It is time to start planning for the upcoming 2020 Tax filing season. This year there are a number new credits to claim and deductions to take. These are important to understand as they can affect the size of your refund or payment.

Take a look at some of the new claims and deductions:

• Recovery Rebate credit – available for those who met eligibility requirements in 2020 but either
  • didn’t receive the 2020 Economic Impact Payment.
  • is single and their payment was less that $1,200.
  • is married, filed jointly in 2018 or 2019 and their payment was less than $2,400.
  • didn’t receive $500 for each qualifying child
• Refund interest payment
  • People who received a federal tax refund in 2020 may have been paid interest.  Interest payments are taxable and must be reported on 2020 federal income tax returns. 
• New charitable deduction allowance
  • Taxpayers who don’t itemize deductions can take a charitable deduction of up to $300 for cash contributions made in 2020 to qualifying organizations.

For information on these new items and other refund-related reminders, visit irs.gov.