this is the weekly on click Orlando
dot-com with Justin warmoth good morning
I'm Justin warmoth last week the IRS
officially kicked off tax season and
many experts are warning that filing
this year could be well taxing for a few
reasons one being the government
shutdown of course it's open now but
reports indicate the IRS is already
seeing a backlog following the 35 days
shutdown on top of that there's also a
chance it could close again if the House
and Senate can't come up with a spending
bill on border security
speaking of Congress there's a lot of
uncertainty on how taxpayers will be
affected by the tax cuts and Jobs Act a
massive tax overhaul passed by Congress
in 2017 some of the changes include new
tax rates replacing personal exemption
with a higher standard deduction and an
increase in child tax credit which is
now doubled yes filing for everyone is
different but this morning we're helping
you get ready no matter what your
situation is Valerie Fenella with H&R
Block is here to break it all down and
Valerie thank you so much for joining us
this morning on the weekly to talk about
everyone's favorite taxes a little
different this year with a new tax
reform going into effect this is going
to impact just about everyone right yes
that is correct it impacts virtually
everyone including families homeowners
businesses there is a new tax rate and a
new tax brackets so everybody situation
is unique and you've been in the process
of filing helping people file their
taxes what have you seen to this point
that sticks out to you the best thing
that I've seen is that people are
getting refunds that people are paying
less taxes they're enjoying a higher
child tax credit that's doubled than it
was last year so that's been helping
many people what is the most common
question you are receiving as the tax
season has started the most common
question so far that we have seen is
that is the IRS open yeah you know with
this the shutdown of the government we
weren't telling them no the go to the
IRS was processing smoothly but again
the IRS did only
open up recently so tax refunds and
accepting the returns will be a process
that they're going to be using doing and
I know it's open right now but that's
not guaranteed a few weeks from now so
if it does get shut down again what do
you think could happen well I probably
will be the same as what happened in the
past there are essential workers that
are gonna be at the IRS so I'm assuming
that things will continue to process
smoothly
will it make longer refunds that's
something to be to be determined so what
has happened is that the IRS is mandated
by the PATH act to withhold people's
taxes for those people claiming an
Earned Income Tax Credit and an
additional child tax credit till late
February so if they do want their refund
faster than that they could come to H&R
Block and we offer a refund advance
which can give them up to $3,000 within
24 hours of filing their tax return it's
a zero interest loan offered by access
bank and it's available till February
28th that's very interesting and a lot
of people do rely on that on that refund
check to come in as part of their
finances and as they go about their life
so that's really nice to do let's talk
about some of the documents needed that
really hasn't changed the the same
documents that you know you had in the
past where you know you would go and
file your taxes those are still the same
but we do have a little a few changes to
talk about when it comes to standard
deduction or you know maybe in the past
folks itemized that is what's changing
this year absolutely so the documents
have been the same but many people call
our office and always ask what do I need
in the past in the old days we used to
get an envelope that used to say
important tax document on it so that was
easy for them to know now banks brokers
w-2s employers they are sending it
through email or through their company
website so it's a it's important for
clients to go through all their records
and produce all those documents in
addition you were talking about standard
deduction an itemized deduction there
are higher
standard deductions this year and that
affects homeowners residents and high
tax states that used to itemize so maybe
they are not being able to Ida Mize
anymore so it's it's a big change tax
reform what did it used to be it was
around what was it six thousand so for a
single person it was about sixty seven
fifty for a married couple it was about
twelve thousand seven hundred so now
it's basically doubled that number
essentially right it absolutely has
almost doubled but with that came the
elimination of the personal exemption
which used to be an additional four
thousand or so dollars per person on the
tax return that helped you pay less
taxes because you had a lower taxable
taxable income interesting
so does that is that gonna affect
anyone's refund check yes it could okay
it could but the most important thing to
understand is that the tax tables have
changed that employers did change your
withholding back in February or March so
