This could’ve been an MPSIMS or IMHO, but it’s poilitical so let’s try it here.
This time of year I’d normally take advantage of the cold dead winter months to file my taxes early. Often I get a little refund, but at a mimimum at least I know what my liability is. And I like to get the task out of the way early.
Given the current political climate and US presidential administration, am I a chump if I file my taxes this year? I mean, I can imagine a scenario when we get to April and Trump says “don’t worry about your taxes this year”.
Some might say he can’t do that, and I trust we can all see the flaws in that line of reasoning.
Some might say go ahead and file early, and if Trump issues an order canceling taxes, he’ll surely issue another one to pay back early filers, and the federal government will just send us the appropriate refund checks. Hopefully I don’t need to explain why there are at least 3 problems with that assumption.
This is less of a concrete ask for advice. I think I’ve talked myself into filing an extension and waiting until midnight August 15th, much as I hate having the task hanging over me. This is more of a post about, what’s going to happen with taxes this year?
Filing 2025 taxes? Wait at least another year. I assume you are talking about the 2024 returns though.
Since this is a political thread, any tax cuts on the way are for the wealthy. If you are not wealthy, expect to pay your taxes. Besides, you’ve probably already paid them. If you don’t expect a refund and will owe, it’s always a good idea to wait until 15 April to file your return.
There is no reason to believe that federal income taxes owed won’t be due on April 15th, unless you file an extension. I think the chances of taxes being cancelled for last year is as near to zero as you can get. Do what you normally do and stop worrying about that happening.
But back to your original question, could it be rephrased as “should I stop all withholdings and estimated tax payments in the hope that personal income taxes will be abolished in 2025”? If you are prepared to pay the interest and penalties in the event you are wrong, then sure, go ahead. Not a bet I would make, but that’s just me.
I can’t imagine any scenario in which Trump would abolish federal income tax or in which such a proposal would move forward. It would utterly bankrupt his government and administration.
I took the opposite approach - I anticipate that Trump will wreak havoc on the IRS, and so I filed my taxes as early as possible in hopes of getting my tax refund before Trump mucked things up too badly and I would have to endure a lot of red tape and delay to get it.
If you owe taxes, I’d wait until closer to April 15th to file and pay. There is absolutely no chance that income tax for 2024 or 2025 will be eliminated.
I am getting a refund and will be filing my taxes ASAP. I expect the IRS to be further crippled under the current administration, and Musk is trying to take control of the payment system in the Treasury Department. Among other things, this includes the disbursement of tax refunds.
I am not saying that I know what’s going to happen or not. Regarding tax rescission this year, I have no proposed mechanism in mind. Probably an executive order, but I don’t really know. It would be chaotic and illegal. The enforceability would be dubious. It would be unclear what we’re supposed to do or not do. It may harm Trumps long-term and short-term interests alike.
If you’re on the bandwagon of “Trump wouldn’t, couldn’t do such a thing”, all I know is that if you can look at the past 2 weeks and expect that this year we’ll have an entirely unexceptional, uneventful, and chaos-free tax filing season in 2025, I have a bridge to sell you (hedging of course on Trump being both alive and in power at that time). That’s a hypothetical of course. Or at least I think it’s hypothetical, I may have missed a tweet. Hard to be sure of anything these days.
As for me, this is just an idiosyncratic thing, but I don’t mind taxes. I wish they were lower, I wish they were structured more progressively, but I don’t mind filling out some forms, doing my civic duty, and getting back my $37 refund check. But I’m definitely not gonna be the only chump sending in a check to a President who’s just tweeted that we don’t need to worry about the Internal Revenue Service anymore because the External Revenue Service will be funding everything for us.
Side bet, 15:1 odds: Trump will announce that taxes can be paid in some kind of cryptocurrency this year. The consequences of this are simply too chaotic to even forecast.
this confuses me. You have presumably already paid your share of taxes if you are in line for a refund, so you won’t be cutting a check to the IRS (or the president for that matter). So why wouldn’t you file your taxes? You’re in line for a refund! Now, if you owed taxes, your position would make more sense.
Look folks, this is just rhetoric, it’s the smallest part of the point I’m raising. Sometimes I owe a little, sometimes I get back a little. The point is that I’m not a tax-hater, I don’t mind filing and paying what I owe. That’s not what this question is about. I’m just idly wondering if it will turn out to be a pointless exercise this year.
I’ll probably complete it this morning just to understand what I owe (or am owed), and make sure I’ve got everything in order. Then I’ll delay until the last responsible moment to see how the political situation affects things. I might even file an extension although I hate doing that, I’d rather just get it done.
But apart from that, I feel the question very much remains open as to what’s actually going to happen this year.
But I think the standard advice for every year still applies this year as well. If you are due a refund, file early so you get your money as soon as possible. If you owe taxes, file on April 15th so you keep your money as long as possible.
Yeah, this is probably the move for this year. And I should probably reduce my wittholding in anticipation of next year. If Trump is going to blow up the IRS, then overpaying this year’s wittholding is definitely not the move. Maybe nobody has any liability next year. But collecting a refund for 2025 overpayments seems highly unlikely to me.
It’s my fault for framing this thread wrong. It’s more about, what kind of merry chaos should we expect as April 15th approaches. There’ll be some theatrics, there may be major material changes, what do we do. I don’t know that this can be answered. But I look forward to revisiting this thread in 10 weeks to see what I got right or wrong!