Death and taxes: IRS deadline April 18 despite pandemic

(NewsNation Now) — Nothing is certain except death and taxes, Ben Franklin said, and this year the IRS is showing it’s just as over the pandemic as the rest of us. Of course, the way the IRS shows that is by returning the tax filing deadline to the normal date of April 18.

Tax expert Lisa Greene-Lewis joined “Morning in America” Monday to help sort out the tax-filing changes wrought by layoffs, increased unemployment, tax credits and other financial fillips unique to the pandemic.

One big thing to keep in mind pertains to one of the most popular parts of pandemic relief: the Child Tax Credit. These payments were an advance on the credit you get when you file your taxes every year, not an “extra.” Therefore, you’ll likely see a smaller tax credit available per child when you file this year if you took the CTC checks. You’ll want to have Form 6419 handy, which indicates the amount of advances received.

While she couldn’t speak to any possible credits being discussed by Congress now that might retroactively affect 2021 taxes, Greene-Lewis did point out that there were tax reliefs and increases to personal deductions that were carried forward from 2020 that would come in handy this year. Deducting cash contributions to charity and using 2019 income to calculate Earned Income Tax Credit standing were two of them.

The EITC “lookback” credit can be huge, according to Greene-Lewis, allowing a family with three children to qualify for up to $6,700 in tax credits.

For those who received stimulus checks but didn’t get all they could have collected, Greene-Lewis said they can balance the scales at filing time. The “Recovery Rebate” credit allows filers to deduct the amount of relief they were eligible for but did not receive.

As always, there are online tools to help you file your taxes that are updated regularly, or you can always hire a professional “in person” to walk you through the process.