CPA and Gov't Relations Liaison for National Association of Tax Professionals (NATP) Larry Gray joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the most important things to consider when filing a return or extension.

Video Transcript

JULIE HYMAN: It's officially tax day, meaning if you have not filed an extension yet, the clock is ticking. The clock is really ticking to submit your tax documents. Joining us with more on what changes you may have noticed on your tax documents this year is National Association of Tax Professionals Government Relations liaison Larry Gray. Larry, thank you so much for being here. And you also, of course, are a practicing CPA, so thank you for being here. I mean, it's down to the wire now. It's over. So for that matter, if people are filing on the last day, is there anything that they should be aware of?

LARRY GRAY: Well, I think a couple of things, is, there's been a lot of law changes this year. You had the advanced child tax credit. You also had the VIP, the economic impact payment. So I think the most important takeaway on today is, if you don't have this thing together, or you've got questions, I recommend getting an extension. You can still do the return next week, but the most important thing right now in this pandemic is when you e-file, is, be sure you got accurate records, review that return, and that way, that won't slow down the process, and you will get a timely refund.

BRIAN SOZZI: Larry, if I am going to get a large sum of money back, realistically, when should I receive that? We're hearing stories of, really, delayed refunds for many folks.

LARRY GRAY: Well, over the last two years, we've had a large-- a backlog. And this year, they've actually, within the IRS, helped to process more returns on the point of time filing. So if I got a large refund, what I want to do is, again, back to-- have accurate, complete information, complete the return, so that it doesn't get kicked out of the system.

At that point in time, you're going to get that maybe in four or five-- three, four, or five weeks. But if it gets kicked out in processing because of an error or an incomplete, you didn't get your EIP payment down correct, then that may cause four or five, six months. So that's why I'd rather have an extension today. Next week or the week after, file a correct return, accurate, and that will actually speed up my refund.

JULIE HYMAN: Larry, I'm curious what the biggest change that you've seen over the course of your career in this process or in the IRS responsiveness. Especially here, as we come out of the pandemic period, has there been a big shift?

LARRY GRAY: Well, you're talking about over the years. When I first started back when they tied forces up out front, but over the last few years, part of the problem is the IRS is working on an antiquated system. Some of the software-- or excuse me some of the hardware is from the '60s. And that's not, today, modern. So I think my biggest takeaway, 30 years ago, as a practitioner, I wouldn't have been talking about funding the IRS.

But I think the IRS has become more and more a customer service, getting the right credits to the right people timely, and I think in that light, there is a need for funding by Congress to modernize the IRS so that they can be more responsive. They also have the same problems we do with employment. So, again, probably that's the biggest takeaway. They need more modern technology. They suffer the same labor issues we do. And this is a tax system of-- as we've gone over the years, is to get the right money, the right credits, the right deductions to the right people.

JULIE HYMAN: And as we've mentioned, you're a government relations liaison there, so this sounds like the message that you're trying to take to Congress. Have they been receptive to that? I mean, this is something that affects pretty much all Americans.

LARRY GRAY: Right, well, yeah, I think Congress, in '19, they passed the Taxpayer First Act. And that was right before the pandemic. And I think things may have been a little different. And I would say IRS needs to also be more involved with the stakeholders' organizations, like the National Association of Tax Professionals, AICPA, the other organizations.

We do meetings, monthly meetings, but I think that as they stand up this Taxpayer First Act, then there's an important relationship between stakeholders, the practitioner community, the software community, and the IRS, because the earlier the buy-in by everybody, the better result for the taxpayer. And that's the end goal, is to get the right amount of either tax collected or the right amount of credits to the right people.

BRIAN SOZZI: Larry, real quick before we let you go, what's the biggest mistake you saw taxpayers make this year?

LARRY GRAY: The biggest mistake this year was the advanced child tax credit because there was two thresholds. They over-- a lot of people thought the advanced child tax credit was a credit independent of their refund. So I would say the child tax credit arena, one, from the advanced credit, but also they expanded qualified people from that 200,000 to 400,000. And there was a lot of taxpayers did not realize they qualified for it.

JULIE HYMAN: Well, hopefully, it's not too late for them to be getting some of these messages. Larry, thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it. National Association of Tax Professionals Government Relations liaison, Larry Gray.