When Steve McDermott prepares his clients taxes at Liberty Tax, he makes sure they're getting every dime they should. He knows how much their refund check can mean.
"That's a huge part of your yearly budget," McDermott says. "I mean huge a lot of people pay their rent for the next year or they fix their car in order to get to work."
Getting that check quickly is priority too. This year, the IRS says people who claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Additional Child Tax Credit will likely start getting their check the week of February 27th because of new anti-fraud laws. And that's if you chose direct deposit and don't have any processing issues with your return.
If you didn't claim those credits, the new law doesn't impact you. The IRS expects to issue more than 90 percent of refunds in less than 21 days.
McDermott says most people know e-filing and direct deposit can be the difference between days and weeks. But he says many people don't realize how important having their having supporting paperwork together, especially for their children, can be.
"If the other parent has claimed that child through the e-file system, they are locked out," McDermott says. "So now they are looking at paper filing several weeks, if not months, in delays in their refund."
And while it may be obvious, McDermott is reminding taxpayers to have whoever prepares their taxes to sign as well.
"The IRS is getting much more ahead of this problem this fraudulent problem," McDermott says. "And if there are red flags on your return, that's definitely going to delay it."
McDermott says file as quickly as possible. If you owe, you don't have to pay until April 18th. For more info on when your money is coming, the IRS has a tool on its site called "Where's My Refund" and it's updated daily.
