What To Do After Filing Your Taxes?

The April 15 filing deadline for individual income tax returns may now be behind us but there are still some important steps to take and information to consider as part of a post-tax season checklist before you put your 2023 taxes out of your mind.

Check Your Return Status

• Typically, within 2-3 days of filing, you or your tax preparer should receive confirmation from the IRS indicating acceptance of your return.

Following Up On Your Tax Payment

• If you requested funds to be auto-drawn on April 15, double check the payment has been pulled. It may take a day or two for that to happen and some banks update more quickly than others, so perhaps your bank is a little slower to report pending transactions.
• However, if it has been a week and you still don’t see those funds debited, then it pays to do some digging. Call IRS e-file Payment Services 24/7 at 1-888-353-4537 to inquire about or cancel your payment, but please wait 7 to 10 days after your return was accepted before calling.
• Keep in mind that the IRS may not have information on your payment until 7 to 10 days have passed since you submitted your tax return. 

Track Your Refund

• The IRS issues most refunds in fewer than 21 days for taxpayers who filed electronically and chose direct deposit.
• If you file a complete and accurate paper tax return, your refund should be issued in about six to eight weeks from the date IRS receives your return.
• You can have a refund check mailed to you, or have your refund deposited directly into your bank account. If it has been at least four weeks since you filed your return, you can check on the status of your refund by calling the IRS TeleTax System at 1-800- 829-4477. You may also check the status of your refund by visiting the Where’s My Refund page on the IRS website. You will be asked to enter your social security number or taxpayer identification number, plus your filing status and the exact whole dollar amount of your expected refund to find your return. The IRS updates the website every day.

Look Over Your Filed Returns

• It’s always a good idea to look over and review your tax returns. While we here at Wouch Maloney are always focused on proactive planning, having a solid understanding of what goes into your own tax returns can help the overall dialogue.
• All taxpayers are encouraged to check their withholding using the Tax Withholding Estimator on IRS.gov. Using this tool will help to make certain your employer is withholding the right amount of tax from your paycheck. Doing this now will help avoid an unexpected tax amount due or possibly a penalty when you prepare and file your taxes next year.
• You can use the results from the Estimator to help complete a new Form W-4 and adjust income tax withholding with your employer, if needed. We can certainly help in this area, either by directly assisting you with the completion of the W-4, or periodic planning throughout the year to gauge the potential impact of a withholding change.

Amended Tax Returns

No matter how thorough you are, sometimes information you should have included on your tax return comes out of hiding after you file.

When something substantial changes on your return, don’t hesitate to file a Form 1040X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return. This frequently occurs when you receive a K-1 or 1099-INT, or another similar form, that was not expected or provided to your tax preparer. It is better to proactively amend your returns than to wait for the IRS to send a bill, which will include penalties and interest if the missing forms resulted in a tax increase.

Consider Automation or Electronic Organization

Our society is progressing more and more towards an electronic one and utilizing available technology can help us all improve our organization and document storage. Here are a few helpful suggestions to implement in advance of next tax season.

• Automate your financial life – Pay bills online and download your transactions to personal finance software.
• Organize files online – Scan your receipts and upload other documents onto an online service so they’re easy to access when you need them.
• Utilize Sharefile – we can get you set up with a secure folder on Sharefile, where you can upload tax notices, financial documents and anything else for us to review together. We can store your tax returns here – if you happen to need returns for financial aid or a mortgage re-finance, you could access the returns right on your Sharefile folder.

State Letters

The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue (PA DOR) has a new online tax system, the Pennsylvania Tax Hub (PATH). This system enables the agency to generate new notices to keep taxpayers and tax practitioners well-informed.

One of the new notices that may be seen more frequently is the Application of Credit Notice.

The Application of Credit Notice is an informational notice sent to taxpayers any time they request a credit to the next tax period. A credit occurs when there is an overpayment on the Personal Income Tax Return, and it is elected to carry all or a portion of this overpayment to the next tax period.

Upon receipt of this notice, it is advised to compare the amount of the overpayment on the notice to the tax return from that period. Important note: This notice will not require action unless the credit does not match your tax return. A common reaction to a tax notice is to worry that something is amiss but, rest assured, PA’s goal here is simply to keep taxpayers informed.

Questions?

As always, should you have questions on this or other matters affecting you or your business, please call 215.675.8364 or email us to speak with a CPA today.

DISCLAIMER: The WM Update, WM Wednesday Wisdom, WM Daily Update, and other related communications are intended to provide general information, as of the date of this communication, and may reference information from reputable sources. Although our firm has made every reasonable effort to ensure that the information provided is accurate, we make no warranties, expressed or implied, on the information provided. As legislative efforts are still ongoing, we expect that there may be additional guidance and clarification from regulators that may modify some of the provisions in this communication. Some of those modifications may be significant. As such, be aware that this is not a comprehensive analysis of the subject matter covered and is not intended to provide specific recommendations to you or your business with respect to the matters addressed.