The IRS officially set Monday, January 23rd as the start of the 2023 tax season and there are some changes this year, especially if you have children.

"Initially it was 3,000 per child and it went up to 3,500 per child. In 2021, it jumped up to 8,000 for one qualifying person, or 16,000 for two or more dependents. However, the caps have returned to the 3,000 and 6,000 for one or multiple dependents," says Crystell Harris, CEO/Senior Tax Professional at Dream Team Solutions.

When it comes to delays with tax refunds, a lot of times, it's because of inaccurate information, such as the wrong address being on file, having multiple jobs and not filing all of the income, or filing with a check stub instead of a W-2.

"You don't want to use the last check stub because the numbers and the totals are always going to be different by thousands of dollars," says Harris.

As far as scams are concerned, we see them every year.

You're encouraged to use common sense, and only go with reputable tax preparers, especially with tax estimates.

"When you're doing a tax estimate, you're contacting a company to do a tax estimate for you, to give you a brief synopsis of what your return will be. Do not give them personal information like social security numbers. They should never ask for documentation like social security numbers or even names. All they need to know are ages for your dependents," says Harris.

Falling for scams, such as getting $20,000 per child will cost you.

"Absolutely, you will be in jail and your tax return will be held up for the next 10 to 15 years, because you're trying to pay back money that you never received," says Harris.

And could potentially follow you for the years to come.

"This is a serious thing and it's one of those things that once you get flagged in the system, that could make you get audited for the remainder of your tax filing years. It just depends on the severity behind it. It's imperative that you use someone that you trust and that actually knows what they're doing and knows their information, because sometimes people are not tax professionals, they are simply data entry clerks," says Harris.

Normally, the filing deadline is April 15th, but this year, that's a Saturday, and the following Monday, is a holiday, Emancipation Day.

So this year, the filing deadline is Tuesday, April 18th.

If you have any tax questions for Crystell, you can contact her HERE.