ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – As tax season quickly approaches, a local accountant is sharing a few tips to keep in mind before you file your taxes for 2023.
Local accountant and CPA partner at Lareau & Lareau CPAs, Jeff Lareau, said it’s a good idea to get an early start on filing rather than waiting.
“It gives you the chance to perhaps make some adjustments rather than trying to rush to get it done,” Lareau said. “IRA contributions, if you decided you wanted to do that to lower your tax liability, well, that’s got to be done by April 15. There’s other things that have a deadline, that you’ve go to make it happen.”
He said preparing to file can include collecting important documents like W-2s and 1099s or thinking about possible tax credits you may be eligible for.
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“That might be did I purchase an electric vehicle during the year,” Lareau said. “Maybe there’s some energy credits there. Do we put solar on our home? Usually when we’re making these purchases, we know that we are going to receive some kind of tax credit for those things.”
If you’re someone who just moved to Florida, Lareau said you might be in for a nice surprise when you go to file.
“It’s a very nice surprise if they’re not already thinking about it when they move here, and they find out we don’t have any state income tax, that’s a beautiful thing,” Lareau said. “Typically, on the year that somebody moves down from up north, they need to file a part year return with their prior state and then they don’t have anything they have to file with the state of Florida, which is great.”
Lareau said there are a few things people typically forget when they go to file taxes.
“One of the things that is often forgotten is folks that have insurance through the marketplace, and Florida is actually one of the states that’s got the most people subscribed through marketplace insurance,” Lareau said. “There is a form that is provided to anybody who has that kind of insurance that has to be handled through the tax return in order to reconcile credits and things like that.”
Lareau said it’s remembering the little things that can make a big difference.
“There’s a lot of things like let’s say you made an IRA contribution, maybe you didn’t put that through the tax return and take a deduction,” Lareau said. “Or you have a health savings account, you have not recorded the fact that you put money into it, and you get deductions for that.”
As far tools to help people when they file their taxes, Lareau said the IRS’ new ‘Direct File Now’ feature is a great resource.
“It’s on the IRS website, you can actually directly file not through any vendors, you can file your tax return if you have a relatively simple tax return,” Lareau said. “So let’s say you have W-2, maybe you have social security, or a little pension or something like that, small amount of interest, those are kind of the main items,” Lareau said. “If your tax return is that simple, you don’t have to file online anywhere else or go to see a CPA. You can actually handle it yourself on the IRS website, which is kind of a neat new thing and it’s free.”
For more information on the IRS’ ‘Direct File’ program, click here.
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