Wondering why your tax return is not finished? Often the delay can come from one or two items that were overlooked and are needed to complete your tax return. Here are some of the most common:

Missing Statements. This includes all W-2s and 1099s including any related to gambling winnings, income, interest, and mutual funds.

Dependent conflict. You claim a dependent on your tax return, but your child claimed themselves as a dependent or an ex-spouse has already filed a tax return with the same dependent’s social security number.

Mismatched names. You recently got married, but did not change your name with the Social Security Administration.

Missing deduction documentation. Common among them are; charitable contribution recap, medical expense documents, child-care forms, property tax forms, home sales records, pension statements, and retirement forms.

Waiting for your review. You need to sign your tax return and/or return a signed Form 8879 saying your return is ready to file electronically.

Receiving documentation late. The closer to the April filing deadline your documents are received, the greater the potential back log of return processing. In tax return processing (and receiving a refund), the early bird not only gets the worm, it also gets the worm faster.

If a missing item is requested of you, the sooner you can provide the information the better. It always takes a bit more time to review your return after setting it aside for a missing item.

In late 2019 the bill passed to keep the government open includes a number of hidden gems. This is one for anyone with a mountain of student debt.

Vendors are not perfect. What should you do when you receive a tax form that is in error?

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Late on Friday December 20th a new 1,770 page bill was signed into law. Deep within the pages of the bill are a number of retroactive tax law changes to current and expired tax laws. These new law extenders are in place for both 2019 and 2020. Here is what you need to know:

2019 Tax Law Changes

• The tuition and fees deduction is available. The above the line deduction for up to $4,000 in qualified tuition and fees that expired is now available once again. You will need to evaluate this tax break versus others like the American Opportunity Credit and the Lifetime Learning Credit.
• Mortgage Insurance Premiums as an itemized deduction. If your mortgage bank requires insurance on your loan and the loan qualifies, you may once again deduct this premium as an itemized deduction.
• Medical expense deduction threshold stays at 7.5%. Prior rules had the threshold set at 10%. To deduct qualified expenses, your costs need to exceed this amount of your adjusted gross income.
• Mortgage forgiveness is not income. If a bank forgives mortgage indebtedness, it is typically income to you. Now qualified principal residence indebtedness that is forgiven may be excluded from income with the reactivation of this tax law.
• Disaster area filing extensions. In addition to allowing taxpayers to take penalty-free money out of retirement accounts for 2018 and 2019 in federally declared disaster areas, the new rules create an automatic 60-day filing extension for future declared disaster areas. In the past, the IRS issued these filing extensions on a case-by-case basis.

Other developments to come

Many other changes are in the bill. These impact retirement accounts and numerous other areas of the tax code for future years. For instance, changes include: eliminating the contribution age limit when funding traditional IRAs, moving the required minimum distribution from age 70½ to 72, penalty-free withdrawals from retirement accounts for new births and adoptions plus much more.

Next week will cover the numerous changes beyond the 2019 tax year!

If you don’t receive a W-2 or 1099, is this a defense to protect yourself from not reporting the income during an audit?

In short, the answer is no. You are required to report your income whether your employer or customer filed the correct form or not. So what can you do to ensure you do not find an audit surprise in your future due to a simple omission of income from a report you did not receive? Here are some tips:

• Keep good records. Do not depend on someone else’s records to file your taxes. Keep your own records and then use them to ensure the information on your tax return is accurate.
• Make a list. Start making a list of your employers and others you believe should be sending you a W-2, 1095, 1098, 1099 or other tax form. Put the list in a file and check off each name when you receive their form. Use last year’s tax return to help you create your initial list.
• Double check. When you receive the forms, review your records to see if you agree with the information reported to you. Use your last paycheck stub to check your wage reporting, use your bank statement to confirm interest income, use your investment statements to confirm stock and mutual information and use invoices to confirm miscellaneous income.
• Take charge. If you are missing a form or the form received is in error, contact the firm supplying you the information and get it corrected as soon as possible. If tax filing due dates are approaching, you may need to file an extension while waiting for the corrected form.
• Record the correct information, no matter what. Record the correct information on your tax return, even if you lack the required form. Not receiving a tax form is not a workable audit defense.

If you receive a notice from the IRS regarding a possible missing item, consider filing an information request to see what the IRS has on file for you. It may help better identify the area of mismatch.

Year-end is a good time to ensure you have proper documentation to substantiate your tax deductions. This is important as many banks start deleting online documentation that is over one year old.

Background

Two things have happened over the past ten years that have greatly reduced the ability to have a canceled check as proof when the auditor comes calling. The first is the advent of online bill paying services. The second is a regulation commonly known as Check 21. With online bill paying, you pay a bill via an online banking service. Your only receipt is often just an entry in your checking account. With Check 21, the law allows banks to digitally capture the check and then destroy the paper copy without returning it to you. So what do you do if you need proof that you paid for a tax deductible item?

