Tax season is here: what do you need to know?

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) - Tax season is officially here.

Tax preparers say W2′s and 1095′s have been mailed and people have from now until April 15 to file.

People Incorporated, which does taxes for Valley residents at no cost, has a VITA program for people to sign up for to get their taxes done.

“It’s a program of the IRS which mandates volunteers to prepare taxes through the Tax Slayer online system or through the old-fashioned paper system,” says Garrett Jackson, Director of Community Services at People Inc.

Jackson said the documents you’ll need to file taxes this year are last year’s tax return, proof of identity, W2′s, 1098′s, 1099′s, 1095′s, information of income, information for deductions and credits, proof of checking or savings accounts and social security cars.

He said if you file electronically and get your refund through direct deposit, the money should be in your account in about two weeks.

However, Jackson said if you choose to do paper filing it could take a few months to get your return.

“Electronic returns those are so much quicker and if you’re getting a direct deposit which we highly recommend everybody do it’s just so much quicker to do that. It takes about two weeks with an electronic return to get your refund, paper returns you may not see the money for a couple of months,” Jackson said.

He said the biggest difference in this year’s tax season is there are no federal stimulus checks that need to be filed.

To sign up for these services, People Inc has a hotline number at 276-619-2235 or go to People Inc.’s website.

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