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Life Changed but your W-4 Didn’t: Why You Need to Update Your W-4 Withholding

If you paid a large tax liability bill after filing your taxes, you might want to update your W-4 Form.

Are your friends on a summer vacation (thanks to their tax refund checks) while you’re stuck at home because you were forced to write a check for your tax due?

If you ended up writing a large check to the IRS for the total of your tax liability, it’s good to know that you’re (somewhat) in control of  what that total will be next year. Surprisingly, it isn’t some randomly generated number, nor is it based on luck. In fact, it’s linked to the number of allowances listed on your W-4 form. That means, you’ll want to take a look at the number reported on your W-4 Form.

What a W-4 Form Is & How it Affects your Tax Refund

For those of you unsure of what a W-4 form is- it’s one of the forms you were handed upon your first days of employment at your job. To be more precise, a W-4 form is used by your employer to determine the amount of taxes to be withheld from your pay. The number of exemptions claimed on it directly affects your tax refund or tax due.

Continue reading “Life Changed but your W-4 Didn’t: Why You Need to Update Your W-4 Withholding”

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What Does My Tax Refund Status Mean?

Don’t stress! You won’t miss this flight.

Have you ever walked into an airport and realized you and everyone around you seem to be in a rush? Well, tax filers tend to mimic the same anxious energy, especially those trying to figure out their tax refund status.

We understand that like the airport checking luggage-security-shoes-off whirlwind, tax filing is also something you don’t do every day and can be pretty stressful. Actually, filing your taxes is the hardest part though so give yourself a pat on the back, sit back and await your refund.

What status updates should I look out for?

Whether you are a RapidTax customer or not,  you’ll probably use the IRS “Where’s My Refund?” tool. Before checking your refund status, you’ll want to recognize and know the meaning of the following status updates:

  1. Return Received or Accepted
  2. Refund Approved
  3. Refund Sent
  4. Your tax return is still being processed. A refund date will be provided when available.

What does Return ‘Received’ or ‘Accepted’ mean?

The IRS updates you with “We have accepted your tax return and it is being processed”. This is solely to update you that your return was successfully received by the IRS. This status update does not mean your return was approved. It simply means the IRS has it and it is in line to be reviewed and processed. Continue reading “What Does My Tax Refund Status Mean?”