Filing your taxes? Don’t overlook these potential savings

Some changes from HR-1 have brought new ways to save on your taxes this year. Some are more popularized — “no tax on tips” and a new car deduction — and others, it feels like you need to be an expert in tax law to uncover.

There’s a lot to sift through, but if you’ve been waiting to file, trying to figure out how to lower your tax burden, you’re in luck. Certified public accountant and TurboTax tax expert Lisa Greene-Lewis spoke with “Marketplace Morning Report” host Sabri Ben-Achour about how you can get the most out of this tax season. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

Sabri Ben-Achour: So, the big tax and spending bill passed last summer brought some changes to the tax code. Are there any in there that your average non-tax expert person might not know about that can help them?

Lisa Greene-Lewis: Two out of five Americans said they knew nothing about the tax law, but what they need to know, there's deductions for if you have a profession that earns qualified tips, if you work overtime, there's deductions for people that are 65 and over, or even if you have kids and are self-employed.

Ben-Achour: There's tax deductions, and then there are tax credits. Can you explain the difference between those two?

Greene-Lewis: A credit is more valuable because it's a dollar-for-dollar reduction of the taxes you owe. So, say you owed $1,000, and you had a credit of $1,000, that's going to wipe out everything you owe. A deduction, that reduces your taxable income, and then your tax savings is based on your tax rate.

Ben-Achour: Are there any deductions or tax credits that went away?

Greene-Lewis: Yes, so one of them is the personal exemption, and that was an exemption you would get for yourself, as well as your kids. There's actually some credits that went away. So energy efficient credits, those expired at the end of Dec. 31, 2025, and then also electric vehicles, if you didn't purchase an electric vehicle by Sept. 30, 2025, you will not be able to get the electric vehicle credit any longer.

Ben-Achour: Overall, what's your advice for people who want to make sure they're not leaving money on the table when they do their taxes this year?

Greene-Lewis: I would say, you want to make sure that you first gather everything in one place, so you don't leave anything out, documents and forms that report your income, like W-2 and 1099, and then also those receipts for deductible items or that are related to credits. You want to have them all together. And then I would say, just don't wait until the last minute.