Take Steps Now for Tax Filing Season
- Sherunda Nolen
- Dec 7, 2017
- 2 min read
Get ready today to file your 2017 federal income tax return.
Refunds
What You Need to Know
Expecting a refund? Some refunds cannot be issued before mid-February.
By law, the IRS cannot issue refunds before mid-February for tax returns that claim the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Additional Child Tax Credit.
This applies to the entire refund, even the portion not associated with these credits.
While the IRS will process your return when it is received, it cannot issue related refunds before mid-February.
The IRS expects the earliest EITC/ACTC related refunds to be available in taxpayer bank accounts or on debit cards starting on Feb 27, 2018, if they chose direct deposit and there are no other issues with the tax return.
What You Need to Do
Be careful not to count on getting a refund by a certain date, especially when making major purchases or paying other financial obligations.
File a complete and accurate return and include all known refundable credits with your original return.
File when you’re ready. If you usually file early in the year and you’re ready to file a complete and accurate return, there is no need to wait to file.
Check Where’s My Refund on IRS.gov or the IRS mobile app, IRS2Go, for your personalized refund status.
Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)
What You Need to Know
If you require an ITIN (required in lieu of a Social Security Number) to file a tax return, you are likely to experience processing delays if you file using an expired ITIN
There are two reasons your ITIN would expire December 31, 2017:
If you have not used your ITIN on a U.S. tax return at least once for tax years 2014, 2015 or 2016 or
If your ITIN has the middle digits 70, 71, 72 or 80 (9NN-70-NNNN)
If your ITIN has middle digits 78 or 79, it expired December 31, 2016, but you can still renew it.
What You Need to Do
Renew your ITIN now if it has or will expire and you need to file a U.S. tax return in 2018.
You don’t need to take any action to renew your ITIN if you are not required to file a tax return.
Understand the new documentation requirements when applying for or renewing an ITIN for some of your dependents. See ITIN FAQs for details.
Ensure you submit an accurate W-7 and valid ID documents.
Find more information at IRS.gov/ITIN
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