Did you get the refund you were expecting last year?
The IRS has always had an estimated tax calculator for tax payers to use in order to estimate their taxes owed and easily estimate what refund they should be expecting. However, for the 2018 year the calculator wasn’t always accurate because of the changes to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and some people were caught off guard if they did not account for the loss of personal exemptions and itemized deductions by adjusting their withholdings. The IRS quickly worked on resolving the issue with the estimation calculator for the tax payer and a new estimated tax calculator was released on 8/6/19.
The changes to the estimated tax calculator should not only improve the accuracy of the estimates but it should be more user-friendly. The instructions are step-by-step and in plain language. They also offer a mobile-friendly design among several other feature upgrades to assist in the process.
Try it out – https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-withholding-estimator . As we enter the 4th quarter, you still have time to adjust your withholding if you need to in order to be fully prepared for tax time. Don’t be caught off guard when you file your tax return…be informed!
Holly Hansen, Controller
Posted in Tax Law