Lisa Greene-Lewis, CPA and TurboTax expert, joined Cheddar News to explain the major changes that taxpayers need to know as filing season gets underway.

What You Should Know Ahead of Tax Filing Season

today is the first day that you can file your tax return. And while we all dread the confusing and complicated task we want to make sure that you get your biggest possible refund check as soon as you can this year. So joining me now with some tips is lisa greene Lewis as C. P. A. And TurboTax tax expert lisa. It's great to have you on the show. I'm sure it's a busy day for you but any major changes this year that tax filers americans need to know about. Yes. So the biggest change is that people need to know about is um the tax benefits under the american rescue plan. Those are either reverting or going away. So child tax credit that's reverting back to pre american rescue plan law where it will be up to $2000 as opposed to up to the expanded $3600. Same with child indep dependent care credit. That expanded um you know the amount went up to $8000 in credit. It is reverting back to up to $2100 if you have two kids, $1050 with one child. And then the earned income tax credit that was expanded um for a wider audience to be able to be eligible. But now if you have no kid Kids, it goes back to you need to be 25 and under the age of 65 in order to be eligible if you have no kids. Okay this is all good to know. Since today is the first official day that you can file your taxes for 20 at 22 lisa. What are some of the steps the documents are the things that Americans need to get in place and organize before they do file their taxes. Yeah. Some of the steps you need to take, you know make sure you have those documents reporting your income like your W. Twos and 10 99 that you will start seeing coming in. But also don't forget about your expenses because they can be worth valuable deductions. So like anything related to your kids, if you took them to child care, you want to have those documents. You also want to have the accurate Social Security numbers for you independence because you know dependents are worth valuable deductions and credits but you have to have the accurate Social Security numbers and then one um form that has, you know, there's been a lot of question if you're self employed and you get paid through a third party provider or even if you're a hobbyist and you get paid by a third party provider the form 10 99 K. There was a delay announced um Regarding the threshold of when you would receive that form. So um it delayed the the new threshold of over $600. And so you will receive that form if you've had 200 transactions and $20,000. But just remember even if you don't receive the form and you have payments processed and you're self employed. You still have to claim that money. Here's another question ELISA, for americans trying to figure out their budgets this year, is there an average amount that americans should expect when it comes to that dollar amount on the tax return this year? Yeah so I mean last tax season about 75% of taxpayers received a tax refund and it was over $3,000. And uh year over year we see about 75% of taxpayers do receive a tax refund in the range of $2,000. Range up to 3000. Good to know benefits to filing sooner rather than later. The benefit is the tax refund. Um You know the sooner you get your taxes done you'll be able to receive your refund. The I. R. S. Still states that about nine out of 10 tax refunds are issued within 21 days or less. So you want to get started. Yeah so you can get your refund and go on to something else so you can earn that interest and get that cheddar. That's right lisa greene, Lewis, C. P. A accountant and TurboTax tax expert lisa. Thank you