Filing Your Taxes This Season

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)- Tax season is here, but the threat of another government shutdown could put a wrinkle in your filing plans.

By law, every employee should have already received their W-2’s by now, which is resulting in a heavy flow of customers piling into businesses to file their paperwork.

“Since Monday it’s been very busy,” said Erica Sherrod, assistant manager at Right Away Income Tax Service. “People have been coming in constantly.”

When it comes to filing your taxes this year, Sherrod said there are several things people should keep in mind.

“One thing that I do suggest for everyone that they are claiming as a dependent, make sure they have the requested items that they are supposed to have such as the Social Security card, birth certificate, shot records, and everything like that,” said Sherrod.

During tax season, people are often anxious to hand-off their taxes to be filed right away.

However, experts recommend only handing your taxes to a licensed professional or someone you trust.

“Don’t go to someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing, don’t go to someone who’s in business this year and you might not know where they have gone next year,” said Patricia Sherrod Pratt, owner of Right Away Income Tax Service. “Don’t deal with a person that doesn’t keep up with the tax laws, and that’s one thing we do. We make sure that we are well informed about what’s going on with all of the tax laws.”

Sherrod said people should also be mindful of the standard deduction rate which saw an increase this year.

“For people that itemize, and what I mean by itemize is that you claim your contributions, your medical expenses, car tags, 1098 form which is your mortgage interest statement,” Sherrod explained. “It has to equal up to that amount based on how you’re filing. For single it’s $12,000 and you have to equal up to that amount. For head of household it’s $18,000 and then you have to equal after that amount also, and joint filers have to be $24,000.”

As the tax season starts to hit its peak, Sherrod said they’re also encouraging customers to file their tax returns by mid February if possible in light of another potential government shut down.

“The government means IRS so therefore the IRS might slow down, not only that, they may not be sending out refunds, so therefore the best thing to do is to go ahead and get it in as soon as you can,” she said.

If you still haven’t filed yet, you still have time to do so.

The final date to file your taxes is April 17th.