By Aimee Green
oregonlive.com
(TNS)
The Internal Revenue Service expects millions of U.S. taxpayers to submit their income tax returns by the end of the day Monday, the first day of the federal tax filing season.
More than half of taxpayers—and especially the early bird filers—are typically due a refund. And so the reasoning goes: Why let the government hold onto your money any longer than it needs to?
This year, however, many Americans may find that filing their tax returns is even more complicated than in years past. A long list of changes to the tax code brought on by President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act last July have led to confusion. That’s amid excitement because the revisions are expected to balloon the average refund by $300 to $1,000.
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Here’s what to know to help you navigate through this year’s shifting tax landscape:
Confused? You’re not alone.
Even John Hawkins, a certified public accountant in Salem, OR, who is working his 40th tax season, says this year’s changes are complex. That’s why professionals like himself have been reading up on the new tax laws and undergoing training for the past six months.
“We’ve had numerous continuing education classes on this,” Hawkins said. “There’s a lot of nuance, a lot of detail. And we’ve had to learn what that detail is.”
Surveys in recent years have found anywhere between about one-third to one-half of U.S. taxpayers use a tax professional to prepare their tax returns. Nearly 40% of people who self-prepare their taxes use free or paid tax software, according to another survey. TurboTax was the most popular of these fee-based software programs.
Adam Abplanalp, a managing partner at the Northeast Portland accounting group, Cobalt CPA, said it’s a shame the tax code is so elaborate and changes in significant ways each year. This year, of course, is no exception.
“Our individual tax system is just way more complicated than it could be or should be,” Abplanalp said.
W-2 might not help some, and there are many exceptions to who will get the tax breaks.
New, catchy tax breaks—including “No tax on tips,” “No tax on overtime,” the new additional $6,000 deduction for taxpayers 65 and older and “no tax on car loan interest”—have income limits and exceptions.
“It’s easy at first glance to say ‘Oh, wow!’” Abplanalp said. “But there’s a lot of kind of ‘gotchas’ with all of those. A lot of little qualifications with everything. It sounds better when you hear it than it actually is when you read the law.”
For instance, to avoid paying interest on an auto loan, the car must have been purchased brand new in 2025 for personal use and undergone final assembly in the U.S. The deduction also phases out for an individual taxpayer who has a modified adjusted gross income of $100,000 or $200,000 for joint filers.
Also, brace yourself for possible tax filing headaches if you’re one of the narrow field of workers who are eligible for the new “no tax on tips” or “no tax on overtime” deductions. Your W-2 form might not separately list the amount of tipped income or overtime that you can deduct.
“Employers aren’t going to tell people what that amount is,” said Hawkins, the Salem CPA. “They’re going to have to figure that out on their own.”
Avoid a paper return and file electronically, if you can.
Last year, 93% of personal tax returns to the federal government were filed electronically. In Oregon, it was nearly 95%.
Filing electronically means if you’re due a refund, you’ll get it much faster.
How long will it take to get my federal refund?
Even if you file your taxes electronically, it might take a few days for the IRS to “accept” your return. Then the IRS says processing that return could take up to three weeks. For paper-filed returns, it could take at least six weeks, according to the agency.
There’s some worry out there that processing returns won’t go as smoothly as planned because the IRS has experienced unprecedented upheaval in the past year. The Trump administration cut one-quarter of the IRS’s staffing last year, staff were furloughed during last fall’s six-week federal government shutdown and the agency has had seven people serving as IRS commissioner since the beginning of 2025.
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How much bigger will my refund be?
Last year, the average taxpayer received a federal refund of $3,167, according to the IRS figures. This year, some tax analysts predict it could be $300 to $1,000 more for the average taxpayer.
In Oregon, the average refund was about $1,300, according to data from the Oregon Department of Revenue. This year’s average refund is expected to be more because of the state kicker, which returns a percentage of taxpayers’ money to them when state revenue was significantly higher than projected. The state can’t say exactly how much each kicker recipient will receive, but for many it will likely be hundreds of dollars.
About 55% of state taxpayers in Oregon got a refund, according to 2023 data, the latest available. Nationally, it was 57% in 2024, the latest federal data available.
How can I track my federal return and refund?
Once you file, check the status of any refund that you might have coming your way on the IRS’s “Where’s my refund?” web page. The IRS says this information is usually available about 24 hours after electronically filing a return for the current tax season or four weeks after filing by mail.
Access your IRS account information online through this nifty tool.
You can find out a host of information, including the amounts of your past years’ refunds, current balance owed, payments you’ve made and your adjusted gross income by creating an IRS Individual Online Account. You’ll need photo identification and about 10 minutes to open an account here.
Reminder: The IRS won’t mail you a paper check.
Make sure you have your bank routing number so the IRS can get you your refund without delay. The agency announced that it will cease issuing paper checks this tax season in virtually all cases. Your bank routing number also will make it possible to pay electronically, if you choose to do so.
Providing a bank routing number also means you’ll get any state or federal tax refund that you might be due much faster.
Photo credit: Lyalya Go/iStock
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©2026 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit oregonlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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