Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Well, it is officially tax time again with, we got some months to go until the deadline, though. But, you know, you may think you want to put things off. I think I know a guy who would say, no, get it taken care of right now. And he's somebody that I like to talk to each and every tax season. It is Mark Steber. He's the chief Tax Information Officer at Jackson Hewitt Tax Service. Mark, how are you today, sir?
[00:00:22] Speaker B: I'm doing wonderful. It's a very exciting time to be chatting with you on a very important topic. And it won't just be me saying, file your taxes early. The IRS and everybody else feels that way because they know what the benefits are.
[00:00:32] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. And what is that benefit, you know, for folks who may be procrastinators out there or, you know, this, this guy right here that you're talking to who tends to procrastinate on things that are not exactly fun, what are some, some reasons that you should go ahead and file now and not put it off?
[00:00:50] Speaker B: Well, I have two buckets of reasons and really only three or four specifics, but they'll make sense to your audience. Very simply, we know for a fact that two out of three taxpayers get a refund each and every year. This year will be no exception. That's about 100 million Americans will get a tax refund if it's like the last 20 years. That refund last year was about $3,000 on average, or about $300 billion. So 100 million people are just waiting on money. File early, get your money early. It doesn't take a financial wizard to know that makes sense. Secondly, not in the financial bucket, but in the risk mitigation bucket. We know that the IRS is assaulted every year with refund schemes and tax refund fraud using people's stolen personal information, their stolen data bought or purchased on the dark web or stolen as a part of a data breach. So if you file early, you lock up your data with the IRS and your state if you have one. You lock up your spouse or your significant other. You lock up your dependents, if you have those, so some steamer can't buy your data on the dark web, File a fake tax return which happens in the millions and tries to steal your refund. File early, get your money file early, lock up your data. For those people who say, for whatever reason, I'm going to do it later, I'm going to, oh, I had a good year, my crypto. Oh, because I had a good side hustle and I didn't make estimates because I wasn't working with a pro. I'm just going to file in April. Bad idea. If you owe, you even have more incentive to file early. One, to find out how much you owe so you can start putting that money aside and start making preparation. But two, equally important, you lock up your data, too. And so if you owe, you file early. You lock up your data and everybody else's. But here's the thing for your audience. You still don't have to pay until tax day. Filing is separate from paying. File today, get a refund. Great. Oh, you still don't have to press that button and have your bank account debited, a credit card charged, or just put a check in the mail at midnight on April 15th. So you get the benefits of filing early and you still don't have to pay until April 15th. What could be easier? And a fourth benefit that we put into place this year. If you file with Jackson Hewitt, you're automatically entered into our double your tax refund sweepstakes. And it's not some overblown plan. We've given away, you know, almost, you know, $500,000 to almost 1,000 people in the last two years. Double in your refund, two winners each week for grand prize doubling and then a host of other secondary prize winners. And if you owe, we got this question, you don't double what you owe, you still win a prize. So file early, get your money, file early if you need to pay and you don't have to pay till April 15. And thirdly, lock up your data. And fourth, you can enter the double your tax refund sweepstakes and maybe even double your tax refund this season.
[00:03:21] Speaker A: Hey, there's some incentive there for you that's, that's not, not so bad. Well, talk about, you know, that, that was something that's new for Jackson Hewitt this year, but anything new for us as far as taxpayers go with tax law, it seemed like there are changes, at least minor ones every year that we need to be aware of.
[00:03:39] Speaker B: Yeah, there's minor changes, some good, some not good, versus the good. There's an increased standard deduction, increased credits, you know, reduced tax brackets to help people stay out of rate bracket creep, you know, so there's some new benefits this year, unfortunately, there's a new requirement for people who get paid through third party pay apps. Think Apple Pay, PayPal, Venmo. You know them. When you're getting money on your phone, if you're getting paid on those, the, the rule hasn't changed. If you have side hustle income, it's still taxable, but the amount that has to be reported to the IRS by the platform has changed. In prior years, it was $20,000 and 200 transactions. It was changed to $600 down from 20,001 transaction. Now 2024, the current tax year we're talking about, there's a transition amount, it's 5,000 going to 2,500 for this tax year 25 and then 600 as the final number for tax year 26. The point is for your audience, you know if you got paid through a third party app in 24, more than 5,000 do, you're going to get a 1099K and so is the IRS. So if you've been not including that on your tax return for whatever reason, you know you got bad tax advice or you didn't fully appreciate it, know this. This year the IRS will have that data and you can't ignore it any longer. That's the big change. But life changes, I think are even bigger than the tax law changes and a lot more common. Getting married, moving to a new town, new job, have a child starting a side hustle, taking care of your dependent parents and all the rest. Those drive bigger changes, frankly than any legislative changes other than Buffalo, the ones coming in a couple of years with the expiration of the Trump cuts. So a lot to watch every year, 2024, no exception.
[00:05:17] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Well, and before we have to run here, kind of a two part question for you.
Do you recommend generally that folks maybe in certain situations work with a tax pro instead of filing themselves and then how can they best prepare to kind of get organized to do that for tax season, I guess whether they work with a pro or not.
[00:05:38] Speaker B: Yeah. I do have a specific situation where it makes most sense to work with a tax pro. That's if you had any economic activity whatsoever, even over a dollar in the tax year, then it makes sense to work with a tax pro. A lot of people are always looking for the if you're high net worth or if you're rich. But that's simply not the case. There are more benefits and more credits to lower income, moderate income, even no income taxpayers than any of the high income people who get phased out. So it really makes no sense for anybody to say I'm going to do it myself on my smartphone while I'm driving to work at the red light.
Got a complex situation in today's environment with credits, deductions, elections, state changes, life changes. So I don't care how simple your situation is. You know, there's some complex rules. So you can either hire someone to help you or you can do the work yourself. If you try to shortcut that or cheapen that and just think it's a postcard, it's they'll figure it out. You're making a financial mistake that could cost you money because the IRS does not simply fix it and send you more cash like a retailer. Leave it off, stays off. As to your second question about being organized, I say keep it simple. You know, keep that envelope by the door. Have you and your significant other keep up with those documents. You know, and again, as I said, it doesn't matter if you're high income, no income, and especially if you're retired. You'll receive all sorts of 1099 from your retirement plan, distribution, Social Security. Heck, you may even still be working part time. So retirement's probably some of the most complex tax returns that I see. And also the people who are most sensitive to, you know, trying to save a dollar, that's why the right tax pro makes a difference. Make sure they understand what your situation is, what you need and that they have those skills. It can pay for themselves by both reduction in stress and found benefits, found money and a bigger refund. It really is inconsequential on your economics or your income status. It really is for everybody today.
[00:07:21] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So. And where can our listeners go to learn more?
[00:07:25] Speaker B: Mark, JacksonHuet.com is my great first stop. It's a website that has a lot of tools, videos, frequently asked questions. You put in your address, up pops the box with the local offices. You can make an appointment there on site or you can just get the address and walk right on in. So jacksonhewitt.com there's more information in there on the W refund sweepstakes and everything else you could want to know about taxes. But really it's the easiest way to find an office.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: Very good. Mark Steber is the Jackson Hewitt Chief Tax Information Officer. Mark, thank you so much once again for joining me. Really do appreciate your time and all your insights.
[00:07:58] Speaker B: Thank you. And have a great tax season. Get that money. It's your money.
