Thanks so much for joining us here on 9
News Plus I'm Chris Bianchi and today it is.
Tax day is Monday, April the 18th.
Again, that means it is tax day.
So if you haven't done them yet,
well, don't worry.
We've got a little bit of help for you.
Samantha Galvin,
who is an associate professor of the practice
of taxation at the University of Denver,
joins us now for a few tips and
tricks for those of you who I'm.
I'm a procrastinator myself so don't worry.
If you procrastinate a little bit too long.
But if you've got a little bit late
here in the process, don't worry.
One of those tips, so Samantha.
Thank you so much for joining us here
today for some of those tips and tricks
here for tax day here on filing day.
Thank you and I agree, you know,
don't worry too much if you have
procrastinated to this point.
If you are planning to file an extension,
you should do so by today,
by e-filing or you can send it by mail,
but it does need to be postmarked
by 11:59 PM so you know post
office is closed earlier than that.
So if you're planning the mallet.
We should do it as soon as possible.
But I guess brings up a great point there.
So with some of those extensions
it is not too late to get one.
Clearly. Do you mind kind of getting
into a bit more detail about how
you would go about doing that?
You can definitely eat,
file it and you can go through
the IRS website and efile it
through their free file program.
I think that would be the easiest way,
but if you know people have challenges
with that, filing the form which
the the form numbers escaping me.
But if you Google tax extension the form.
Come up and then you can mail
that as well if if you need to.
Let's say
you're a bit more ambitious and you
want to get your taxes done today.
Do you have any recommended services
or best ways to quickly get those
taxes done before 11:59 tonight?
Yeah, so the free file program can
also be used to actually file your
return if you make less than 70.
I think it's 77,000 this year.
You can file using regular
tax software like TurboTax,
or you know there are other companies that
make their software available for free.
On the IRS's website.
To make over that,
you can fill in the forms yourself,
which can be a little more challenging
if it's not something you're used to,
but it's it's possible to still get
the return prepared today on your own,
and there are also volunteer income
tax assistance sites, and they are.
They are still operating.
I'm sure there's you know a lot
of people that are trying to get
their taxes done at the last minute,
but they are also available
to help people for free.
The one in Denver, you can.
You can Google volunteer income
tax assistance sites and find 1.
That's close to you.
Honestly, a service I did not know
that existed, so that is really good.
Hopefully for some of our viewers
out there to potentially see that.
Is there anything new and I
know we're probably getting a
little late in the game for this,
but with federal and state taxes I
know those do change year over year.
Is there anything dramatically different
about this year compared to last year's?
Yes, there is actually a decent amount
that is different and a lot of it was,
you know, spurred by the pandemic.
But something that is unique to Colorado
filers is that victims of the wildfires.
In Boulder County you have to be
living in Boulder County or have a
business in Boulder County have an
automatic extension until May 16th and
that is for filing and for paying,
so that's unique to Colorado
and new this year.
And one thing I forgot to mention earlier is
that the extension only applies to filing.
It doesn't apply to paying,
so you have to pay what you think you owe
by today to avoid penalties and interest,
and so you kind of have to guess how
much you might owe and pay that amount.
Today to avoid those but the the
extension for a while by our victims
extends both the filing didn't and the
payment deadline until May 16th and new.
As far as tax law is concerned,
was the advanced child tax credit,
and that was a credit that's only
available for this year and it was
something that was paid in advance.
In part, it started in July.
The government paid out advanced child tax
credit payments to eligible individuals.
Which are adults with children under the
age of 17 or 17 and under the there's a
bigger amount available for children under 6,
but those payments were
made starting in July and.
The second half of the child
tax credit on your tax return.
So even if you don't have
a filing obligation,
you'll want to do that just so
you can get that additional money.
But there are income thresholds on
who's eligible to receive the child
tax credit and the other unique thing
to this year was that the government
paid out a third economic impact
payment at the the beginning of 2021.
People may have received it at
different times,
but that's something you also want
to reconcile. On your tax return.
So if you received it,
you know you won't get it, get it again.
But if you didn't receive it,
you should claim it on your return
as a recovery rebate credit and that
we have heard that you you shouldn't
claim it if you did receive it
because that can cause significant
delays in the processing of your
tax return and your refund,
and so it's best to kind of make sure
that you didn't actually receive it
before you claim that you didn't.
A lot of differences between
this year and last year.
It sounds like I guess one final,
overarching question.
Let's say somebody's watching this and
it's 10:00 o'clock and they got about
2 hours to go about doing things.
Would you recommend they file an extension
or try and quickly get those taxes done?
What would I know? It's a bit.
Let's say it's a standard tax return.
What would be your general
advice in that situation?
You know I am a tax law professor
and I it still takes me probably 30
to 45 minutes to prepare my returns.
So I would say if you are worried that
you're going to get something incorrect,
it's better to file an extension and
make sure you can get it correct.
It'll make sure you know that the
processing occurs more quickly and
that you get your refund more quickly
and the one other thing I forgot to
mention is that if you are do a refund,
you don't actually have to file an extension.
But you want to make sure that you're due.
Do a refund.
You want to be certain about that,
but there's no penalty for late
filing if you're due a refund,
you know, because essentially the
government's just holding on to your
money that you're you're legally
entitled to so they don't penalize
you for allowing them to do that.
Oh interesting, I've never thought
of that that if you are well.
If the government owes you that you can,
I guess file later than usual.
It makes sense,
but I hadn't thought of that.
But I guess any final thoughts
or tips or tricks for people
who might be filing late here.
You know, I would say, be patient.
IRS is still running behind,
they're saying right now,
it's taking 21 days to get
refunds out to people and after
the returns been processed.
But you know, again,
I think it could take longer.
Based on my experience with IRS,
uh, you know they are just kind
of moving slowly with everything
and the other maybe important
piece is if you are due a
refund you decide not to file,
you know soon you only have three
years from the due date of the
return to claim that refund.
So don't let longer than three years
go by without filing your return.
All right, three years, the magic number.
And 11:59 I supposed the other magic
number for filing taxes tonight.
Unless you do it by the Postal Service,
then you have to get that done by what four
or five whenever the post office closes.
But Samantha, thank you so much for
taking a few minutes of your time
to kind of enlighten us a little
bit on tax day here on this Sunday.
Thank you, I'm happy to do it
again. Professor Samantha Galvin is
associate professor of the practice of
taxation at the University of Denver.
Thanks again for your time here today.