She said she typically breaks even on her taxes but she owed this year.
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The IRS issued a warning in December stating “though most 2018 tax filers are still expected to get refunds — the number who owe tax and in some cases a penalty is likely to be larger than in recent years, and many of them are likely to be people who have always gotten refunds.”
At Liberty Tax in Miamisburg, owner Ronna Schultz said so far she hasn’t seen any filers go from a huge refund to a huge payout, but she is seeing smaller refunds.
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“You are going to see a lower refund on people who have more than one child, if they are married filing jointly,” said Schultz. “The big change was the doubling up of the standard deduction for everyone. Therefore, people won’t have to worry about bringing in their mortgage interest rates, their charitable contributions, their medical expenses.”
If you do end up owing this year or you prefer a larger refund — you can change your withholding on your W-4.
“They can go ahead with a single zero or married zero, something like that in order to have more taken out of their paycheck, if that’s what they would like to do,” Schultz said.
A taxpayer’s goal should be to break even, Schultz said.
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“If I would have a tax return that was zero-zero, they didn’t owe anything and they didn’t get anything back? That would be a perfect return. Therefore, you are using your money during the year and the government is using just what they need,” said Schultz.
As for delays due to the recent partial government shutdown, returns could take an extra week to process, though as always, Schultz recommends filing as early as possible.