[00:00:00] Speaker A: Well, it being the beginning of 2026, here it is tax season once again. And this year is going to be pretty different for a lot of Americans. Joining me to talk more about that is Mark Steber. He's chief tax officer of Jackson Hewitt Tax Service. Hey there, Mark. How are you?
[00:00:15] Speaker B: Hey, Matt. Very excited, very exciting time here. It is tax season go time to get those tax refunds.
[00:00:21] Speaker A: That's right. I mean, you, you are always the most excited when tax season comes around. And that's why I always love talking to you around tax time because you're very passionate about it. You know, the ins and the outs. Speaking of which, share those ins and outs with us this time around. What are some of those big changes that we're seeing for tax filing season this year?
[00:00:40] Speaker B: Well, like taxes or don't like taxes, 300 billion with a B dollars are getting ready to move into the pockets of taxpayers. And those people that file early and file correctly will get more than their fair share of the 300 billion. And that's about 100 million Americans. So paying attention to your taxes, you know, it's a good job and 2025 is going to be one for the record books of good news for taxpayers. But we had a big tax legislative change back there in the summer which put a whole bunch of new stuff which can be confusing, intimidating and daunting, but new stuff that can put more money in your pocket. So you say excited, I say it's getting ready to be the giving cash to taxpayers time. And that's always a good thing. So I'll start off with a few of the big things that people have probably seen, but get into a little bit of the specifics. There's a new deduction if you get money through tips, if you're earning money through tips, and that's a lot of people think if you're a Starbucks worker, your bartender, your food service, hospital, the list goes on and on. A new deduction, up to $25,000 of deductible tips that are not taxable this year. That's a big one. And a new one, overtime. If you earn overtime in your job and a lot of people have overtime, you can get a new deduction of up to $12,500 of qualified overtime deduction off your tax return. Not taxable. The big one, though, for seniors this year, There's a new $6,000 per person tax deduction. If you're simply 65 or older on December 31, 2025, you get a brand new $6,000 per person deduction. And that's not to be confused with the prior senior taxpayer deduction or the larger standard deduction available for seniors. This is a new, new, new senior deduction, 6,000 intended to help offset some of the taxability on Social Security, which is where some of the confusion is. You do not have to be drawing or even eligible for Social Security. You just have.
And if you bought a car, 20 million people buy a car every year. You borrowed money. There's a brand new deduction of up to $10,000 on automobile loan interest expense. And again, you don't have to itemize. You just have to have qualified, manufactured and assembled in the, assembled in the United States and you get that deduction. And there's a host of others. They raise the state and local threshold of $40,000. If you have that and you itemize and several states do have that higher standard deduction, higher child credit, higher refundable credit. You know, there's a lot stuff. But those big four, including that new senior deduction, those will put more money in the pockets of taxpayers. There's just no question.
[00:03:11] Speaker A: Yeah, there you go. And, and of course, a lot of new stuff there that you just mentioned and, and more. So how can folks really be prepared and prepare those documents, get organized to file this year?
[00:03:23] Speaker B: Well, you start off by saying, I'm excited. I hope other people are excited about going and getting some of that $300 billion. That starts with not dreading tax day, not waiting till April 15, but getting a plan to be organized. And right now those tax documents are coming in even as we speak. W2s, 1099s, you know, retirement distributions, Social Security statements, and all the rest. You need to have a very simple plan to start being organized around those. The brown envelope and the household works, the shoebox works, but whatever works for you. But start accumulating those documents because it's critical you be accurate. Also know that not everything comes in the mail anymore. Some things come through electronic transmission. So if you're waiting on a document and it hasn't come, check your, your email, check your spam folder, because if it hasn't come by January 31, the deadline for those types of things, hope is not a strategy. You need to take some action and you don't need to wait on that because you might have questions from your tax pro on this and other things and you don't want to wait up to the last minute. So get a plan for organization that includes the envelope or whatever it is to collect your documents. Start to Locate your tax professional. That's not an easy task these days. You want somebody trusted, trained, experienced, branded, that'll be here when you have questions later. Not some of the pop up people that might not have your best interest. So find your tax docs, find your tax pro, and then get a plan on your calendar to get it done and go get that money and start that process and start planning for next year.
[00:04:49] Speaker A: Yeah, and of course, you know, working with a tax pro, I think for, for most people it sounds like this time around, or at least, at least for more people maybe than in years past, it's pretty important to do that because you might miss something, especially with all of these sort of wholesale tax law changes that we're seeing this year. You might miss some of those new credits or deduct or things like that that could really benefit you come tax time.
[00:05:16] Speaker B: Yeah, and here's an important point on that. I know I sound like I'm peddling pro tax prep, but I've seen more mistakes by people who pay false attention to some mistaken understanding or Uncle Bob's tax tip because he watched Tic Tac or whatever. But the reality is simply this, and this is what your listeners need to know. If you leave off one of these many benefits that I talked about and a myriad of others that we didn't talk about that are time tested and in place, if you leave it off, the IRS does not say, oh, hey Matt, here's 5,000 more. Do you leave it off? It stays off forever until you go and fix it or somebody finds it and fixes it. But the point is, if you hurry through this and you wait to the last minute and you leave off that new senior deduction, 6,000 or 12,000 if you're married, the IRS is not just simply going to mail you 3,000 more dollars and say, oh, you left off the senior deduction, Matt, too bad we caught that for you. That's not how it works. Leave it off, it stays off. And if you're not prepared to put in the legwork to learn about it, to answer the questions correctly or to do it properly, you could cost yourself more than enough money to pay a tax professional to help you. If not this year, in some other year. So it always makes sense. And the more complicated, the more sense. But this year, just due to the changes, it's probably a good idea to get some help.
[00:06:25] Speaker A: Yeah, I think so as well. Well, Mark, just about time for us to wrap up here, but anything else that you wanted to touch on that we haven't mentioned here or maybe, you know, some resources for folks online.
[00:06:36] Speaker B: Yeah. I'll give you two final points in a quick moment. $300 billion in refunds are coming, 100 million people that will draw in some practices, bad promises. So pay attention. When somebody offers you something too good to be true, whether it's deduction or a credit or they won't sign it. It's what your mama always said. If it sounds too good to be true, it's probably not true. Use a trusted tax helper and do a little work on that. And if you need more information, our
[email protected] whether you use Jackson Hewitt or not, a lot of information on there calculators, tax tips, frequently asked questions, how to find an office. Just put your zip code in the box. But use a trusted professional this year and every year and go to jacksonville.com just to get your questions answered or to debunk Uncle Bob at the table.
[00:07:17] Speaker A: Uncle Bob and his tax tips, though sometimes they are just kind of out of, out of thin air and just don't make sense. So yeah, make sure that you debunk Uncle Bob. Mark Steber with Jackson Hewitt. He's chief tax officer there. Mark, thanks so much. Really do appreciate it.
[00:07:33] Speaker B: Thank you. Matt. Go get that money. It's not automatic.
