If you haven’t filed your taxes yet, you have less than a month left. 2020 federal taxes are due May 17 and 35 states, including Virginia, extended the state tax deadline to that same date.
If you didn’t file for 2017, 2018 or 2019 you also have a May 17 deadline. According to the IRS, about 1.3 million people haven’t claimed their 2017 refund.
Despite the extension, the IRS still wants to people to file sooner rather than later, especially for taxpayers who haven’t got all or any stimulus payments they are entitled to.
There are many reasons someone could need more time and if that’s you, Chuck Neely, CPA of Neely’s Accounting Services Inc. said there are other options.
“There’s still that availability there is that extension available if you can not get your information together by May 17th, you can certainly extend to October 15th,” said Neely.
Neely has nearly 40 years of experience and said from more people filing unemployment to PPP loans and stimulus checks, this tax season is unique. Make sure you have a tax preparer caught up with all the changes.
“We took a lot of classes online this year just to make sure that we were abreast of all the information out there. I’m not so sure a lot of people look at that pay attention to that. You don’t know what you don’t know,” Neely said.
Here’s what the IRS recommends you look out for to find a great tax preparer:
- Check if they are qualified, you can take a look at the IRS directory of preparers
- Check the preparer’s history
- Ask about service fees and avoid someone who bases their fee on a percentage of your refund
- Ask about e-file to get your refund sooner
- Don’t sign a blank return
- Review before you sign your return
For more tips, click here.