Happy New Year Everyone!

We hope you all enjoyed a pleasant holiday season.  As is customary this time of year, we’ve been busy preparing for the upcoming tax filing season.  The 2021 tax filing season begins in just a few weeks. The IRS will open the e-filing window on January 24th for individuals, but we can start on your return as soon as you have all tax documents together. For businesses we can e-file your returns now.

Here is where you can find a list of information we’ll need to prepare your return.

If you would like us to send you a tax organizer based on last year’s return, this may be helpful as you gather your documents.  Please email Info@HSTaxCPAS.com for tax organizer requests. All tax documents can be sent to us electronically by logging into your client portal account.  If you need help logging into your portal account, please email Info@HSTaxCPAS.com and someone will be in touch to assist you.  For returning clients, we already have your personal information so we will just need your 2021 documents and an update of any important life changes, e.g., moving to a new home, marriage/divorce, new dependents, etc.

Regardless of where you are living or working in the world, we will do our best to minimize your tax bill and provide you with relevant advice.  Please feel free to forward this to anyone you know who could use some tax assistance.

What follows are tax highlights from 2021.  We look forward to working with you again this year.

Recovery Rebate Credit/Economic Impact Payment. The third round of Economic Impact Payments (EIP) were sent between March 2021 and December 31, 2021.

The IRS mailed Notice 1444-C, Your Economic Impact Payment, to everyone who received a 3rd EIP.  In early 2022 the IRS will mail Letter 6475 which confirms the total amount of the 3rd EIP payment(s) received for tax year 2021. Taxpayers may be eligible to claim the Recovery Rebate Credit on their tax year 2021 federal income tax return if:

  • they didn’t receive a 3rd Economic Impact Payment, or
  • their Economic Impact Payment was less than $1,400 ($2,800 if married filing jointly for 2020), plus $1,400 for each qualifying dependent they had in 2021 and they are under the phase-out thresholds.

Individuals do not need to complete information about the Recovery Rebate Credit on tax year 2021 Form 1040 or 1040-SR when filing in 2022, unless eligible to claim an additional credit amount.
Taxpayers who receive an advance payment that exceeds the credit do not need to repay the amount.

Check the status of your stimulus payments on the IRS website: Economic Impact Payments

Advanced Child Tax Credit: Many clients received 50% of their child tax credit as prepayments starting in July through December. In January 2022, the IRS will send you Letter 6419 showing the total amount of advance Child Tax Credit payments that were disbursed to you during 2021. Please include this letter with your other tax forms for preparing your 2021 tax returns. We discussed this in more detail in our June Newsletter.

Filing Deadlines:
•            March 15, 2022 – Returns for S Corporations, multi member LLCs, and partnerships are due.
•             April 18, 2022 – Returns for Individuals, FinCen Form 114 and C corporations are due.  Remember that an extension of time to file is not an extension of time to pay your taxes.  Keep this in mind if you plan to extend and you think you might owe.
•             June 15, 2022 – Returns for Individuals outside of the country on April 18, 2022, are automatically granted an extension of time to file and of time to pay until June 15, 2022. Please let us know if you intend to be out of the country on April 18, 2022.

If you would like us to submit an extension feel free to let us know now so that we can add you to the list.

Frequently Asked Questions – please see FAQs on our website

Tax Preparation Fee
Like many industries, our business has felt the impacts of inflation primarily through much higher labor and software costs.  To offset the rising costs we faced the past two years, there will be a small fee increase for every return that we prepare.  We will let you know the fee for this year’s filing upfront so there will be no surprises; please let us know if you have any questions.

We are continuing the same method of fee collection from last year: when you send your 2021 documents to us to prepare your return, one of us will acknowledge receipt of the information within 24 hours and will provide a link through the Client Portal to pay our tax preparation fee in advance using a credit card, debit card or e-check.  PayPal is also an option if requested.

THANK YOU!
As we say every year, THANK YOU FOR THE COUNTLESS REFERRALS!  We know it is difficult to obtain reliable tax advice and preparation services when working overseas and domestically, and your referrals tell us that we are doing a good job.  The growth of our firm is almost entirely through word-of-mouth referrals from our existing clients, and it means the world to us.  Thank you to you all for your continued support.
We look forward to serving each of you this coming tax season.  If you know anyone who needs tax assistance, we will gladly assist.
We wish you all a safe and prosperous 2022!
Thank you!

The Hughes Szuberla Team