As the year enters its final two months, the IRS recommends checking your withholding to eliminate any surprises at tax time early next year.  The IRS offers items to consider when determining your tax liability for 2021 and also provides a handy calculator to determine if too much is being withheld.  Click here to access the IRS site and check your withholdings.

The IRS has released it's "Dirty Dozen" tax scams for 2021 at IRS.gov.  The IRS changed the format this year by categorizing the scams into four main groupings and then giving more detail on how the scams are executed.  Click here to visit the IRS page with links to each category of scams for more information. 

The IRS has released information about the upcoming Advanced Child Tax Credit Payments (CTC) that will begin in July explaining that more details are still to come.  According to the IRS website, "For tax year 2021, families claiming the CTC will receive up to $3,000 per qualifying child between the ages of 6 and 17 at the end of 2021.  They will receive $3,600 per qualifying child under age 6 at the end of 2021."  An important detail yet to be announced is how eligible taxpayers can opt out of receiving advance payments if they choose.  To read the full IRS release click here.

If you are still checking your mailbox or bank account every day anticipating a stimulus check from the government, the IRS has provided a tool to ease the suspense.  The tool can tell you when your payment was mailed or submitted for deposit or if a payment wasn't issued at all.  If you are due a payment but didn't receive one, you must file a 2020 return to claim the credit and thus have a payment issued to you.  Click here to access the IRS tool.

The IRS has announced a new form to report non-employee compensation named the 1099-NEC.  It's actually an old form being revived to report service providers.  Accountingweb has a summary of the particulars for the form including a different due date than the other 1099 forms.  Click here to view the summary.

Now that Joe Biden is the President-elect, we can surmise what policies he will direct his focus to put his fingerprints on .  Well we can't but Kiplinger can.  Although most are not tax specific, many are tax influencing so we have some some curiosity, correct?  Click here to see what  policies we can expect a focus on according to Kiplinger.

The IRS recently announced the latest tool they are enacting to reach those who have yet to receive their stimulus payment.  The IRS will be sending letters to those they believe may be eligible to receive an Economic Impact Payment but have not received a payment yet.  The announcement stipulates that receiving a letter does not indicate eligibility.  The announcement provides a copy of the letter that will be sent from an IRS address and instructions on how to check your eligibility for a payment using the tool on the IRS website.  Be aware that their is an October 15 deadline to apply for your payment.  Click here to see the announcement.  

Recently, the IRS released it's annual "Dirty Dozen" of methods scammers use to take advantage of the public's apprehension in dealing with the IRS.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, scammers have additional opportunities with the Economic Impact Payments and other pandemic specific tax relief.  Click here to visit the IRS website and prepare yourself to be on guard for these scams.

Our last post identified stumbling blocks in the distribution of stimulus checks and how to overcome those stumbling blocks.  A lot has changed since then and yet the words "stumbling blocks" are still in play.  The IRS help page for the stimulus payments has mushroomed into a seemingly endless collection of FAQs but somehow all the questions have not been answered.  If you have not received your stimulus payment yet, click here to visit the trove of FAQs and hopefully you will find the answer you are searching for.  One last note, the IRS does provide a phone number for questions about the stimulus payments.  That number is (800)919-9835.

If the provisions of the CARES Act including the individual stimulus checks hasn't been anything else, it's been chaotic for sure.  As a result, the IRS is trying to smooth the bumps by developing a dedicated page at IRS.gov to find out the status of your stimulus check and to provide direct deposit information if your check hasn't been sent yet.  Although the button hasn't been made active yet, the fact that it is there gives hope that it will be live soon.  Click here to go straight to the IRS page to check on your stimulus.