The IRS began accepting tax returns on January 29, 2024, and with several changes to this year’s tax filing season, taxpayers may be seeing some larger refunds.
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“The IRS has adjusted brackets and standard deductions, but over the last couple of years, there hasn't been a whole lot of changes in the tax law,” said Mark Cappis, owner of Cappis Consulting and Tax in Great Falls.
However, the IRS is making some changes for the 2024 tax filing season. These changes include the option for online submission for a variety of documents that usually must be filled out by hand and mailed in.
“One year you might make 20,000 of taxable income before you move up a bracket, then this year might be 22, you know, it just slides the bracket,” said Cappis. “Then the standard deductions go up a little bit every year for inflation.”
These changes put in place by the IRS are said to help taxpayers reduce the time it takes for them to file for refunds.
“There seems to be a shortage of [tax] preparers the last couple of years since COVID-19. Some of the larger firms aren't able to service all their clients, so they've been letting some of them go, and it kind of pushes around, and there's fewer people, it seems, coming into the profession,” Cappis said.
The IRS is raising tax brackets by 5.5%; this could mean owing less in taxes or seeing bigger refunds in 2024.
Cappis said: “The state of Montana has introduced a whole bunch of changes that kind of [will] simplify things. They've dropped from like five or six tax brackets down to two. They've lowered the rates, but they've also gotten rid of some deductions, so what you do on your federal return as far as filing status and standard versus itemized you have to do on your state.”
