Ken Santema, Author at TNTax Business Services, Inc.

April 18, 2020 Ken Santema IRS

Getting stimulus check payment info to the IRS for non-filers

Earlier this week, I blogged about how people who filed a 2019 or 2018 tax return could utilize an online tool to provide direct deposit information to the IRS (if they hadn’t already via their tax return). This is very important since providing direct deposit information to the IRS will allow them to distribute economic impact payments (stimulus checks) much quicker. For people that don’t have a filing requirement in 2019 or 2018, the IRS has provided a separate tool so taxpayers can provide payment information. This post will focus on these non-filers.

Who can use this tool

Basically, this tool for non-filers is for anyone that can meet all three of the following requirements:

Must be a US citizen or permanent resident.
Gross income must not exceed $12,200 for individuals or $24,400 for married couples.
Must not have filed a 2019 or 2018 tax return and did not have a requirement to do so.

College students who are not claimed as a dependent and don’t have to file a tax return may want to utilize this tool.

How about Social Security and Railroad Retirement beneficiaries?

People who receive the following benefits will already get their economic impact payment sent to them the same way they already receive their benefits:

Social Security retirement
Disability (SSDI)
Survivor benefits
Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
Railroad Retirement and Survivor Benefits

The only time the above people would want to use this new tool for non-filers is if they have a dependent. This tool is the only way, aside from filing a tax return, to let the IRS know you are eligible for the $500 per child under 17. But even then, the three requirements to use the non-filers tool must be met.

Here is a scenario provided by the IRS as to when a SS recipient may want to use this tool due to having a dependent:

You’re married and support your ten-year old grandchild who lives with you. You and your spouse are both retired and receive Social Security benefits. Each year, you and your spouse each receive a Form SSA-1099 from the Social Security Administration showing the amount of your benefits. Neither you, your spouse, nor your grandchild are claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer for 2019. Your gross income as a couple is below $24,400 and you don’t need to file a federal income tax return. The IRS will automatically calculate and issue you an Economic Impact Payment based on the information listed on your Form SSA-1099. However, you qualify for an additional $500 Economic Impact Payment for your grandchild. You may register with the IRS using the Non-Filers: Enter Payment Info Here tool to get your Economic Impact Payment of $2,400 for you and your spouse plus $500 for your grandchild. You’ll get the additional $500 payment this year only if you register soon with the IRS or file a federal income tax return.
IRS website

Stimulus checks are already hitting people’s accounts.

I’ve heard from many clients that stimulus checks have already been hitting their accounts. If you are one of the non-filers that could utilize this tool, I would recommend doing it sooner rather than later. For any questions about the tool for non-filers, it might help to read through the non-filer scenarios provided by the IRS.

April 16, 2020April 16, 2020 Ken Santema IRS

IRS tool for tax return filers to check economic impact payment and provide direct deposit

Make sure to provide banking info to the IRS for timely payment!

The IRS has launched a tool on its website for use with the economic impact payments. Taxpayers can utilize this tool to see the payment status, confirm the payment type (direct deposit or check), and provide bank information for direct deposit (in some cases). This site is only meant for taxpayers that have filed a 2019 or 2018 tax return. People who are eligible to receive a payment, but didn’t file a return, have a separate online tool to provide direct deposit information, and I will do a post about that tomorrow. This post will focus on tax return filers.

What can be done in the tool

The tool launched by the IRS for tax return filers can do the following three things in regards to the economic impact payment:

Check payment status. The amount of payment is not shown. It only shows if you are eligible and the current status of the payment.
Check the payment type. This will show whether your money is scheduled to be delivered by direct deposit or check.
Enter bank account information for direct deposit. This is only available if the IRS doesn’t already have this information. See below for more details.

Logging into the tool

Logging into the tool was simple. When I logged into the tool, I had to provide the following:

Social Security Number
Date of Birth
Street Address
ZIP Code

It doesn’t say in the FAQ, but I’m guessing the street address and ZIP code have to match what was on the last tax return filed (2019 or 2018).

Who can not enter direct deposit information

Before discussing who can enter direct deposit information, I will focus on who can’t enter direct deposit information. Here is the list of who cannot enter direct deposit information:

2019 tax filers who provided direct deposit information for their refund. The IRS will use the bank account information from the 2019 tax return. There is no way to change this information via the online tool.
2018 tax filers (and haven’t filed a 2019 return) who provided direct deposit information or their refund. Similar to the 2019 filers, 2018 filers are unable to change their direct deposit information. But the direct deposit and/or address to mail a check can easily be updated for these taxpayers by filing a 2019 tax return. That has to be done before payment has been sent.

