Shah, a lecturer in finance at Elon, was a guest on Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins.
It’s tax season, and many households will spend the coming days poring over financial documents as they prepare to submit their annual tax returns for review.
Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins, a regular news discussion program produced by Charlotte’s NPR station, WFAE, recently invited Elon Lecturer in Finance Vaishali Shah to the program to offer insights into what to expect this tax season, and why the annual filing process can be so complicated.
Shah shared that a lot of that complexity comes from the variety of adjustments, deductions and credits that taxpayers can claim on their tax returns. “I think that’s where the confusion comes in and our taxes become more complicated,” Shah told host Mike Collins.
Shah shared she recently had a conversation with a student who was wondering about the need for the filing process when the Internal Revenue Service already has a clear picture of a person’s earnings throughout the year through the main W2 and other tax documents. “I think the issue is that they don’t know, for example, our charitable contributions, which we can deduct … They don’t know the level that we are putting into IRAs, necessarily. There are all kinds of other items that play into this besides what is reported from our employers.”
Listen to the full program to hear more insights and learn more about the complexities of the tax system.