the tax rates have gotten lower what
used to be a 15% percent tax bracket is
now a twelve percent tax bracket we used
to be a 25 percent tax bracket is now a
22 percent tax bracket so people are
paying less taxes with that said they
may get a lower refund and if that
happens they could always change their
withholding on a w-4 because a lot of
people heard you know tax cut tax cut
that doesn't necessarily translate to a
tax refund or a higher tax refund
because you're saving over the year
correct so that's important I think for
people to realize absolutely so that is
the first thing I do discuss with my
clients when they walk in the door I do
tell them that just remember back in
February March you started getting a
little bit more in your paycheck every
week so that will reflect it on the
refund end if someone is missing a
document they come to you they don't
have everything or maybe they forgot
something and they filed anyway what
would you like to tell them as far as
missing documents and and where to go
after maybe they filed on accident or
they filed a little too early got ahead
of themselves absolutely what we do
first is ask them about their situation
how many jobs did you have do you have
all your w-2s did you have interest
let's go to all of those bankers brokers
employers and try and find all their
documents if they realize student loan
interest if they realize they forgot it
we can help them get it the Internet is
wonderful we can go right to the
computer and help them get them now if
they have filed we do what's called an
amended return ok an amended return
we'll add on to what they've already
filed and it could either come out with
a refund or they may owe more money
many people file their own taxes and
didn't realize what kind of tax credits
tax deduction what they could have
claimed my motto at H&R Block me
personally is you don't know what you
don't know and when you're doing your
own taxes at home with some kind of
software the software isn't teaching you
anything the software is just a plug
this number and plug that number in but
what you don't know is that you may have
been entitled to something else so H&R
Block we offer a second look free of
charge for your tax returns from 2015 16
17 and when you filed your 2018 we
review all the documents we go over it
and we can tell you yes you forgot this
credit you're entitled to X amount of
more dollars and we can file an amended
return for them coming up valerie is
back to tell us how to prevent getting
audited by the IRS Plus how you can
avoid becoming the victim of tax
identity theft keep it here
this is the weekly on click Orlando comm
with Justin warmoth welcome back this
morning we're focusing on tax season
which is now upon us between the changes
to the tax code and the possibility of
another government shutdown there are
certain things you should know before
checking in with Uncle Sam and this
portion of the interview Valerie Fenella
will discuss how to avoid becoming the
victim of tax identity theft which is a
billion-dollar industry but first how to
prevent getting audited nobody wants to
be audited no one likes to see an IRS
envelope know so the most important
thing is to report early your income
make sure you don't make clerical errors
make sure you don't transpose names and
Social Security numbers that is the
surest way you're going to get a letter
from the IRS we can help you in H&R
Block the IRS does contact you by mail
the most important thing is to answer
those mails answer that letter
immediately don't wait on it and maybe
file your taxes too I know a lot of
people put that off we have noticed many
people who have failed to file their
taxes and they come and they do a many
tax returns in in a row when the IRS
will catch up to you at some point tax
identity theft also is something that is
prevalent around this time of year what
are some of the best ways to prevent
this from happening to you tax identity
theft is a billion-dollar business and
it affects and can affect anyone the
good news is that they because of the
partnering of the IRS and tax industry
that they've seen the decline in it so
what's the best thing they can do the
best thing to do is be vigilant about
your taxes file early so that a thief
does not have an opportunity to take
your social security number again tax
identity can happen to anyone
that gives that gives a criminal longer
time to get your social security number
file a tax return on your behalf but
what we do see is those people receiving
a refund they're the first ones in the
door they want their refunds quickly
absolutely you should come in as soon as
possible is this gonna stick out like a
sore thumb or what are how will you know
that you are getting scammed okay so the
most important thing to know about the
IRS
that the first initial contact with you
is by mail they're gonna send you a
letter so many times we have clients
calling our office saying that they were
called and someone was demanding money
demanding that they pay now demanding