Who can enter direct deposit information

Basically, anyone who filed a 2019 return (or 2018 if they didn’t file 2019) and didn’t enter direct deposit information will be able to use this tool to provide direct deposit information. This just has to be done before the IRS cuts the check. People who owed taxes on their 2019 (or 2018) return and paid by direct debit will also want to utilize this tool!

One interesting thing I found out when logging into the site is that I had to provide direct deposit information. For the tax year 2019, my wife and I owed taxes when filing our tax return. We paid those taxes with a direct debit from our account when electronically filing our taxes. Apparently, providing the bank information in that manner did not count in regards to this tool as providing direct deposit information. I entered my direct deposit information to ensure the economic impact payment goes straight into our account.

What information was needed to provide payment

Even when logged into the tool, you must provide extra information to verify your identity. Before letting me put in my account information, I had to provide the following information from my 2019 tax return:

Adjusted Gross Income.
Whether there was a refund or balance due.
How much the refund or taxes due was.

All three pieces of information are taken directly from the 1040.

After entering the above information, I was then able to enter the bank routing and account number for direct deposit.

Pretty useful tool

While the tool doesn’t do a lot, it is pretty useful. With this tool, the IRS has provided a simple way for people to check on the status of their economic impact payment. Plus, some people can provide direct deposit information. Providing direct deposit information will speed the IRS’s ability to distribute these payments.

If you have any questions about the tool, I would check the FAQ provided by the IRS. There really is a lot of information there!

Tomorrow I will have a post detailing what taxpayers who don’t file a tax return should do to provide payment information to the IRS. Stay tuned!

April 16, 2020 Ken Santema Uncategorized

New Hours of Operation

This post is just a quick announcement to let our clients know we have changed our hours of operation to non-tax-season hours. Even though the IRS has extended the tax deadline, we are not going to ask our staff to continue working long hours six days a week.

Starting today, TNTax Business Services has the following hours of operation:

Monday – Friday
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Saturday & Sunday
Closed

The contact page on this website and our Facebook pages have these hours of operation posted. You can always get tax documents to us by mail, fax, or utilizing our secure client portal at any time.

April 14, 2020April 14, 2020 Ken Santema IRS

IRS includes nonprofits in extended deadline

Last week I blogged about the IRS extending the 2020 tax deadline from April 15 to July 15. Then, later in the week, a blog was made about the IRS extending additional deadlines from between the dates of April 1 through July 14 to the new deadline of July 15. At that time, I noted the IRS had extended the business return for nonprofits (990-T), but they hadn’t extended the other exempt organization forms that are required to be filed by May 15. Fortunately, today the IRS sent out further guidance stating that the various nonprofit forms due between April 1 and July 15 are extended. This is great news for nonprofit organizations having to file a Form 990.

Here are the additional forms being extended by today’s IRS notice. I’ve copied this out of the IRS email since they don’t have their website updated with this information yet.

Form 990-series annual information returns or notices (Forms 990, 990-EZ, 990-PF, 990-BL, 990-N (e-postcard))
Forms 8871 and 8872
Form 5227
Form 990-T
Form 1120-POL
Form 4720
Form 8976

Right now, I think it is pretty safe to assume that almost any filing due to the IRS between April 1 and July 14 has now been extended to July 15. If there are more updates, I will post them here. Stay tuned!

April 10, 2020April 10, 2020 Ken Santema IRS

IRS extended more deadlines, including 2nd estimated payment

Earlier this week, I posted a blog about the IRS extending the April 15 deadline to July 15. One downside to the original extension is that other filing deadlines over the next couple of months were not impacted. Well, now the IRS has announced that most deadlines falling between April 15 and July 14 are now extended to July 15. This post will focus on a few areas impacted by this announcement.

What types of returns are impacted

Here is part of what the IRS says in its notice:

Individuals, trusts, estates, corporations and other non-corporate tax filers qualify for the extra time. This means that anyone, including Americans who live and work abroad, can now wait until July 15 to file their 2019 federal income tax return and pay any tax due.
IRS News Release IR-2020-66

It appears to apply to any type of tax entity that has a filing and payment deadline between April 1 and July 14. The notice also specifies that this announcement covers Americans working abroad. If you wonder about a specific form, I would suggest looking in IRS Notice 2020-23.

