Doing your own taxes? Experts say 'it might be the year to get professional help'

If you aren't already dreading doing your taxes this year, buckle up: Experts say new deductions, hurdles and provisions could make completing your returns more complex this tax season.

It might be the year to get professional help if you normally do your taxes on your own, said Elena Patel, co-director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

President Donald Trump's signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act made permanent certain tax breaks Congress had passed during his first term. It also created new cuts and tax situations that will likely affect many Americans, including seniors and people who get tips or paid overtime.

The IRS also has introduced a handful of administrative hurdles that experts say could make filing taxes more complicated, including sunsetting its Direct File program, which allowed people to file for free online, and phasing out paper checks for refunds.

"I don't like to tell people to pay preparers, because I think you should be able to do your own return," Patel said. "But we want to make sure that everybody is getting everything they're due, so to speak, and not overwhelmed by transitional things that are always true in the first year of a tax bill, but especially this time."

New deductions, bigger refunds

Experts believe that in general, people should see larger refunds this year. One reason for that is because the OBBBA raised the standard deduction to $15,750 for single filers and married individuals filing separately, $23,625 for heads of households and $31,500 for married couples filing jointly.

The maximum child tax credit amount, a deduction available to filers who take the standard deduction, is also getting a small bump, from $2,000 to $2,200 per dependent.

Another major change for those who take the standard deduction: Single filers can now deduct up to $1,000 in charitable donations ($2,000 for joint filers), a deduction that was previously only available to those who itemized.

"That's a big one. That could be quite consequential for people," Patel said. But she noted that the IRS requires people to keep receipts when deducting charitable donations, which might be a new habit if you've never itemized before.

For filers who itemize their taxes, the increase in the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap to $40,000 will also drive larger refunds. The SALT deduction, which runs through 2029, allows filers to reduce their federal taxes by deducting certain state and local taxes. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act introduced a $5,000 cap for married filers filing separately and a $10,000 cap for all other filers.

"Effectively, this is a subsidy, running through the federal tax code, for higher state and local taxes at those levels of government, and the benefits of that accrue to those upper income households who get to take those itemized deductions," York said.

The effect of capping SALT in 2017 was "a tax increase on roughly the top 5% of taxpayers," she said. But that caused "political pain" for representatives of people in areas with high state and local taxes, she said, so the new tax code provides some relief to those taxpayers.

The Tax Policy Center estimates that an additional 5 million people will itemize this year, totaling 23 million people and about 12% of filers, driven largely by the SALT deduction.

What's new for seniors, and what's not

Seniors will also see a "sort of new, sort of not" additional deduction of $6,000, said Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation.

That's because the tax code previously provided an additional standard deduction for seniors, and this new deduction is on top of that, York said. It's also available regardless of whether they itemize.

The benefit of this year's additional deduction depends on filers' marginal tax rate, and is limited to certain tax brackets, York said, but she expects that "most seniors" will be able to take advantage of it.

But this change is just a flat deduction, York noted, and has nothing to do with Social Security taxes.

"The president campaigned on 'no taxes on Social Security,' and they sometimes even still call this 'no taxes on Social Security,' but it actually falls well short of fully eliminating taxes on Social Security," she said.

READ MORE: Trump says the Republican mega bill will eliminate taxes on Social Security. It does not

The deduction will lower income taxes overall for some seniors, "but seniors with incomes above certain thresholds are absolutely still required to pay taxes on their Social Security benefits," said Kathleen Bryant, policy advisor at the Tax Law Center at NYU Law.

New rules for overtime, tips and auto loan interest

Three sections of the OBBBA introduce new "no taxes on" provisions that remove taxes for certain categories altogether.

These provisions follow through on a handful of campaign promises Trump made, including "no tax on tips" and "no tax on overtime," and add "no tax on auto loan interest" to the mix as well.

These deductions are available regardless of whether you itemize your return, but the provisions are more complicated than they seem, experts say.

"It's important to understand that these provisions did not in fact eliminate all taxes on these types of incomes and expenses," Bryant said.

The "no taxes on" provisions for tips and overtime only apply to federal income tax, not federal payroll or state taxes, she said.

"If you aren't aware that when you pull that onto your return you will also owe payroll taxes, it can be surprising that perhaps you don't get the refund that you expect," Patel added.

There are also limits on how much can be deducted and who can claim the deductions.

Only workers in occupations that "customarily and regularly" receive tips — an extensive but finite list of jobs — qualify for the deduction. Filers can only deduct the first $25,000 of tipped income, and the deduction phases out for taxpayers with higher incomes.

READ MORE: Killing taxes on tips sounds good, but experts say it doesn't solve the real problem

For overtime, only the "half" portion of "time and a half" can be deducted. And "no taxes on auto loans" applies to many vehicles, but not all.

"Unfortunately, many workers are going to need to try to figure out for themselves whether and how much of their tips, overtime and auto loan interest payments qualify for these deductions," Bryant said.

"For example, you may not be able to tell from your tax forms alone how much tip income was deducted, and you might actually need to use your pay stubs to manually calculate how much overtime can be lawfully deducted," she said.

New administrative hurdles

The IRS is contending with staff and funding challenges that some officials said were untenable even before the Trump administration made huge cuts to the federal government and tens of thousands of staffers quit the agency. This year, filers will face new administrative hurdles that may complicate tax returns and refunds, experts said.

Most filers receive their refunds through direct deposit, Bryant said. But phasing out paper checks will affect around 6 million Americans, a group that is "disproportionately elderly, disabled and unbanked," and that "may struggle to navigate electronic payment options."

In a recent fact sheet, the agency said if filers don't provide bank information, they'll get two letters in the mail to their last known address — one asking them to update their information online, and another requesting the same information or an explanation for why they can't provide it. Eventually, if the filer never provides direct deposit information, the agency will issue a paper check. Without direct deposit information, refunds may take up to six weeks to arrive, the IRS says - double the typical time an e-filed refund takes to arrive.

"Functionally, they're sort of using this refund delay strategy as a cudgel to try to get as many people as possible to include direct deposit information on their returns," Bryant said.

Another option that's sunsetting: IRS Direct File. In 2024, the IRS rolled out a small pilot of its Direct File program, which allowed people in a dozen states to electronically file their taxes through a secure portal on its website.

According to a 2024 federal government report, "140,800 taxpayers filed accepted returns, saving an estimated $5.6 million in tax preparation fees," and in a survey, "90% of respondents viewed their experience as 'excellent' or 'above average.'"

Last year, the IRS suspended Direct File "due to the program's high costs, limited participation, and the agency's need to focus resources on other priorities."

The agency does still offer Free File, which provides fillable tax forms online and directs users to third-party software that some filers with simple returns can use for free.

Where to get help

For low-income filers, people with disabilities and people with limited English, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance sites offer free basic tax return prep. The IRS also offers the Tax Counseling for the Elderly program, targeted toward people aged 60 and up who have "questions about pensions and retirement-related issues unique to seniors."

One final thing to keep in mind: Because the U.S. Postal Service has formalized how it defines postmarks, your return must be in the mail before April 15 to be postmarked on time, Patel said.

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"IRS hasn't said anything about how they may or may not shift around the postmark, so for now you have to assume the law is the law, and once it gets postmarked on the 16th, it's late," she said.

However you file, you should consider taking a look at your tax situation sooner rather than later.

"There's plenty of time between now and April 15, and I think there are plenty of resources. It just feels like a lot," Patel said. "Especially if you wait till the last minute and you haven't engaged with what the changes are — they can feel overwhelming."