 Internal Revenue Service, IRS tax news, IRS kicks off 2023 tax filing season with returns due April 18th. IRS kicks off. Honestly, considering there's no football involved here, one must wonder what exactly or who the IRS is kicking. I know it's a deep difficult question to answer, so, you know, don't strain your brain too much trying to figure it out. And if your brain is straining too much trying to figure it out, it's probably because that's where you got kicked. So, you should probably rest it for a while. Honestly, I feel like we're the ones trying to kick off our business, and the IRS is more like Lucy just pulling the ball away right before we're ready to execute the kickoff. And then, after they pull the ball away on April 18th, Lucy IRS is like, don't worry. This is, this time I'll totally let you kick off your business this time. But, of course, at the last minute she pulls the ball away with those first quarter tax payments, and it's like, come on, Lucy IRS, I'm trying to do something here, dang it. It's not funny. I think Lucy is probably the most meanest character ever created in all animation. And yet, due to extreme cuteness, it's impossible not to try to kick the ball for the thousands in one time. The IRS, however, lacks the Lucy's cuteness when they take the ball away, though. I mean, we're just going through the motions at this point with the IRS. It's like, oh, look, the IRS is going to let me kick off my business, are they? Oh, no, they pulled the ball away at the last minute again, shocking. And here I am on my back now. Who would have guessed? Tune in next quarter to find out what happens in the next episode of the IRS pulls the ball away just before I try and kick it. Spoiler alert, the IRS pulls the ball away just before I try and kick it, you know, in the next episode. And honestly, I'm pretty sure you already knew what was going to happen, and you turn, you tune in for it anyways. You six sons of bit, whatever. On to the news. IR 2023-11, January 23, 2023, Washington, the Internal Revenue Service kicked off the 2023 tax filing season with a focus on improving service and a reminder to taxpayers to file electronically with direct deposit to speed refunds and avoid delays. So obviously the IRS has been very, very insistent on getting people to file electronically and use direct deposit. Why? So they can automate the whole process over there. So the thousands of new agents that they hired with that bill that was supposed to be like about inflation or something, but was really just spending a whole lot of money, which we think would like increase inflation instead of decreasing. All those new agents can just hang out and kick it and just watch the money roll through. Now, in any case, obviously, if you're looking to get a refund, the fastest way to get the refund would be to file electronically using tax software to do so and using the direct deposit. If you owe them money, then possibly your main goal is just to avoid penalties and interest. And if you file a paper tax return at that point and give them a check and they have to put it on the pile and someone has to put down the martini and stop any kind of whatever social distancing nonsense they have in order to go into the office. And like process of tax return that wasn't done automatically off the pile, then, you know, you might do that, but that's those are the options. So following a successful opening of its system today, the IRS is now accepting and processing 2022 tax return. Most of the individual and tax returns for the 2022 tax year are expected to be filed before the April 18 tax deadline. Taxpayers have until April 18th to file their taxes. There's a link to that here this year, but some taxpayers living overseas and disaster victims may have later filing deadlines. So, you know, if your if your house is floating in the ocean because, you know, it was washed away in those California storms or something, they might allow you and extension due to the fact that all your money is probably in the house that's now floating in the ocean somewhere. So they'll give you an extension as they go and find your house so they can rob it and then you can pay your taxes later. In any case, Alabama, California, Georgia storm victims now have until May 15th to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments. Quote, following months of hard work, we successfully opened our processing systems today to start this year's tax season. And, quote, said IRS Acting Commissioner Doug O'Donnell, quote, getting to this point is a monumental effort, not only for the IRS, but also for the nation's tax community. The nation's tax, the hardworking employees of the IRS look forward to serving taxpayers this filing season. And I personally want to thank them and all of the tax and payroll community for their dedication to making tax time smoother for the nation. Hopefully we'll see that that's still to be seen. Well, how smooth this thing goes here should be smoother. You would think we don't have any kind of they're kind of ratcheting down all the COVID regulations at this point in time instead of ratcheting them up. And so you still have changes to the tax law, but you would think they would be changes that would be more manageable and foreseeable than the kind of changes we had over the last couple of years when they had a new law every couple months. You're just just spoiling out money was just pouring out of them. So it'll be interesting to see what happens, but we'll be we'll be reading the news on it. O'Donnell also noted that taxpayers can count on IRS delivering improved services filing season as part of the August passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. There's the Inflation Reduction Act again. I see it so many times. Never once have I seen it like in conjunction with some thing that