Quick update. The IRS has started depositing refunds (yay!). We still think they’ll delay funding any refunds that claim additional stimulus credit (because you didn’t get your full amount last year or in January), but everything else appears to be running normally (8-14 days from e-file, typically). Alas, I haven’t seen any state refunds yet, but I haven’t heard of any major delays either.
Many of you are choosing to send us documents electronically again this year, so I thought today would be a good time for a tech lesson! Yay, let’s get learned! Actually, this is a rerun from previous years, but repetition is the mother of retention!
First, real scanners are king. They produce the best PDF documents which can then be electronically transmitted to us from your computer, preferably via our SecureFile Portal.
A more convenient option is to use your smart phone’s camera as a scanner. This works in a pinch for a few documents, but the camera apps are setup for photos, not forms, and they produce a very poor quality on their own due to grey scaling, color blending, and other technical glitches. To combat this failing, there’s an app (go figure, right?!). Actually, there are many free apps and quite a few paid. I really like SwiftScan. Office Lens is also good, or ScanBot or Scanner, or Adobe Scan. Pretty much any of them do a decent job turning your phone’s camera into an impromptu scanner.
As always, feel free to call or email our office if you have any questions or concerns or just need help getting organized.