Taxpayers shouldn’t wait for Congress to enact changes to the child tax credit and instead file when they are ready, IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said ahead of the start of filing season Monday.
The IRS will make sure that taxpayers who file their returns before legislation is enacted get the payments they are eligible for without having to take any additional steps, Werfel said Jan. 26.
The $78 billion bipartisan tax-break bill, as currently written, would expand the child tax credit, reaching more children than who currently qualify. The proposal would lift as many as 400,000 children above the poverty line in the first year, according to a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis. The bill is likely to get a full House vote this week.
- “Taxpayers should file when they’re ready to file and as soon as they believe that they have a complete and accurate return, they should file,” Werfel said.
- National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins cautioned that legislation during filing season could delay refunds as late as the fall or winter.
- “The IRS has confirmed its intention to make necessary systems updates by around six weeks after the date of enactment,” said a news release from House Ways and Means Republicans.
- The IRS expects more than 146 million individual tax returns to be filed by the April 15 deadline.
To contact the reporter on this story:
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Learn more about Bloomberg Tax or Log In to keep reading:
See Breaking News in Context
From research to software to news, find what you need to stay ahead.
Already a subscriber?
Log in to keep reading or access research tools and resources.