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Fiscal cliff could mean changes for tax returns
It seems that the fiscal cliff is all we hear about these days. But, there’s one part of it that isn’t making headlines - how the dreaded cliff may change your tax returns.
News 5’s Lauren Conley spoke with a local accountant Thursday about how the Alternative Minimum Tax will affect us. The AMT is supposed to make sure everyone pays their fair share in taxes. So, it’s designed to tax the quote on quote wealthiest taxpayers. Come January 1st, that reverts back to an outdated number that doesn’t take inflation into account. “It’s going to affect millions of taxpayers out there.” Stacey Stocker is an accountant with H and R Block in Grand Island. “We’re seeing clients that you know, that maybe have $60, $70,000 of income and a couple of kids on a tax return and we’re adding an extra $900, $1000 of alternative minimum tax." This could mean lower refunds for tax payers or even owing money to the government come tax day. “We just are in limbo right now," Stocker. News 5: When you hear fiscal cliff what do you think? "Trouble. Because we don’t know what’s going to happen, or at least I don’t.” Deena Thur isn’t alone. It’s a question facing the whole country. But, Republicans and Democrats in Washington seem to be stuck in a battle of proposal after proposal. “To have certainty about what that compromise will be, you know, we’re just at a loss right now," said Stocker. It’s a dilemma for tax payers, and for accountants. There’s no clear answer. “Is it their refunds going to go down a thousand dollars? Is it they would go from a refund to a balanced due? And, basically it’s going to be a wait and see type of situation until Congress does something," Stocker said. The longer Congress takes to act means filings and tax returns could be delayed and leave tax payers with growing uncertainty. “We say as of right now today, this is what it looks like for you, but it could be a whole different situation when you come in in February and have a whole different scenario of tax laws were passed than we were expecting," said Stocker. If you’d like to get proactive about in this guessing game there are some tax calculators on the internet. They cater specifically to the fiscal cliff dilemmas. One of them was put out by the Tax Foundation. You can go to www.mytaxburden.org |
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