The tax filing season is ten weeks, February 1st to April 15th.
As we approach our busiest time, which is the last week of March and first week of April, I want to take a moment on this beautiful Sunday afternoon to thank our friends at Mix 96.9 radio station. They helped us immensely this year, by bringing awareness and getting my message about the new tax laws to the public.
So many people incorrectly assumed that because the federal Standard Deduction was increased to $24,000 for married couples, that they could just forget about going through all of those Itemized Deductions they had claimed in the past.
They didn’t think about the State of Alabama Standard Deduction being only $4,000! On average, we saved our clients $1,100 in state taxes so far! And that average will increase as we get closer to the deadline because of the more complicated returns we are filing.
More than 900 times we saw clients go from owing $300 to getting a refund of $800! Or something very similar. To date, that has meant $1.1 million dollars going in the pockets of my clients instead of erroneously or mistakenly going to the Alabama Department of Revenue.
Gregory J. Cook, EA, CPA
Accredited Tax Advisor
The primary market my firm serves is Birmingham to Nashville and Mix 96.9 took my message to the entire market. Many of our clients are Tennessee residents, and although the Alabama Standard Deduction only affected those who commute to and work in Alabama and must file an Alabama Non-Resident return, another part of the new federal tax code came into play for them this year.
Many Tennessee residents were able to take advantage of the SALT Deduction which was limited to $10,000. State and local taxes include Sales Tax and Property Tax.
A Message to New Clients
If you are considering contacting us, I encourage you to do it within the next two weeks. It will be difficult, if not impossible to get an appointment during the last week of March or first week of April.
Telephone Traffic at the Office Last Week
The last week of February and the first week of March are the slowest two weeks of our ten week season. We had 724 telephone calls last week, 310 incoming and 414 outgoing. Fifty percent of our appointments are scheduled online rather than by phone, so that graph represents a lot of business taking place.
Facebook Comments