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CPAs and taxpayers urged to contact elected officials and push for passage of H.R. 5155

Based on multiple media reports, the U.S. Treasury and IRS are preparing for the worst this filing season.

According to a Jan. 10 Washington Post article, the Treasury warned of enormous challenges this tax filing season that will likely delay refunds.

Treasury Department officials told reporters they predict a “frustrating season” for taxpayers and tax preparers due to delays caused by the pandemic, years of budget cuts to the IRS, and federal stimulus measures that have added to the tax agency’s workload.

A page on the IRS website reminds taxpayers to take the steps now to make the tax filling process easier in 2022.

Often taxpayers will provide their tax preparer with most of their pertinent information needed to file tax returns. However, they sometimes forget to pass along notices from a tax authority, which could impact returns.

For instance, when the Ohio Department of Taxation identifies a perceived calculation error in an individual tax return, they issue a variance notice to the taxpayer. This notice compares the figures on the return as filed to the department's recalculated figures and allows for the taxpayer to disagree with some or all of the adjustments by providing additional documentation.

As we approach the end of 2021, it is important to take a closer look at your tax and financial plans. This year likely brought challenges and disruptions that significantly impacted your personal and financial situation including the continued global pandemic, remote and new hybrid work models, supply chain disruptions and rising inflation.

Now is the time to take a closer look at your current tax strategies to make sure they are still meaningful in today’s world and to take any last-minute steps that could save you tax dollars. While looming tax law changes have not been finalized, many tax planning opportunities still exist! Here are some issues to consider as we approach year-end.

As the end of the year approaches, now is a great time for businesses to get a jump start on year-end payroll processing.

Even if you use an outsourced payroll provider, there are some things that you can do to make the year-end processing more efficient.

Over the past decade, more people have moved to electronic payments of their monthly bills and expenses.

The days of sitting down and writing checks to pay bills has quickly become a thing of the past. In fact, for many people under the age of 30, they do not know, nor have they ever had a physical checkbook!

According to Accounting Today, the Internal Revenue Service began sending out letters from its Automated Collection System function in June and restarted the income tax levy program in July.

Suspended last year, the IRS tax levy program includes both tax levy and treasury payments.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 18 into law, which ensures that expenses paid with forgiven Paycheck Protection Plan loans become deductible for state income tax purposes.

The legislation, which was supported by the Ohio Society of CPAs (OSCPA) will conform tax laws in the Buckeye State with recent changes to federal tax law, including deductibility of expenses from the Paycheck Protection Program and excluding $10,200 in unemployment compensation from income tax.

S.B. 18 will Conform Ohio with Federal Tax Law Changes

Ohio Tax Commissioner Jeff McClain recently announced Ohio is following the federal government and Internal Revenue Service in extending the deadline to file and pay Ohio individual income and school district income taxes for tax year 2020.

The new deadline is May 17, an extension of approximately one month from the original deadline of April 15.

The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service announced the federal income tax filing due date for individuals for the 2020 tax year has been pushed to May 17.

The IRS will be providing formal guidance in the coming days. However, individual taxpayers do not need to file any forms or call the IRS to qualify for the new federal tax filing and payment deadline.