IRS Suggests Waiting To File Taxes, What to Know

The IRS is asking some taxpayers to wait on filing their taxes. Something you don’t hear very often. "The thing is, they’re not actually asking us to pause pulling information together," Robert Hettinger, a certified public accountant with Barton CPA, explained. But what they do have to wait on is pressing that "file" button. That’s because of all those rebates issued out last year. "They underestimated I think the amount of dollars going out to the general public," Barton CPA Firm Director Chauncey Thompson said. "As Bob mentioned, they didn’t have the appropriate resources to ensure that their internal software was updated to support this." Last year, a total of 18 states handed out some sort of rebate and the IRS isn’t quite sure how to tax those on the federal level just yet. Of those 18 states, California is one of them. This only applies to taxpayers who qualified for a special check or rebate related to tax surpluses or inflation last year. Which, in California, was the "Middle Class Tax Refund," also known as the "Gas Tax Rebate." This does not apply to the stimulus payments related to COVID-19 since those were not taxable but it’s possible that these rebates may qualify. Adding to the confusion is that each state relief program is run differently. Compared to other states, Illinois and California are two of the top states most affected. "Some of the refunds were based on the additional surplus in our budget where some of the other states may not have the additional funds that were issued at that particular time," Thompson said. So in the meantime, taxpayers should hand their documents over to a tax preparer. "You want them to at least get 95% of the way cued up," Thompson continued. "They can give you a rough estimate of where you’re sitting. Once they get the go ahead, they can go back and update the return and get it out for you." But what if you already filed? "I think we need to wait and see until we get some actual guidance from the IRS and see what kind of software updates we get," Hettinger said. "I would not recommend demanding a return that’s been filed and the IRS recommends not amending it for this particular reason." This is only geared towards 1040 individual returns and not corporate, trust or other returns since those were not affected by the refunds in question. Here in the Golden State, 41 of the 58 counties are on an additional extension through May 15th of this year and that includes Riverside County.