Willa Jo Mills, CPA

To find out if you are eligible to receive the Child Tax Credit and how much, this tool on the IRS website will help you determine what you are eligible to receive.

We still recommend to opt-out and all individuals that claim the child would need to opt-out.

You will need your tax return in front of you to determine the amount you might be eligible to receive.

Advance Child Tax Credit Eligibility Assistant | Internal Revenue Service Check if you might be eligible for advance payments of the Child Tax Credit.

For those that do not file tax returns but have children, here is the link to fill out to receive the child tax credit.

Use this tool to report your qualifying children born before 2021 if you:

*Are not required to file a 2020 tax return, didn’t file one and don’t plan to; and
*Have a main home in the United States for more than half of the year.
*Also, if you did not get the full amounts of the first and second Economic Impact Payment, you may use this tool if you:

*Are not required to file a 2020 tax return, didn’t file and don’t plan to, and
*Want to claim the 2020 Recovery Rebate Credit and get your third Economic Impact Payment.

What You Need to have when you contact the IRS
Full name
Current mailing address
Email address
Date of birth
Valid Social Security numbers (or other taxpayer IDs) for you and your dependents
Bank account number, type, and routing number, if you have one
Identity Protection Personal Identification Number (IP PIN) you received from the IRS earlier this year, if you have one

Child Tax Credit Non-filer Sign-up Tool | Internal Revenue Service If you are aren’t required to file a tax return, give us some basic information for the advance Child Tax Credit.

Have a Happy and Safe 4th of July!

IRS Backlog - update

A few months ago we shared a graphic that reflected how backlogged the IRS was to date. That number hasn't improved much, however, a news article noted that they have finally finished processing all of the 2019 tax returns and had approximately 800k business returns to finish processing.

For the 2020 returns that are due this year, it is reported that there are still approximately 35 million returns to be processed which is 4x compared to 2019. Not everyone has filed their 2020 return, so this number will only increase. Of that 35 million, 17 million are mailed in returns, 16 million are returns that require further review, and 2.7 million amended returns that need to be reviewed.

To top off everything else, trying to reach a person at the IRS is next to impossible for consumers and tax professionals. Apparently, only 9% of calls were answered by the IRS.

Congress is discussing increasing the budget for the IRS which will allow them to hire additional staff which will help for smoother processes going forward.

You can read more in this news article -

Where’s Your Refund? IRS Backlog Grows to 35 Million Tax Returns The Internal Revenue Service ended this year’s tax filing season with a backlog of more than 35 million unprocessed returns, a four-fold increase over 2019, National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins said in a report to Congress Wednesday. The 2021 tax season “was perhaps the most challenging filin...

We just sent out a newsletter regarding the Child Tax Credit that will be paid monthly starting in July and if you should stay enrolled or unenroll from this.

You can view the newsletter here -

Child Tax Credit - How to Unenroll It is not an easy process to unenroll but hopefully, these steps will help make it a little easier. Please note that BOTH parents will need to do this if filing jointly or if your 2020 tax return hasn't been filed yet and was joint in 2019 but not in 2020. The IRS has a Child Tax Credit Portal wher...

In case you were wondering how backlogged the IRS is (as of March 20th).

Just a reminder for those that live in Texas, the tax deadline is JUNE 15th. The news keeps reporting May 17th but does not take into account that we were given an extension until June 15th due to the winter storm in February.

If you plan to make a contribution to an IRA or HSA for 2020, those do need to be made by May 17th.

If you are a sole proprietor and have a Simple IRA or SEP, if you file an extension you will have until October 15th to make those contributions. We highly recommend filing your extension by May 17th to ensure that you do not miss this opportunity.

Tax Relief in Disaster Situations | Internal Revenue Service Find disaster tax relief information and resources.

Do you know what you can write off if you own a small business?

Texas is 8 more weeks.

Tax tip Tuesday - If you already filed your tax return before they approved the exclusion for unemployment

As you may have heard, congress approved an exclusion for the first $10,200 of employment from taxable income. It was not approved until mid-March and many had already filed their tax returns.

The IRS came out with a notification that you do NOT need to file an amendment. That beginning in May they will recalculate tax returns and refund any taxes that were paid in error. They will be starting with individuals first and then move to those that file with their spouse. It is possible that some will not see refunds until late in the summer.

You can read more about the IRS' plans in this news article they released

IRS to recalculate taxes on unemployment benefits; refunds to start in May | Internal Revenue Service IR-2021-71, March 31, 2021 — To help taxpayers, the Internal Revenue Service announced today that it will take steps to automatically refund money this spring and summer to people who filed their tax return reporting unemployment compensation before the recent changes made by the American Rescue P...

Good news for taxpayers that live outside of Texas and Oklahoma. The IRS has extended the tax deadline from April 15th to May 17th.

With all of the changes that occurred with the passage of the American Rescue Plan, time was needed to obtain information on how to process returns for those that had unemployment benefits since the first $10,200 was made non-taxable.

The IRS is also backlogged with mail and returns that have not been processed from past years. According to the Washington Post, the IRS has around 2.4 million tax returns from 2019 alone that still need to be processed. it is interesting to note that these returns were mailed in versus being filed electronically.

Please be patient with your tax preparers as they navigate the changes instituted by our government.

The IRS announced an extension for those that are located in Texas that was declared a disaster area after last week's storm. You can read more in the newsletter we just sent out

2020 Tax Deadline extended for Texas residents