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Tax Day Has Arrived. It Could Be Painful For Many Californians
(Photo by 401(K) 2012 via Flickr CC)
Monday is the deadline to file your taxes, and it's the first year Californians are dealing with changes under the new GOP tax law.
For some people, this year could be more painful -- the state's tax board estimates about a million California households will end up with a tax hike.
A third of California taxpayers usually deduct things like property and state income taxes. In the past, those filers have written off an average of $18,000. This year, those kinds of deductions are capped at $10,000.
Even those receiving a tax cut may get a smaller refund, because of new IRS withholding guidelines.
H&R Block tax advisor Aaron Martinez told us that many of his L.A. clients are going back to change their withholdings.
"We had to fix their W4 so that they're having additional money coming out of every paycheck, just so that at the end of the year they don't come out owing... I've had to do that with quite a few, actually."
Martinez says Californians should still try to see if they can take certain write-offs on their state taxes.
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Michael Eisenberg, a CPA SquarMilnar in Encino said that some of his clients are taking a hit from the new cap, too.
"It runs the gamut. We've got people that are average income earners and people who are making a lot of money."
The deadline to file -- or to ask for an extension -- is just before midnight.
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