No, this is not an Indiana Jones movie; it’s Tax Season, 2021.

2021 is proving to be a labyrinth of obstacles – with congressional changes in the middle of tax season, an ongoing unprecedented backlog at the IRS, ongoing COVID related issues, software changes and updates done on the fly.  It is a credit to us all – clients and preparers alike -that we have not taken our toys and gone home.  With all these goings on, we’re still here to get through it!  We’re with you, traversing this booby-trapped maze together.  Here’s what we’re looking at from our side:

• Recent IRS changes resulting from the newly passed American Cares Act has delayed refunds, forced software updates and set normal processing times back for both the IRS and our office
• The due date for individuals (not businesses or trusts/estates) has changed to May 17^th, 2021. This means that you can file and pay up to 5/17/21 as part of the normal tax season without filing an extension
• The due date for estimated tax payments is still 4/15/21 for the 1^st Quarter
• If you had unemployment and have already filed your taxes, there is no need to amend to take advantage of the $10,200 unemployment credit the IRS and Congress passed. The IRS has issued guidance that they will be processing the changes internally and refunds will begin to go out late spring, early summer
• If you have unemployment and haven’t filed your taxes, returns have to be analyzed more carefully to extract the most beneficial outcome
• We are about two weeks behind processing returns. We are working our hardest to get to your returns and process them, while simultaneously learning new tax laws and waiting for software updates.

I’m 97% sure that David Bowie did NOT have this in mind when he was penning “Changes” however, I’m 100% sure that these obstacles can’t keep us down and we will be “Heroes” on Tax Day.