This newsletter has important information regarding the stimulus checks and automatic extension to 7/15.
Before we get into things, we hope all our clients and their families are staying healthy and safe during this trying time. Also, a short message to all of our clients we have worked with this year: Thank You! A sincere “Thank You” from the Hughes Szuberla Team for putting your trust in us to assist you with taxes. April 15th usually marks the end of tax season for us in “normal years”, but as you all know this is anything but a normal year and everything is extended to July 15th. We are in California and have been working from home since March 17th, and we continue to serve you all as best we can. We appreciate everyone’s patience as we navigate the new stimulus legislation and try to assist all of our clients with questions on available relief. We have received a LARGE volume of questions and have been working through those as fast as we can. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us directly, We are here for you in what we know is a time of need for many. We are continuing to encourage all clients who are expecting a refund to file as soon as possible.
Take care and stay safe,
The HS Tax Team: Chris, Mason, Brian, Andrew and Ashleigh
IRS Releases Website to Check on Status of Stimulus Checks:
The IRS has released a new website this morning for taxpayers to check on the status of their stimulus checks. In addition, if you owed when filing your tax return or your direct deposit information was not included in your tax filing you can now update the direct deposit information with the IRS directly. Please use this link from the IRS for this purpose: https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment
Be Careful of Coronavirus- Related Scams:
In addition, The Internal Revenue Service urges taxpayers to be on the lookout for a surge of calls and email phishing attempts about the Coronavirus, or COVID-19. These contacts can lead to tax-related fraud and identity theft.
“We urge people to take extra care during this period. The IRS isn’t going to call you asking to verify or provide your financial information so you can get an economic impact payment or your refund faster,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. “That also applies to surprise emails that appear to be coming from the IRS. Remember, don’t open them or click on attachments or links. Go to IRS.gov for the most up-to-date information.”
Taxpayers should watch not only for emails but text messages, websites and social media attempts that request money or personal information.
“History has shown that criminals take every opportunity to perpetrate a fraud on unsuspecting victims, especially when a group of people is vulnerable or in a state of need,” said IRS Criminal Investigation Chief Don Fort. “While you are waiting to hear about your economic impact payment, criminals are working hard to trick you into getting their hands on it. The IRS Criminal Investigation Division is working hard to find these scammers and shut them down, but in the meantime, we ask people to remain vigilant.”
Automatic Extension to 7/15
Although today is the normal tax deadline the IRS and most states have extended the deadline to 7/15. There are no forms that need to be filed to receive this extension. In addition, 2020 Estimated Tax Payments for the first and second quarters have been extended until 7/15.
If you have any questions relating to the items above or would like to file your 2019 tax returns please reach out!