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Common questions

How much can I get with my newborn baby?

First of all, congrats on your new baby! As a new parent the addition of a new baby is a time of joy. Something that can help with the expenses of being a new parent are the credits that come with having a child. If this is your only child, parents can get refundable tax credits worth up to $5,200. Depending on your earned income (your money made from work), you could be receiving $3,700 in Earned Income Credit and another $1,500 in Child Tax Credit. To get a better estimate of what you might receive, check out our Refund Estimator here

I had a new baby in 2022 after July. Can I still claim them on my taxes?

Congratulations on the new member of your family! Even if your child was born after July 2022 as long as your child meets all the other dependency requirements you can claim that child. Children that are born in 2022 are generally considered to have lived with you all “12 months” of the tax year for credit purposes.

If your baby split time between two parents or houses, then the parent who lived with the baby for more than half the time since they were born should be the one to claim the baby. For example, if you had your baby in September, and your baby lived with you for 3 months and with your partner for 1 month, the baby spent more than half the time with you, so you would claim him/her.

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What is earned income?

“Earned Income” is a term used by the IRS to describe money that you made through “sweat and toil” as they like to say. What that means for the rest of us, is that you had to work for the money, usually through working a job and receiving a W-2, or being self-employed and receiving cash or a 1099-NEC. Some common examples of self-employment are gig work (Uber, Lyft, Doordash), child care, landscaping, hair styling, etc.

“Unearned Income” is money that you made without working such as unemployment, interest from a bank account, the sale of stocks or bonds, lottery or gambling winnings.

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What is an ITIN? Who needs one?

An ITIN is a Individual Tax Identification Number. This ITIN provides people who are not eligible to get a Social Security Number to file a tax return. This may be useful for individuals who are here in the US and would like to file a tax return to pay for taxes, receive tax credits, or be up to date with their tax return for immigration purposes.

EIC or EITC? Are they the same thing?

Yes, the EIC and the EITC are the same tax credit. Depending on where you learn about the Earned Income Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit the acronym may be slightly different. Even on the IRS website they refer to the EITC and the EIC! Don’t worry if you hear different people use different acronyms for the EIC, we are all referring to the same Earned Income Credit.

What is a refundable credit and what makes refundable credits so important?

A refundable credit is a tax credit that can return cash to you even if you do not owe any money on your tax return. The reason we call the money the IRS sends us our tax refund is because it is money that the government has that should be returned (refunded) to you.

So a refundable tax credit is a credit that increases the size of your tax refund meaning more money in your pocket. Two of the biggest refundable credits are the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Credit. Even if you did not earn a lot of money this year, these refundable tax credits can help support you and give your family the cash you need to pay for your expenses.

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What is a nonrefundable credit?

A nonrefundable credit is a tax credit that reduces the amount of taxes you owe. If you do not owe any money it does not directly benefit you. If you would have owed taxes but they were covered by your withholdings from your job, a nonrefundable credit may allow you to get that money back. These credits also make sure that your refundable tax credits like the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Credits are not used to pay for your taxes but are fully sent back to you as a refund.

Why is it better to direct deposit my refund?

Direct depositing your refund to your bank account means that the money goes directly from the IRS into your bank account without ever needing a paper check, and it has a number of benefits for you.

It is just plain faster. When you direct deposit your refund check, you will receive your refund two weeks faster than if you have them send you a paper check. And if you receive a paper check, you still need to cash the check to use the money. Many people receive their refunds within three weeks with direct deposit and often as early as ten days after their return has been accepted by the IRS.
It is safer. When you direct deposit your refund your money goes directly to you. No one else handles your money. It doesn’t run the risk of going to the wrong address or getting stolen from your mailbox!
Direct depositing your refund doesn’t cost you money. Unlike receiving a paper check, by direct depositing your refund you will not need to pay any check cashing fees. These fees can be 3, 5, or even 10% of your refund. Why pay someone to receive something that is yours! Don’t have a bank account to direct deposit your refund into? Sign up with Let's Get Set and check out some options here: https://app.letsgetset.co/find-a-bank

What changed for my taxes this year?

This year a couple things have changed. The first one is that there was no stimulus check payment in 2022 so that cannot be claimed on your tax return.

For most people the big change will be in how the Child Tax Credit will be calculated. This year you will need to have earned income to take advantage of this credit, whereas last year you didn’t need to have made any money from work to get it. You also will need to have made money from work to get the Earned Income Tax Credit. To find out more about the changes, check out https://smartasset.com/taxes/all-about-child-tax-credits

The last big change is that the Child and Dependent Care Credit is changing back to its old calculation, which means that you will need to owe taxes to actually be able to benefit from it. It is a non-refundable credit, which means it never comes back to you as cash in your refund and instead only decreases the amount of taxes you owe. The tldr here is that if you make very little income, this credit won’t be able to help you this year.

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Is it hard to file taxes?

We get this question a lot - especially from folks who haven’t filed before! For most folks it is not hard to file their taxes. Even people who work in the gig economy can generally file their own taxes using software. With a little patience and a willingness to make sure you have all your tax documents you too can file your own taxes. At Let’s Get Set we are here to help you along the way - especially when you are new to filing.

Today, most people can use software or apps to walk them through the process. These apps will even send in your taxes for you. As long as you are comfortable typing in information on a computer or your cell phone you can file your own tax return.

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We made taxes easier for moms.

We made taxes easier for moms, so you can focus on planning the future with your little one.

Caring for your financial wellbeing, starting with taxes.

Catch all things you need to prepare for tax filing.

Focus on the future: set savings goals and we will remind you to put aside pieces of your refund to build your future.

Tell us your filing preferences. Based on your needs and refund estimate, we will suggest a filing option.

You pay only for filing, if you decide to file with us.

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