January 24th marked the beginning of the 2022 tax filing season. If you’re someone who stays on top of your taxes, you could’ve sent your return in as early as that date. But for the rest of us, it’s easy to put things off, especially when it comes to filing our taxes. However, you should not wait until April 18th (this year’s tax filing deadline) to send in your return.
Whether you file your taxes yourself or work with a tax preparer, the best time to file is early, which means you should start preparing your tax documents as soon as possible. Of course, the sooner you file, the sooner you will see your refund, which is good enough a reason for many to kick it into gear. Getting your return sooner than later can help you pay off expenses in the short-term if you are relying on your refund. But for others, here are three more reasons why it’s in your best interest to file early.
The IRS is still processing some of last year’s manually filed taxes. If you do have an issue, then it is becoming increasingly difficult to get through to an IRS agent, and it will get worse as the tax season progresses. You may not have needed to contact the IRS in the past, but their mistakes are becoming more and more common.
When you factor the Child Tax Credits, stimulus payments, unemployment income, etc., there is a better chance today that the IRS will erroneously flag your return. If you do owe money, you can file today and set a payment up as late as the tax filing deadline (not including the extension).
The longer you wait to get your information to your tax preparer, the further back in their queue you will be. Individuals are increasingly seeing more issues dealing with the IRS and this is only multiplied for CPAs, Enrolled Agents, and other tax preparers.
Even if you’re working with a tax professional, there’s still the possibility for errors to come up on your return. Enrolling and submitting your tax information to your tax preparer early will give them more time to prepare your return accurately and carefully to ensure that your return is optimized.
Working with a tax professional that offers audit protection can provide you extra peace of mind. rF Tax clients receive Tax Audit Defense up to $1 million with every 1040 return, protected through ProtectionPlus, at no additional cost.
Fraudsters are becoming more and more sophisticated, and the longer you wait to file your taxes, the more time you give them to file in your place. There are other measures you can take to minimize this risk, but filing sooner rather than later will lessen the chance of someone fraudulently filing for you. Having to fix the problem of someone else filing for you is a nightmare and you don’t want to put yourself through this.
If you do become a victim of identity theft, you may not know it right away. The IRS states the following possible signs of identity theft:
If any of the above occur, take action immediately. Further instructions are listed on IRS.gov.
Tax planning is a huge component of your overall financial plan and affects how you are able to reach your goals. One benefit of working with a tax professional like rebel Financial is that they have the experience to prepare your taxes with the bigger picture in mind.
As opposed to traditional tax preparers like TurboTax, we have the expertise and software to strategize your tax return so that you get the most out of your refund in the long run. Even if you are not an rF advisory client, we have free tax planning tools available for you to start planning, and we use the same approach when working with tax-only clients.
Our tax process is continuously developing and improving. To learn more about our tax process and planning tools, visit rftax.com.
Check out 12 tax scams to watch for.
This article was written for information purposes only and its content should not be construed by any consumer and/or prospective client as rebel Financial’s solicitation to affect, or attempt to affect transactions in securities, or the rendering of personalized investment advice for compensation. No client or prospective client should assume that any such discussion serves as the receipt of, or a substitute for, personalized advice from rebel Financial, or from any other investment professional. See our disclosures page for more information.
rebel Financial is a Registered Investment Advisor that provides retirement planning, estate planning, financial planning, and investment management services to individual and institutional clients. To get a more detailed description of the company, its management, and practices, view our (form ADV, Part2A) and Disclosures.
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