Major life events like marriage, a divorce or adding a child to your family might have significant tax applications. Be sure to take these milestones into consideration as you prepare your 2016 income taxes. This is not to say these are the only big life changes that could impact your taxes. Of course there are others, like retirement, a death in the family or being a first-time home buyer. But for this post, we’ll touch on marriage, divorce and becoming a parent.
Let’s take a quick look at marriage first. You’ll want to consider items such as community property, making sure your name change is reflected on your tax forms and any other deductions you might be eligible for. It’s not a surprise that people divorced in 2016 need to be looking at the same items. Here’s a good list from the IRS to help people who divorced in 2016 in preparing their returns. Remember, if your divorce was not finalized until January 2017, for tax purposes you were still married through 2016.
Now for children … From birth through childhood, what credits are you eligible for? There are a host of items that may apply to a family with children, from child tax credits to benefits for education and exemptions. We can help determine which items apply to you and what documentation will be required for your file.
With any of these three events, the determining factor is the date of December 31, 2016. If your life event occurred BEFORE December 31, 2016 that determines how you claim your filing status. If you have questions, or just want the peace of mind of having a professional manage your taxes in a major-life-event year, give us a call at (913) 888-9100. We are available to meet with you soon and get your tax prep underway and filed on time.