Some Tips

• Know your bank. Understand what your bank keeps and for how long. This includes digital statements and digital copies of checks (both front and back). Understand if there are any fees charged if you need to request copies of payments.
• Retain copies of all bank statements. Review your records to ensure you have copies of all monthly bank statements. This is often the starting point for an IRS agent that wants proof of payment, so it should be yours as well. These copies may be in either paper or digital format. Download online copies of your statements and place them in a password protected file.
• Collect copies of tax related proof of payment. Go through your statements and mark the payments that will, in all likelihood, be used as a tax deduction. Make sure you have copies of the front and back of each of these payments. If you do this work now, the copies are often still available online for no fee. Even online bill payments often have a digital copy that can be used.
• Get independent acknowledgements. If you have larger payments you should also make sure you have independent acknowledgement from the merchant or organization to substantiate the deduction. This is true for charitable contributions of $250 or more, and any business or medical expenses.

While having the traditional proof of an expenditure is now harder to come by, the IRS understands that approved technologies are changing the type of substantiation available for them to review. By being on top of this documentation at the end of each year, you can save yourself a lot of headaches should you ever need to prove your deductions.

Just when you thought you had a firm grasp on all the tax changes, the IRS is making a dramatic change to the way tax withholdings are calculated on your paycheck. Form W-4, used to calculate your paycheck withholdings, has had a major overhaul, and the changes go into effect on Jan. 1. Here’s what you need to know:

The withholding allowance system is gone. The previous form converted your tax situation into a number to determine the proper withholdings. You would take one allowance for yourself, your spouse and each dependent. The new form nixes the numeric allowance system, and instead asks you to provide estimates for income, deductions and credits. A new worksheet is included to help households with more than one job calculate the amount to withhold.

More accurate paycheck withholdings.The goal of the new form is to help you anticipate your tax liability in the new income tax environment. If properly prepared, this new version should provide payroll processors with the information they need to more accurately calculate the tax withholdings from your paychecks. But to accomplish this, you will need to make calculations and fill out worksheets on the front end.

Required for withholding changes after December. You are not required to submit a new form for 2020, but any changes to your withholdings after Dec. 31 will have to be done using the new version of Form W-4. Old forms using the allowance system will no longer be allowed to update your withholdings.

Tax planning is more important than ever. Unless you have a very straightforward tax situation, you will now need to provide a basic tax forecast on the new Form W-4. Accounting for all income, deductions, credits and potential changes to your situation that may arise in the next year are key components to an accurate forecast. Running through the tax planning process now will get your tax withholdings started off right for 2020.

Before 2019 comes to a close, take some time to review these essential items to ensure you are not missing something that could cause tax trouble when you file your tax return:

1. Take required minimum distributions (RMDs). If you are age 70½ or older, you need to take RMDs from certain retirement accounts before Dec. 31 to avoid a 50 percent penalty! This includes most IRAs (except Roth IRAs) and 401(k)s. Your annual RMD is calculated by dividing the prior Dec. 31 balance by the life expectancy factor provided by IRS tables.

2. Watch for your IRS PIN. If you are a victim of IRS identity theft, you will be mailed a one-time use personal identification number (PIN) as added security.You can expect to receive it in the mail sometime in December. Save the PIN as it is required to file your tax return. 

3. Contribute to retirement accounts. Making contributions to tax-advantaged retirement accounts like a traditional IRA or 401(k) is a great way to lower your tax liability even if you don’t plan to itemize your deductions!

4. Harvest gains & losses. If you expect to have capital gains from your investments, selling stocks in a loss position to offset the gains will lower your tax liability. In fact, you can claim excess losses of up to $3,000 to decrease your ordinary income! Timing matters with investment sales and income taxes, so having a year-end strategy can help lower your tax bill. 

5. Make last-minute tax moves. Here are a few ideas worth considering: 

• Donate to charity to maximize itemized deductions 
• Make a tax efficient withdrawal from your retirement account if you are over age 59½
• Take advantage of the annual $15,000 gift-giving limit
• Delay receipt of income or accelerate expenses for your small business

Understanding your current situation and having a plan will help maximize your tax savings.

The IRS recently announced key tax figures for 2020, using information based on the Consumer Price Index published by the Department of Labor. Use these early figures to start developing your tax strategies for next year.

Tax Brackets: There are currently seven tax brackets ranging from 0 percent to 37 percent. Each of the income brackets increases between 1.59 and 1.80 percent.

Standard Deductions:

Other Key figures:

Caution: Remember, these early IRS figures are prior to any potential tax law changes currently under consideration in Washington D.C.