IRS Urges Everyone to File Taxes This Year

(KNSI) — COVID-19 upended almost everything in the last year – including taxes. Even if someone doesn’t typically file, the IRS is urging everyone to do so for tax year 2020.

Eric Smith of the IRS explains, “For someone in that situation who may have some income or they may have no income at all, they typically don’t file a return, but if they did, they would qualify, in many cases for those special payments that were issued last year.”

Special payments included $1,200 per person with an extra $500 per dependent from the first round of federal stimulus payments. Those checks were automatically sent to those who aren’t typically required to file a return. A second check was sent out in March for $600 per person, plus an additional $600 for qualifying dependents. Minnesota also added an extra $600 to unemployment benefits for people who were put out of work due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Smith adds that the IRS has tried to make it pretty easy for first-time filers or those who usually don’t file to do so, even if their only reason for filing a return is to claim the rebate credit.

Smith says if your taxes were made more complicated and not something you can do yourself, hire a professional tax preparer to make sure the return is correct.

The tax deadline for most filers is May 17th, 2021.

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