It’s tax season and Idaho Central Credit Union wants to help you achieve financial success! According to the Internal Revenue Service, 20-25% of all Americans wait until the last two weeks before the deadline to prepare their tax returns. By being prepared, you’ll be ready to file your return as soon as you can. The IRS usually starts accepting returns around mid-January, and the earlier you file, the sooner you’ll get your refund! Check out these helpful tips on how to make the most out of filing your taxes this year.
Set up a designated place for all things tax-related
Whether it is a shoe box or fancy file folder, keep all your tax-related documents together in one place so you know exactly where to go when it comes time to sit down and tackle your taxes. Make sure you know what documents you’ll need to save before they start rolling in. A great resource to make sure you are prepared come tax time is the Tax Form Checklist on the IRS website.
Decide how you will file and if you’ll use help
First you need to decide if you are going to utilize a tax-prep software or a tax preparer or try and tackle taxes on your own. After you determine this, you can decide whether you’ll file electronically or not. Many experts recommend filing taxes electronically for accuracy and faster refunds. If you do decide to utilize a tax-prep software, Idaho Central has teamed up with TurboTax to save you up to $15 on TurboTax Federal products. Plus, when you start a TurboTax return from now until February 16, 2017 and provide a valid email address, you are entered into a $25,000 giveaway sweepstakes.
IMPORTANT TIP ALERT! When submitting your account information for your tax refund, please remember to use your account number NOT your member number. Your account number can be found on the bottom of your checks or in eBranch. If you’re unsure or don’t use checks, please contact us. Using your member number can delay or cause a rejection of your tax refund.
Knowledge is power
Taxes are an intimidating task for most Americans. The average US adult scores about 50% on personal finance questions related to US income tax returns, according to a recent survey.by NerdWallet. Research your taxes, read up and understand what items are deductible and could benefit you and your family. Don’t get short-changed because you didn’t put some due diligence into understanding things that could greatly benefit you in the long run. There are also many resources out there to help you get a clearer understanding. One such program put on by the IRS, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA), offers free tax help to people who generally make $54,000 or less, persons with disabilities and limited English speaking taxpayers who need assistance in preparing their own tax returns.
Use your return wisely
Looking for something to put your tax refund towards? Put it to work with an Idaho Central Certificate of Deposit (CD). We are currently offering 1.50% APY* on a 1-year CD and 1.75% APY* on a 2-year CD. We also offer IRA Money Market Savings and Premium Money Market Savings Accounts that earn higher interest rates than regular savings.
Don’t forget! The deadline to contribute to your IRA follows the tax-filing due date.