Estimated Tax Payments also extended

Earlier this week, I noted the IRS extended the 1st estimated tax payment from April 15 to July 15. The 2nd estimated tax payment, which is due June 15, was not extended. Now, this new IRS notice also extends the 2nd estimated tax payment to July 15. That means both the 1st and 2nd estimated tax payments for 2020 are now due on July 15. Here is an updated table of the estimated tax payment due dates for 2020:

Payment	Due Date
1	July 15
2	July 15
3	September 15
4	January 15

TY2020 Individual Estimated Tax Schedule

2016 refunds extended

Income tax returns with a refund have three years after the original filing date to be filed. If a return with a refund is filed more than three years after a filing date, the IRS will not issue that refund. As part of the further extensions, the IRS has extended the unclaimed 2016 refund deadline from April 15 to July 15. That is excellent news for the many Americans who still have not filed their 2016 return.

Stay tuned for more updates

Updates are constantly coming from the IRS. I will continue to post updates as time permits. In particular I am waiting of the IRS to clarify exempt organizations. While exempt organizations had their business return Form 990-T extended, there is no mention of the information return 990. That deadline may still be May 15. Plus I will be doing a post about making payments to IRA’s and HSAs/MSAs. Stay tuned!

April 8, 2020April 10, 2020 Ken Santema IRS

1st 2020 Individual Estimated Tax Payment extended to July 15, but not the 2nd

Update 4/10/20. The IRS has extended more deadlines as of 4/9/20. The 2nd payment is now due July 15 as well. See my updated post. The post below will be left in its original state for posterity.

2020 Estimated Tax Voucher 1 from IRS website

Earlier this week, I noted the IRS officially moved the 2019 tax deadline from April 15, 2020, to three months later on July 15, 2020. Delaying the filing and paying of taxes will help many taxpayers during this difficult time. As part of the tax deadline delay, the IRS has also clarified that the first individual estimated tax payment for the tax year 2020 will also extend to July 15.

2020 individual estimated tax due dates

Here is what the estimated tax schedule for the tax year 2020 looks like after this extension.

Payment	Due Date
1	July 15
2	June 15
3	September 15
4	January 15

TY2020 Individual Estimated Tax Schedule

The 2nd payment is due before the 1st payment

Moving the first estimated tax payment to July 15 has created an odd situation. The second payment, which has is not extended to a later date, is still due on June 15. That means the second payment is due a month before the first payment.

Since the second payment has is not being delayed, individuals who pay estimated tax payments must keep in mind that they still have a payment due June 15.

Missing this deadline could mean having to pay some interest on the 2020 tax return during tax time in 2021. The IRS will charge interest on what they calculate should have been paid by June 15. For individuals with large estimated tax payments, that interest charge could add up to quite a bit. For the tax year 2020, the IRS currently has the interest rate set at 5% on the underpayment of estimated tax for individuals.

No need to reprint voucher

For people that already printed out their 2020 estimated tax vouchers, there is no need to reprint those vouchers due to the date change. The same voucher will be accepted, even though it has a date of April 15. Just mail the first payment out by July 15 (and the second payment by June 15).

Stay tuned for the next post

This post briefly highlighted the extension of the first individual estimated tax payment to July 15 for the tax year 2020. Please don’t forget to make your June 15 payments if you make estimated tax payments. On Friday, we will have a post looking at how the tax deadline being extended impacts IRA and HSA/MSA payments for the tax year 2019.

April 6, 2020April 10, 2020 Ken Santema IRS

2020 tax day moved from April 15 to July 15

Update 4/10/20. The IRS has extended more deadlines as of 4/9/20. See my new post for updated information.

Recently, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the IRS announced the 2020 tax day had been changed from April 15 to July 15. This motivation behind this move was to help taxpayers avoid penalties and interest if the current social distancing and quarantine policies are preventing the timely filing of tax returns. In this post, I will highlight a few key details of this tax deadline change.

What kind of tax returns have a different tax deadline?

