Tax prep differs from years’ previous

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) – This year marks a different type of tax season.

Changes to tax refunds have accountants and taxpayers and even the IRS in uncharted waters.

From 2020 to 2022 two credits have changed on the tax refund.

The Dependent Care Credit was at 51 percent with the Stimulus Act. The second biggest reason is the Child Tax Credit.

Nick Steimle works at Begley, Young, Unterreiner, and White as a Certified Public Accountant. He addressed the changes that have been made this year.

“Which last year was $3000, or even $3600 per child and went down to $2000 again per kid,” Steimle said. “Those are the two biggest reasons refunds will be different it mainly just affects families with kids.”

Steimle says the biggest hurdle is preparing yourself for knowing what the number might be, as a lot of things can change.

“Other things could change too, your income could change from year to year, you could change jobs, and with the W-4 changes so withholding wasn’t as much, so a lot of things could throw off refunds,” he said.

Through COVID-19, tax professionals had a lot to look out for, such as stimulus payments and unemployment benefits.

Steimle says filings this year are going to be much simpler now that things have returned to pre-COVID days.

“Normal stuff for the most part, I think we’re back to normal finally on the tax returns,” he said.