Weblog (or Blog)

Kiplinger's Personal Finance web site has an April 6 article entitled Filing My Taxes Early Cost Me My Stimulus Check. It's a technically accurate headline, but I hate headlines that are clearly designed as "click bait," worded to play on current fears to entice someone to check out the article. This one plays on the current concern about ensuring that you receive your fair share of the individual checks the U.S. government will be sending out ("the stimulus check"). Why do I feel as if this headline is "click bait"? Because it only tells one side of the story. Filing your taxes early could result in your getting a stimulus check that you would not have gotten otherwise. If your 2018 income was more than your 2019 income and you file early, your eligibility for a check will be based on your lower 2019 income. The author of the Kiplinger article just happened to have a higher 2019 income. His article does explain all the possible outcomes of when you file relative to the level of income in 2018 and 2019. But a fairer headline would have been, When You File Your 2019 Taxes May Affect Your CARES Stimulus Check.