Name: H&R Block CEO Tax Tips: File Early, E-File, Get Direct Deposit Refund
Uploaded: 2019-03-06
Duration: 5 min 31 s
Description: CEO Jeff Jones also says it helps to get professional advice at one of H&R Block's 10,000 locations nationwide.

[ MUSIC ] 2018 is the first year that the new tax code rules were in full effect. So tell us what are some of the key tax issues that we need to know about. So one of the biggest ones is the benefit for families So if you have young families and lots of kids, your a winner for this tax reform for sure. If your a small business there's a lot of incentives for being a small business. So those are two great winners. The thing to remember and it's frustrating for people but this is such a personal topic. And so every single individual, your income, your job, your family, your state, all of those really add up to what taxes need to be [ UNKNOWN ]. And if your a homeowner, and you used to be very happy about the deductions you get on your mortgage interest. That's changing impacts a lot of people tell us about the key change there. So, the big change is lowering the threshold on deducting mortgage intrust and so you know that could be a disassentive for some to buy homes, but remember to that's just the federal impact there is always a state implication as well so you really need to think of both of those combined What about other tax rules that you can make at this time of year. What about contributions to an IRA or a Roth IRA. Does that still make sense, is that a good idea? And is it too late to get in on it? It's a great idea and there are very few things that you can still do for this tax season. But a contribution to an IRA is one of them. And you can do that up until April 15. So it's a great idea. What about some other smart tax moves that you recommend that people should do but they just might not be aware of them? So this will seem really basic but one of the most important moves that people can make is think about their W4 withholding. Every year you have an opportunity to reset, and for most Americans you get to make a basic decision. Do I want more of my paycheck or do I wanna get it back at the end of the year? Most Americans get a refund, but very few people make changes to their withholding. Speaking of refunds, everybody wants to know when am I gonna get my refund and how big is it gonna be? And given that the government shutdown For so many weeks. And that includes workers at the internal revenue of service. Right. What does that mean. What kind of impact of that have and when you receive a refund. The IRS has assured tax payers that they're in business. It typically takes 21 days to get your tax refund. And there are really two tips to people to think about. One is remember to E- file. If you come to H & R Block or someone else, you wanna make sure that your return is e- filed, not mailed in. That's number one. And the second is do direct deposit. Those two tips really help ensure you get your refund faster. No paper checks? No paper checks, no paper filing. You know that doing taxes is so complicated. So what is the most common mistake that people make at tax time and in filing their taxes? So we recently talked to 2000 consumers getting ready for the season and we asked them when you are doing your own taxes, [ UNKNOWN ] you doing or you are multitasking. And we were stunned about half of people said I know I'm not getting everything I deserve because I'm multitasking. People say they're on social media, they're watching TV. Almost 20 % of people said they were drinking alchohol while they were doing their taxes. So our first tip is pay attention. It's a really important topic and if you're doing them yourselves pay attention. But there's a lot of ways to get help today. Whether it's with H & R Block or others. There's really a chance to sit down with a professional. We have 80000 people that are trained every year to handle tax legislation, and so get professional help. The worst case scenario is that you get a letter from the IRS saying your tax return is being audited. My first question is, what are the red flags? That lead you to an audit and then my second question is what are the dos and don'ts when you get that letter? They try to deal with it themselves. About 20 million people a year get a letter from the IRS, a letter is not an audit and there are a lot of codes and you have to interpret what exactly are they enquiring about. Just get professional help, they may just be following up on a question Looking ahead to this year 2019, what are the kinds of tax decisions that people should be making now and over the next couple of months? You can control the outcome you'll get next year, but people don't think about it that way, they think about taxes as a black box and it's a mystrey and it's stressful. I don't know what's gonna happen With just a little bit of help and a little bit of planning, you can actually be in control of your outcome. There's no better time to do that when you're doing taxes this year. And when you're with your tax professional complete this year, but spend that time planning for next year as well. This is such a stressful time for most American taxpayers. What's the single most important advice you can give to them? File early. And we're great procrastinators as humans, it's a stressful topic, only H & R Block are excited about tax time, but what we tell people is most get a refund. Most of America gets a refund. And that refund on average is about $ 3, 200. There's a real dollar is in your wallet, and the sooner you file, the sooner you get in the queue, and the faster you get your refund. [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

H&R Block CEO Tax Tips: File Early, E-File, Get Direct Deposit Refund

Finance

CEO Jeff Jones also says it helps to get professional advice at one of H&amp;R Block's 10,000 locations nationwide.