Tax Year 2019

We wanted to let you know that we are still processing 2019 tax returns.  It has been quite a year between shutting down the office because of Covid-19, all of our staff continuing to work from home, the stimulus packages passed by Congress and the myriad of loans and employee protection programs we have had to navigate over the past few months for our clients.

With so many challenges, we are making tough decisions about the places to prioritize our energy.  Our top three priorities as we reach the first filing deadline in order are:

Did you receive a strange looking Visa card in the mail and you're not sure where it came from and worried it might be a scam or junk mail?  Well as it turns out, it just might be your stimulus payment.  Instead of sending you a paper check the Treasury Department is issuing prepaid Visa debit cards with your stimulus payment loaded on it.  Who gets the card and who gets the paper check is still anyone's guess.  Some cards have also been issued with incorrect names on them so please, if you receive them, verify everything is correct.

The Maryland Department of Labor’s Division of Unemployment Insurance has posted four new tutorial videos on their website, social media pages, and YouTube to help Marylanders navigate the new BEACON One-Stop.

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended all aspects of life around the world, including the world of business here in the U.S.

If your business is struggling, you may be able to get some help from the federal Small Business Administration (SBA), which is authorized to provide loans to small businesses on an as-needed basis. 

There are two types of relief you can apply for:

Economic Injury Disaster Loans

You may be eligible for up to 39 weeks of unemployment benefits if you are self-employed and your business income has been affected by COVID-19.

Recent legislation now provides small business owners the opportunity to collect unemployment which is not something they are normally able to do.  As the majority of our clients are in Maryland we are going to cover how this is working in Maryland.  If you live in a different state, please check with your state's unemployment office.

1. What are the filing deadlines now?
2. When will I get my stimulus payment?
3. I own a business, am I eligible for loans from the government?
4. When will Lincoln Tax Professionals finish my return?
5. I need to make an appointment for next year's taxes.  How do I do that?
6. I have an appointment in May, or later in the summer, what do I do?

On March 21, the Treasury Department and the IRS announced that the federal income filing due date is automatically extended from April 15 to July 15, 2020.  Taxpayers can also defer federal tax payments that were originally due on April 15 to the new deadline of July 15, meaning if you owed money to the IRS for your 2019 tax return then you'll have a few extra months to make that payment to them without penalties and interest regardless of the amount owed.  This also means that since the deadline has been pushed back to the middle of summer the need to file extensions for clients this seas