraud for taxpayers who are still waiting for confirmation That last year's tax return processed or for a tax year 2021 refund or stimulus payment to process Their patience is appreciated as of november 11th 2022 the irs had 3.7 million Unprocessed individual returns received this year. This include tax year 2021 returns and late filed prior year returns Of these 1.7 million returns require error correction or other special handling and 2 million Our paper returns waiting to be reviewed and processed They also have 900 000 unprocessed form 10 40 x for amended tax returns The irs is processing these amended returns in the order received and the current time frame can be more than 20 weeks Taxpayers should continue to check. Where's my amended return? There's a link to that here for the most up-to-date processing status available Renew expiring tax id numbers Taxpayers should ensure their individual tax identification number the i10 There's a link to that here hasn't expired before filing a 2022 tax return Those who need to file a tax return should submit form w7 application for irs Individual taxpayer identification number. There's a link to that here now To renew their itin taxpayers who failed to renew an itin before filing a tax return Next year could face a delayed refund and may uh, and l may be ineligible for certain tax credits Applying now will help avoid the rush as well as refund and processing delays in 2023 Bookmark the following tools on irs.gov. The iris wants that search Traffic key for the bookmark. I don't know online tools are easy to use and available to taxpayers 24 hours a day They provide a key information about tax accounts and a convenient way to pay taxes irs.gov irs.gov Provides information in many languages and enhances services for people with disabilities Including the accessibility Helpline taxpayers who need accessibility assistance may call 833 690 598 I won't say that a hundred times because there will be a link to this in the description Taxpayers should use irs.gov as their first and primary resource for accurate tax information So let us help you page You got the let us help you page on irs.gov has links to information and resources on a wide range of topics You got the online account An irs online account lets taxpayers securely access their personal information Including tax return transcripts payment history certain notices prior year adjusted gross income and power of attorney information Filers can log in to verify if their name and address is correct So you would think that they would be utilizing your account online more and more These days given the fact that banking industries are doing that quite efficiently even though they're handling sensitive information So you might want to check that out They were doing some crazy stuff with the verification like trying to get face verification and stuff Which was seems a little bit over the top and like they're gonna I don't like that But uh, I think they stopped that so you might want to check it out So they should notify irs if their address has changed. There's a link to that here They must notify the social security administration There's a link to that of a legal name change to avoid a delay in processing their tax return irs free file Almost everyone can file electronically for free on irs.gov forward slash free file or with the irs to go app You could file by phone, which that's I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it seems correct You gotta fill your tax return out by phone That seems hard, but maybe not. Maybe it's maybe that's just me the irs free file program There's a link to that here available only through irs.gov offers brand name tax preparation software packages at no cost The software does all the work of finding deductions credits and exemptions for filers It's free for those who qualify Some free file packages offer free state tax return preparation So you do want to have state tax return preparation if available for your tax software Otherwise, you'd have to file twice or using two softwares, which is not going to be Something you want to do if you're in a state that has subject to state income taxes as opposed to some other form of it Tax that is so those two are comfortable preparing their own taxes can use free file fillable forms Almost nobody I would recommend should do that because if your income is above the threshold That then your income is getting fairly high That's when you want to use the tax tax software possibly more Possibly look for someone to to help you at that point not just for tax preparation But also for tax planning But they have to mention it because the iris wants to say that they have free options for everyone So regardless of their income Blah blah find a tax professional that's using a tax professional page There's a link to that here on irs.gov has a wealth of information to help filers choose a tax professional In addition the directory of federal tax return preparers with credentials and select qualifications There's a link to that here can help taxpayers find preparers in their area who hold professional credentials recognized by the irs or who hold an annual filing season program record of completion Interactive tax assistant the interactive tax assistant There's a link to that here is a tool that provides answers to the many tax questions It can determine if a type of income is taxable and eligibility to claim certain credits or deduction It also provides answers for general questions such as determining filing requirement filing status Or eligibility to claim a dependent Where's my refund? Taxpayers can use the where's my refund tool There's a link to that here to check the status of the refund Current year refund information is typically available online within 24 hours after the irs receives an e-file tax return A paper return stat status can take up to four weeks to appear after it is mailed The where's my refund tool updates once every 24 hours usually overnight so filers only need to check once a day So if you're if you have people checking multiple times a day, they have a problem Don't you know if they're checking it every hour Stop just stop just relax doesn't help Volunteer income tax assistants the volunteer income tax assistant the vita and tax counseling for the elderly tce Programs there's a link to that here offer free basic tax return preparation to qualified individuals Get refunds fast with direct deposit Taxpayers should prepare to file electronically and choose direct deposit. There's a link to that here for their tax refunds It's the fastest and safest way. I'm not sure safest, but that's what they say fastest certainly To file and get a refund. I'm not saying it's not safe. I just you know, is it safer? Is it really safer? I don't know. I'm you know safe ads. I don't know So even when filing a paper return choosing a direct deposit refund can save time for those who do not have a bank account They fdic website. There's a link to that here offers information to help people open an account online Taxpayers who can download publication 5349 tax preparation is for everyone for more information to help them get ready to file There's a link to that There's a link to all this other stuff and there's a lot of reading material a lot of stuff to dig into here There'll be a link to this in the description