Tax Refund or Tax Payment: 2018 Tax Season [POLL]

By now W-2s have been mailed and should have been received, so the receipt gathering, statement copying and general record keeping — all related to preparing 2018 tax returns — is in full swing. Whether you use the time-tested shoe box for financial records or software that streamlines the process, the clock is ticking for filing tax returns and the inevitable wait to see whether a refund will be on its way or a check will have to be written to the government.

The wild card this year for many is the effect that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, passed by a Republican-majority Senate and House, will have on people.

As described by Atlanta-based certified public accountants Smith & Howard, the tax-reform bill provides large tax deductions for some and for others, not so much.

Unfortunately, for some, it eliminates many tax breaks, and much of the tax relief is temporary.

While the White House said in advance of the bill passing that the average family would get a $4,000 raise, some people are finding that the tax burden is smaller but so is their tax refund, if there's a refund at all, according to NBC News.

One example Martha C. White found while writing the NBC News article was a postal worker/pizza deliveryman/student who was counting on a $6,000 check back from the IRS just like he got last year.

He was hurt this time around by the elimination of non-reimbursed business expenses and a student-loan interest cap.

Vox.com posted Twitter reactions from early tax filers expressing their dismay over having to pay more in refunds.

Matthew Yglesias of Vox wrote that the big story was "as a result of the new tax law, the Treasury Department tweaked things so that on average taxpayers' withholdings fell by more than their actual taxes owed" because it's easier to take the money out of paychecks than chase after it at tax time.

Another problem — especially for states such as New York that rely on property taxes to pay for services — is the cap on the deduction for state and local taxes at $10,000.

The New York state comptroller said that in Westchester County an average property-tax bill is $15,000, the Journal News reported.

The SALT cap is something President Donald Trump is now open to revisiting, according to The Buffalo News.

In a meeting Wednesday with regional news outlets from around the U.S., the president explained his comments from 2017 that upstate New Yorkers should consider moving to another state where they can get a better job.

Trump originally said that the SALT cap would only affect the wealthiest New Yorkers, but said that people had been speaking with him about the issue and that he said, "I'm open to thinking about that."

That would be good news, but it will not apply to the tax returns we all have to file this year.

Now here's your chance to weigh in on the issue. Vote in our unscientific poll and tell us what you think in the comments.

Image via Shutterstock.