Individual tax returns that are usually due on April 15 have their deadline extended to July 15. There are other types of tax returns typically due on April 15 have also been extended to July 15. The IRS FAQ about this extension lists the types of entities and forms that have been extended. Generally, all individual, trust, estate, corporation, and unincorporated business entity that normally have a filing deadline of April 15 are extended to July 15. If you have a question about whether the extension applies to your business, either refer to the IRS guidance or contact us.

Partnerships and S-Corp are NOT extended.

Partnerships and S-Corps had a due day of March 15 and should have already been filed earlier this year. The extension of the April 15 deadline does not impact the filing deadline of Partnership (Form 1065) or S-Corp (Form 1120S) returns.

The extension to July 15 is automatic.

Many people have been asking if they need to file for an extension to take advantage of the new July 15 deadline. No. The IRS moved the tax deadline, so IRS extension forms for individual returns (4868) or business returns (7004) does not need to be filed.

Filing an extension past July 15.

Some individuals or businesses may be unable to meet the July 15 filing deadline. In those cases, Form 4686 (individuals) or Form 7004 (businesses) can be utilized to file an extension. This extension will only extend the filing deadline to October 15, which is the standard extension deadline. July 15 is the deadline to submit an extension.

It should also be noted that, as always, an extension to file is NOT an extension to pay. If you owe taxes, you will pay penalties and interest for tax payments made beyond July 15. Only the penalty for filing late is removed by filing an extension to October 15. And then if the return isn’t submitted by October 15, a penalty for filing late will also be added by the IRS. It is best to make an estimated payment of what you think will be owed when extending past July 15. Doing so will reduce or eliminate possible payment penalties when you do eventually file your taxes.

Some adults won’t get the economic impact payment

Yesterday we published a blog explaining who gets the economic impact payment (stimulus check) from the IRS. Since that post, there have been quite a few people concerned about who doesn’t get a check. In this post, I will focus on three groups of adults that won’t get a stimulus check.

Adults who exceed the AGI limitations

As mentioned in the previous post, there are AGI limitations as to who gets the stimulus check. Adults who filed a 2019 or 2018 return and exceeded the AGI limitations will either get a reduced stimulus check or even no stimulus check. Below are the AGI cutoffs for the three types of tax filers.

Type of filer	AGI limit for full check	AGI limit for reduced check
Individual filers	$75,000	$99,000
Head of household filers	$112,500	$136,500
Married couples filing joint	$150,000	$198,000

Dependents over the age of 16

The only dependents that will get a stimulus check are qualifying dependents age 16 or younger. And those stimulus checks of $500 will go to the adult that claimed those dependents as qualifying children on their tax return. That means to get the qualifying child stimulus check, a tax return claiming that child must have been filed in the tax year 2019 (or 2018 if 2019 was not submitted).

Anyone claimed as a dependent that is over the age of 16 will not receive any stimulus check. College students who are still claimed by their parents are the adults that will likely be impacted by this policy. But, the person claiming that college student is likely already getting a much more extensive education credit or deduction on their regular tax return.

There are many other occasions where adults will claim other adults on their tax returns. Some other examples of adults claiming other adults as dependents include (but are not limited to): people taking care of disabled persons, people claiming a girlfriend/boyfriend they are taking care of, and people taking care of a parent. In all of these cases, the adult being claimed as a dependent will not receive a stimulus check. Additionally, the person claiming the other adult will not receive the extra $500 qualifying child payment because that person being claimed is not under the age of 17.

People without Social Security numbers

Generally speaking, those without a social security number will not be eligible for the stimulus check. The IRS is using each adult’s tax return (1040), social security tax form (SSA-1099), or railroad retirement form (RRB-1099) to determine eligibility for the economic impact payment. A social security number is used in each of these forms to identify individuals.

Also, if a couple filed a joint tax return, and one of them did not have a social security number, neither of those people will get a stimulus check. This policy could negatively impact a taxpayer who has recently married someone from a foreign country, and that spouse has not yet received a social security number. There is an exception to this policy, which allows military families to receive the stimulus check still.

Some of the above policies may change

It should be noted that qualifications may change. Initially, only those filing tax returns in 2019 or 2018 were eligible for the stimulus check. After heated feedback, the IRS reinterpreted the law passed to qualify social security and railroad retirement recipients. The IRS could conceivably reinterpret parts of the code again and change the eligibility requirements. Congress could also pass an updated stimulus package, which in turn may modify eligibility for the stimulus check. If any changes are made to the economic payment program, we will continue to pass that information along.

