It is now less than one month away from the deadline to file income tax returns.

Certified Public Accountant with Hankel and Associates Tom Kennedy reminds individuals who have yet to file their income taxes that Iowa no longer taxes distributions from qualified retirement plans for anyone 55 and older, and retired farmers need to decide if they are claiming the cash rent as their retirement income it is not taxed, or if they plan to sell the farmland, with certain rules applied, then they don’t have to pay a capital gains tax. He talks about another reminder that Iowa has aligned itself with.

“And Iowa’s gone now to the federal taxable income is where you start on the Iowa return. It used to be kind of its own set of return, but last year was the first year, and you could deduct federal taxes, that’s no longer available. It’s made the Iowa return a lot simpler, but there is some adjustments to it.”   

Kennedy also has this reminder for parents that have teens or adult children who are filing their own income taxes.

“They’ll do their own return, but they (the kids) claim themself as a dependent and the parents probably are planning on claiming them as a dependent because they provide over half of their support. Well if they file their return first, you’re going to get a thing back saying that your return’s been rejected, and somebody else has claimed them, that Social Security number.”   

Kennedy adds that April 15th is the deadline for income taxes to be filed. He says if you file beyond that date, there are steep penalties you will need to pay.