TAAMPA — The IRS expects about 164 million individual tax returns to be filed by the April 15 deadline this year.
Last summer, President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill into law, which made some tax changes.
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Most of them didn’t take effect until January 1, but some apply retroactively to 2025.
“They should be aware of some new things,” said Lisa Leslie, a UF IFAS Hillsborough Extension Agent and tax expert.
For the 2025 tax year that you’re filing this year, the bill raised the standard deduction amount to $31,500 for married couples filing jointly. For single taxpayers and married individuals, filing separately, the standard deduction is $15,750.
Those numbers increase this tax year from when you file in 2027.
“There are 4 new deductions,” said Leslie.
Those include:
- A $6,000 senior deduction for taxpayers 65 and older who qualify.
- A tax on overtime deduction, meaning anyone who received qualifying overtime compensation can deduct the pay that exceeds their regular compensation, like the “half” rate of the “time-and-a-half” pay you get for overtime.
- “People do need to know...if they got double time, the double time doesn’t count,” said Leslie.
- There’s also a deduction on car loan interest, so you can deduct interest on on loan used to to buy a vehicle in 2025.
- A deduction on tips where you can deduct qualified tips you receive in 2025 for certain occupations.
“All of those go through 2028,” said Leslie.
Also new is the child tax credits have increased to $2,200 per qualified child with future inflation adjustments.
“So that’s good stuff that will help people decrease their tax liability,” said Leslie.
Filing taxes can be overwhelming, that’s why Tampa Bay 28 interviewed Yasmin Rivera who works at GTE Financial.
“It’s really taking a deeper dive into your finances, where has money gone all year?” said Rivera.
She believes preparation is key and that taking time to get everything in order will make your filing process much smoother.
“Have all of your documentation ready to go in one place so you’re not scrambling. Identify anything that you had expenses that you may be deducting, make sure you have receipts and all that information in one place so that you’re able to get the process going pretty quickly,” said Rivera.
The Hillsborough County Extension Office is hosting a webinar on March 18 to show people how easy it is to file.
The IRS encourages people to file online. The IRS website has resources to help you file for free.
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