that they may go to jail demanding their
credit-card information that is
something you never do you never give
out your credit card and the IRS never
demands payment upfront so they call our
offices and we tell them no it is a scam
and it happens to too many people and
also the elderly you know this year we
were lucky here in Central Florida we
didn't really deal with a lot of natural
disaster
hurricanes didn't come through but the
Panhandle did and maybe some folks have
some family members up there in the
Panhandle who are dealing and continued
to deal with you know recovery efforts
tax breaks is that something that folks
can you know take advantage of if
they're dealing with that yes the IRS
does offer some tax relief in a
federally declared disaster area by
using a casualty loss
now many homeowners have insurance or
renters have insurance but don't cover
natural disasters or flooding this is
one way of helping relieve the financial
burden that you may have you know we
were talking before we went on and
talked about how you got into this
business I think that's really
interesting and it was basically you're
doing what everyone else is doing right
now and you and you wanted to get into
taxes tell us about your background
so I'm from New York and I am a retired
police officer back when I was a police
officer in New York we had to get our
taxes done I went to my family owned the
family business to get there my taxes
done but I thought that there was some
way that I can do it so I actually went
and took the H&R Block tax course just
to do my own my family's tax return and
they offered me a job that was over 33
years ago and I've been with them ever
since mmm and you have seen the changes
throughout the years you know this year
yes there are questions a lot of people
have the uncertainty to get them a
little peace of mind what would you like
to tell them I we enjoy answering
people's questions
anybody can call H&R Block and we can
help answer your questions what we'd
like to do is schedule an appointment to
meet one-on-one so that we can get a
rounded view of your stack situation we
like people to bring in their previous
tax returns so that we can see what
they've done again we offer a second
look free of charge
we can do them over again and show them
what they may have been missing or if
they did do it correctly they do we
offer our guarantee for their tax return
the most important thing is to select a
tax Pro who's knowledgeable has
expertise in your field of taxes and has
continuing education all the time and
you heard valerie touch on tax identity
theft especially when it comes to robo
calls in fact the website you mail calls
it an epidemic with an estimated 783
million tax scam calls made in 2018 new
six investigator Michael felt talked to
you mails CEO about that problem that's
coming up but first you'll hear a
recording from a robo caller trying to
use the government shutdown to peddle
the IRS scam hello I have an important
update regarding your IRS tax debt the
recent government shutdown is affecting
your standing with the IRS and although
some IRS operations are down billing and
collections remain active so give me a
call back at this number I love a minute
of your time to talk about how we are
able to help you so much what is your
reaction to this as you indicated there
are a lot of IRS scam but the context of
this is referring specifically to the
shutdown yeah that's right so we are
starting to see our first scammers who
are trying to take advantage of the
shutdown in the messages that they leave
people so these IRS scammers have
clearly paid someone to do a recording
or shooting this shutdown in the hopes
that you'll go oh okay I need to take
action now what's your reaction because
that that's sounds like an actress to me
the voices sounds American you know no
accent anywhere USA kind of voice
there's literally dozens of websites
that you can go to where you just type
in what you
recorded what you're willing to pay and
you pick a voice from that website the
voice talent will go record what you
want and save any of the audio file so
it's a little bit of investment the
scammers are doing in order to sound
more professional and believable what is
it costing people do you have any a fix
on that you know in because it's not
it's got to be lucrative for them to
keep doing it so we the only stats that
we have that I think are scary is that
with the IRS scam for example somewhere
between three and five percent of the
people who are called call back and if
you're calling back you actually are
thinking something real is happening and
that makes you a potential victim and
that's an enormous number of potential
victims out there and my thanks to Mike
for that and for H&R Block agent Valerie
Fenella for her insight on how to make
this year's tax season go as smoothly as
possible
for more information on the topics
discussed this morning head to click
Orlando com / weekly I'm Justin more
myth than enjoy the Super Bowl
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