Florida Families Wait IRS Decision

Florida is one of just 19 states that have provided inflation relief payments in 2022 to some of its most hard-hit families. Since Florida does not require its residents to file state income taxes, these relief payments are a non-issue for Floridians at the state level. However, Uncle Sam is still unsure how to handle this additional revenue at the federal level. Should the IRS tax this revenue or not this is the big question for about 60,000 families across the Sunshine State.

To File or Not to File Your Federal Taxes

Food, school supplies, and gas have gone up significantly throughout the United States and Project Hope has provided some much-needed help as the cost of living creeps up. So what are these FL residents supposed to do while the IRS figures out how they want to handle these inflation relief payments? Up until now, the IRS has said to hold off on filing your federal taxes if you have received payments from the Project Hope assistance program.

But this is where the problem lies, what if you are due a return? How long does the IRS expect you to wait to file your 2022 tax return, while they keep your refund? So what is one to do in this situation?

Two Options to Consider?

So you have a couple of options if this is you.

1. Claim the assistance as income on your federal return and get a smaller refund now. If the IRS makes the inflation relief payment non-taxable, they will send you the money for the difference later.

2. You can just wait to file your taxes and see what happens. But who knows how long that will be!

Currently, there is speculation that the money will not be deemed taxable by the IRS because the IRS did not tax individuals for Covid relief payments.