they're saying is going to help us out with inflation, which I feel is quite, I don't know, deceptive manipulative line. But, you know, there it is again. So the IRS has more than 5000 new telephone assistors and added more in person staff to help taxpayers quote. We continue to increase the IRS is staffing to help provide taxpayers with the information and assistance they need in quote. So make sure to file electronically and use direct deposit so they can hang out over there. Have some lattes. Now there is a lot of I'm sure there's a lot of back taxes over there on the are they have a lot to do. We'll see if they end up doing it. So that's that's what was said by O'Donnell quote. The IRS reminds taxpayers to take some important steps when filing their tax returns for a smoother process. They're looking to be smooth. So they should she should gather their necessary tax records file an accurate return electronically and choose direct deposit to get their refunds faster in quotes. So there they are again emphasizing the direct deposit trying to automate the process, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But I would think if they could do that, we can pay less billions of dollars for this massively ever increasing IRS thing. I just feel like there's some efficiency problems here. I don't know. Maybe they're figuring it out, but I have my doubts are there doubts are doubts are present. Taxpayers to electronically file a tax return with no issue and choose direct deposit should still receive their refund within 21 days of the date they file. So that's kind of an average. So you want to be careful with the average, but that's the number that most people will be quoting because that's what the IRS is saying similar to previous years. So due to tax law changes, such as the elimination of the advanced child tax credit and no recovery rebate credit this year to claim pandemic related stimulus payments. Many taxpayers may find their refunds somewhat lower this year. So this was an inevitable thing that they ratchet it up. You know, some a lot of the payments during the COVID time. And the idea was that they're given all this money was going out to help for COVID whatnot, but obviously politically just giving money out looks good. But at some point that obviously doesn't work because we can't just spend money forever. So they got a ratchet it back at some point. And now, you know, we're going to ratchet it back at least with the with the recovery rebate credit and the child tax credit with it, which they expanded dramatically before. And so it's always difficult, you know, to to ratchet back so that they're probably going to get some blowback just because the law is has to pull back at some point on these kind of items. So now we're at the point in time where it's going to be interesting to see what happens because you could argue that these types of policies in the long run cause inflation. I would argue that they cause more pain in the long run than they help because basically we paid people not to work. We forced people not to work. And then we put them on government money, which causes inflation. So now we've got people that aren't working and they're going to have more difficult getting to work and they're going to be pulled back on these stimulus payments because they can't be paid forever. And inflation is hitting at the same time, which might be a longer term thing. Hopefully they're getting it under control, but it's probably going to be a longer term thing than a shorter term thing that will deal with higher inflation over a longer period of time, which means the added stimulus payments that were given out for a very short period of time probably is not going to outweigh the pain. And that's going to happen in a long period of time. That's just how it usually works when the IRS gets tries to tries to fix things just by throwing money at stuff. But maybe I'm maybe that's just my opinion. So IRS tips for a smooth filing season. Fast refunds by e-filing avoiding paper returns to avoid refund delays. IRS encourages taxpayers to file their tax return electronically with direct deposit. There's a link to that here instead of submitting a paper tax return. So again, they're pressuring once again for the electronic tax return. So all those employees can hang out and watch the tax return automatically process through the system. So taxpayers may use IRS free file. There's a link to that here on irs.gov. We discussed that before. Great tool at third party software. The IRS is basically just pointing you to a page where you might be able to get to use software for free. Pretty much everybody would want to use tax software. I would think at this point due to the complexity of the tax code, even on the low end side of things. So if you can get it for free, that would be great. So other tax software or trusted tax professionals. So we got members of the armed forces and qualifying veterans can file their federal tax return and up to three state tax returns for free electronically using mill tax. So that's done by the Department of Defense. So that's a government program made mill tax, which is kind of cool because it's specific for the military. But at the same time, it's not a proprietary software not competing directly against other softwares. So I'm curious as to whether it is better or worse than if you were able to get a free software on the market, which you would think could still handle military tax returns or if it's better or not. I'm kind of curious. Don't know. I don't know. Avoid delays. File an accurate tax return. Taxpayers should make sure they're ready to file. So link to that here. An accurate and complete tax return. This can help avoid processing delays, extensive refund delays and later IRS notices. So if you're not ready to file and you try to file, if