We hope you can find everything you need. Carrington Financial Services is focused on providing high-quality service and customer satisfaction-we will do everything we can to meet your expectations.

Income Tax Time Can Be the Time to Start Saving!

By Larcina Carrington Wynn, President of Carrington Financial Services, LLC

MSNBC News on Save Your Refund "WATCH VIDEO"

Income Tax Season should officially start when the IRS gives notification of the date they will begin accepting tax returns electronically and by paper. For this filing season it is scheduled for January 20, 2015. However, my indicators that the tax season is coming upon us starts right after Christmas or right after New Year’s Day when I get a text message or a phone call from one of my clients asking me when is the earliest I can do their taxes. I chuckle when I get these messages because we all know what happened. Folks have spent all their money on the holidays and gifts and now they are looking for that income tax refund to replenish the cash that they probably should not have spent. (Too many of us can relate to this scenario.)

I will share how you can help your tax preparer get you the largest refund that is due to you. One way is to understand what can be taken as deductions and what can be taken as credits. Deductions are items that can reduce the amount of income you will pay taxes on. Examples of deductions are contributions to an IRA account, student loan interest you paid during the year, alimony payments, and a list of itemized deductions, such state income taxes, property taxes, mortgage interest, and charitable contributions to name a few. All of these items can lower your income significantly that taxes will be paid on.

After all the deductions have been taken to adjust the income then the credits will be taken to lower the actual taxes. Some examples of tax credits are dependent day care expenses, the child tax credit for dependent children ages up to 17 years old, education credits for paying college tuition for yourself or your dependent children, etc.

The Earned Income Credit is a very popular credit that can add more money to your refund if you qualify. There are guidelines to qualify for this credit if you have earned income of a certain amount and/or dependent children. This credit is often missed when tax returns are prepared without tax software or prepared by uninformed tax preparers.

If you are able to take advantage of deductions and/or credits, you are likely to get a refund. The important thing is to make sure that you hire a tax preparer (professional) that is registered by the IRS, or a CPA, or an enrolled agent. These experts are required to have a certain amount of training to prepare your taxes. However, the better you are informed the better your tax preparer expert can work for you.

Finally, since you will be taking advantage of all the opportunities to increase your tax refund this is the best time start a savings account for you and your family. Usually a tax refund is the biggest lump sum of money that a family may receive at one time. We are encouraging you to set aside a small amount to start some type of savings account, whether it be for retirement, a large purchase such as a car or house, college tuition, etc. .

It has been noted that more than 50% of households has experienced a financial crisis and more than 50% did not have enough savings to help themselves in the crisis. So, this year my tax practice has partnered with a not-for-profit organization and we are dedicated to helping people save money. Our clients can participate in a program called Save Your Refund. When our clients provide proof that they have put some of their refund, as little as $50, in some type of savings account, we will enter them in a weekly prize drawings of $100 each week. We will also give our clients information on how to win a grand prize of $25,000 at the end of tax season. We are challenging you to start now getting in the habit of saving

If you are interested in becoming a client of Carrington Financial Services and would like to participate in these weekly drawings, please email us at carrington5.financial@gmail.com.