April 4, 2020April 4, 2020 Ken Santema IRS

Making sure you get the economic impact payment

Updated to include that dependents over 16 will not get a check.

Last week President Trump signed into law the historic $2,000,000,000,000 stimulus package. Included in this law is the economic impact payments that many adults in the United States will receive. The Internal Revenue Services (IRS) has a page detailing just how they plan to distribute these checks to people. Be warned, the information on that page has had information updated once already. I would expect it will be updated further as the Treasury Department and IRS provide more guidance on the stimulus checks. In this post, I will highlight some key takeaways about the economic impact payments.

Who will get the check

Anyone who filed an individual income tax return for tax year 2018 or tax year 2019 may be getting a stimulus check, provided they meet the income requirements. Realistically there are three categories of people who will get the checks: individual adults, individuals who filed head of household, and married adults who filed jointly.

It should be noted that dependents over the age of 16 will not get stimulus checks. This is likely to impact college students the most.

The check for individual filers can be up to $1,200 plus $500 per qualifying dependent under the age of 17. Individuals filers who have an adjusted gross income (AGI) up to $75,000 are eligible to receive the whole amount. AGI amounts above $75,000 will have their refund check reduced. $99,000 is the upper limit for individuals to receive any stimulus check.

The check for head of household filers can be up to $1,200 plus $500 per qualifying dependent under the age of 17. Head of household filers who have an adjusted gross income (AGI) up to $112,500 are eligible to receive the whole amount. AGI amounts above $112,500 will have their refund check reduced. $136,500 is the upper limit for head of household filers to receive any stimulus check.

The check for married couples filing joint can be up to $2,400 plus $500 per qualifying dependent under the age of 17. Married couples filing joint who have an adjusted gross income (AGI) up to $150,000 are eligible to receive the whole amount. AGI amounts above $150,000 will have their refund check reduced. $198,000 is the upper limit for married couples filing joint to receive any stimulus check.

The above AGI’s come from the 2019 return. Or if a 2019 return was not filed, the AGI will come from the 2018 return. The same is true to determine qualifying dependents under the age of 17.

Social Security recipients and railroad retirees

Initially, the IRS had said that only tax filers would get the stimulus check. Many Social Security (SS) recipients and railroad retirees (RR) don’t have a filing requirement. That would have meant to get the stimulus check, that SS and RR individuals would have had to file an unnecessary return to receive their payment.

After a bit of push back from retirees, the Treasury Department reversed that decision. Those who only receive SS or RR benefits will now receive a check. The retirees SSA-1099 or Form RRB-1099 will be utilized to generate those checks.

It should be noted that the IRS won’t know about any dependents for any individuals that didn’t file a tax return in 2018 or 2019. That means any SS or RR recipients that have a dependent may want to file a tax return to get the extra $500 per qualifying child under age 17.

Where will the IRS send the check?

The IRS will use the direct deposit information on the 2019 tax return for the stimulus check. If there is no 2019 return, the IRS will use the 2018 direct deposit information. SS & RR recipients will utilize the direct deposit information on hand for those payments.

However, not everyone has direct deposit information on their tax return. This is true for many tax filers who end up owing money. To accommodate those people, the IRS will soon launch a web portal to allow taxpayers to provide direct deposit payments for this check.

It would be wise for anyone that wants this check promptly to give the IRS direct deposit information when the web portal is launched. The IRS can only process about 5 million paper checks a week. Direct deposit stimulus checks will be coming as soon as the Treasury Department released the money. Paper checks will go out in order of the lowest AGI to the highest AGI. That means anyone waiting for a paper check may be waiting weeks for their stimulus. That is especially true for those at the upper ends of the AGI limits.

Welcome to the new website

Welcome to the new website for TNTax Business Services Inc. Please excuse us while the site seems a little bare as we add new content. When this upgrade is complete we will be better able to serve our clients. Soon this website will have the capability to securely upload and download important documents. You will be able to safely share files to and from each of our tax, payroll, and bookkeeping specialists.

Additionally, this new site will allow us to share our knowlege and experience through a fully functional blog. That means we are able to keep you, our clients, up to date on important tax changes!

Due to the constant changes caused by social distancing, the planned changes are more important than ever. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Thank-You!