you don't have all the documentation, you don't have all your 1099s and your W-2s and whatnot, then the IRS will probably get some information that doesn't match what's on your tax return. Because remember, all this information returns are not only going to you, they're going to the IRS. So the IRS is double checking everything on low income people's returns because all of it's being double checked generally through W-2s and 1099s. Higher income individuals have other income, so it gets more complex. But that means if you file, so if you don't have something to file your tax return, the IRS is going to have something that looks different maybe, and that'll cause a delay and they're going to, so they'll have to do something at that point. And so earned income tax credit or additional child tax credit refunds. Taxpayers may file their returns beginning January 23rd, but the IRS cannot issue refunds involving earned income tax credit or additional child tax credit before mid-February. So the law basically, these are the credits most likely subject to fraud. So in order to reduce the fraud, I believe was the idea, is that they're not going to issue them, they're going to give a little bit more time to try to catch the fraudsters. The law provides the extra time to help the IRS prevent fraudulent refunds. Quote, where's my refund? End quote on irs.gov, irs.gov. The IRS website should show an update status by February 18th for most EITC and ACTC. That's the earned income tax credit, advanced child tax credit. Filers, the IRS expects most of these refunds to be available to taxpayers, bank accounts or debit cards by February 28th if people choose direct deposit and there are no other issues with their tax return. So avoid phone delays, online resources best option for help. So again, they're saying, hey, don't call us. I know we hired all these new people and with thousands of dollars from that bill that was supposed to be about like reducing inflation or whatever. But please don't call us. We have a website for God's, for crying out. Anyways, irs.gov is the quickest and easiest option for help. IRS assisted phone lines continue to receive a high volume of calls to avoid delays, check irs.gov first for refund information and answers to questions. There's a link to that here. Setting up an online account on irs.gov can also help taxpayers get information quickly. IRS online account was recently expanded to allow more people to gain access. The interactive tax assistant, there's a link to that here, can also help taxpayers get answers to many tax questions online at any time. Yeah, so we just wrote it on our website. Just go there for crying out loud, trying to drink my martini over here while I watch the money roll in on my tax on the automated machine here. Online options for free help answers to common questions. Use irs.gov to get answers to tax questions and check a refund status or pay taxes. There's links to those. No wait time or appointment needed. Online tools and resources are available 24 hours a day. Other free options for help. You got IRS free file. There's a link to that. It's available to any person or family who earns $73,000 or less in 2022 for taxpayers who are comfortable completing their own tax return. Free file fillable forms may be the good option. So I wouldn't recommend using free file fillable forms to actually fill out your tax return to submit because if you're below $73,000, you get free software which will help you not to make errors. If you're above $73,000, your tax returns probably becoming complex to the point that you at least want to get the software to help you out with it or you might want to hire a CPA not just to get the tax return done but also for support tax advice in the future. You've also got mill tax. There's a link to that here. It's a free tax resource available to military community and it's offered through the Department of Defense. Qualified taxpayers can also find free one-on-one tax preparation help nationwide through the volunteer income tax assistance and tax consulting for the elderly programs. There's links to that. 2021 tax return still being processed. Taxpayers can check where's my amended return to find out the status of their tax year 2021 form 1040X and can still file their 2022 tax returns even if their 2021 tax return haven't been processed. So you might say, hey look, 2021 hasn't been processed. I filed it on paper just to piss off the IRS. And then it's still on the stack. They haven't gotten to it yet. Well, you may still be able to go through 2022 even though your tax return will probably be there for some time on the stack of the paper returns and whatever. So visit the IRS operations page. There's a link to that here for more information on what to expect. April 18th tax led deadline. This year the filing deadline is April 18th for most taxpayers but automatic six month extensions of time to file are available for anyone for free. See extensions of time to file for tax return for instructions. There's links to that here. So you can obviously extensions only are there to extend the filing requirement not the payment requirement. So you still have to pay. So just keep that in mind. Otherwise you're going to get hit with the penalties and interest. That's what we're trying to avoid. They've got those sticks. They wheel them around over their head like a crazy madman. Those two sticks of penalties and interest and you just don't want to get too close. Duck, weave, duck, weave. Just try to stay away. So that's what you're trying to avoid. So taxpayers should be aware that filing form 4868 only extends the time to file tax return. I just said that those two owe taxes should still pay by April 18th to avoid late payment penalties. Okay. So there's links to that stuff here. There'll be a link to this in the description.