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BUSINESS Thursday 10 december 2020
Like everything else 2020, taxes will be like no other year

By SARAH SKIDMORE SELL states may allow people to
AP Personal Finance Writer deduct unreimbursed em-
It's the time of year to start ployee expenses though.
thinking about taxes — but For those who might be
the upcoming filing season able to claim this expense,
is going to be a bit trickier Greene-Lewis reminds peo-
for many Americans due to ple that the home office
rampant unemployment, must be used "exclusively
working from home and and regularly as your princi-
general upheaval due to pal place of business." That
COVID-19. means the table where
Here are a few pandemic your kids do homework or
specific conditions — good family eats dinner does not
and bad — to be aware of. count.
___ Another big issue is for
UNEMPLOYMENT those who relocated or
Unemployment benefits moved during the pan-
are taxable income, which demic, which could com-
tax experts say may surprise plicate where they need to
some filers. report and pay state taxes,
Workers are not required Pyron said.
to have federal taxes with- This July 24, 2018, file photo shows a portion of the 1040 U.S. Individual Income Tax Return form. Workers may need to file
held from their benefit pay- Associated Press taxes in multiple states.
ments. While people have The rules vary by state but
the option to have the tax the earned income tax prepaid debit card. has since fallen in 2020 and it is critical that people
withheld, many do not. credit or child and depen- That money is not taxable. made you eligible, you also check the new state's tax
It's worth noting that unem- dent care credit, said Lisa However, what many peo- can get the payment via resources for more details,
ployment benefits are all Greene-Lewis, a CPA and ple do not realize is that this credit. said Jeremiah Barlow, the
subject to federal taxes but tax expert at TurboTax. The the money they received ___ head of family wealth ser-
not all states tax it. size of some credits may is actually an advanced WORKING FROM HOME vices at Mercer Advisors.
Taxpayers who uninten- also change based on in- payment on the Recovery Working from home be- It's likely that they will have
tionally do not include un- come. Rebate Credit for 2020 tax came the norm in 2020 for two part-year state returns
employment income on ___ filers, said Dina Pyron, Glob- many people, but most to file, one for the old state
their taxes could face a RELIEF CHECKS al TaxChat Leader at Ernst won't likely be able to claim and one for the new, Bar-
tax bill, penalties or inter- As part of the CARES Act, a & Young. expenses for their new low said.
est charged by the IRS, relief package passed ear- As such, people who did work-from-home setup. If people are hoping to
said Mark Steber, Jackson ly in the pandemic, millions not receive their payment The home-office deduc- lower their tax burden by
Hewitt's chief tax informa- of Americans were given or only got a partial pay- tion can only be taken by claiming residence in the
tion officer. payments of $1,200 per ment can resolve this issue businesses or the self-em- state with a lower tax rate,
The drop in income from adult and $500 per child. on their 2020 taxes when ployed. The tax law enact- he urges them to tread
job loss could mean some At last count, the IRS said they file. If you were over- ed in late 2017 did away cautiously.
households are eligible 160 million payments total- paid, you will not owe. with the ability of employ- "States can be aggressive
for deductions and cred- ing about $270 billion have Also, if you did not get a ees to claim any unreim- about auditing taxpayers
its that they did not qual- been delivered by direct relief check because your bursed employee expens- who claim they're no longer
ify for in the past, such as deposit, paper check or income was too high, but it es, at least until 2025. Some residents," Barlow said.q

Boeing 737 Max back in air 2 years after grounded by crashes

By DIANE JEANTET with several daily flights be- In all, 346 people died.
Associated Press tween São Paulo and other Brazil's aviation regula-
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — major Brazilian cities. tor lifted its restrictions on
Commercial flights with Customers will be able to the 737 Max in November,
Boeing 737 Max jetliners re- exchange their tickets if clearing the way for the
sumed Wednesday for the they don't want to fly on plane to resume flights in
first time since they were a 737 Max, a Gol spokes- Latin America's biggest
grounded worldwide fol- person told The Associated country.
lowing two deadly acci- Press in an email. Similar restrictions have
dents nearly two years ago. Gol, the country's largest been lifted in the U.S. and
Brazil's Gol Airlines became airline with 36 million pas- Europe, where commercial
the first in the world to re- sengers annually, owns airline flights with the plane
turn the planes to its active seven 737 Max aircraft, ac- are expected to resume
fleet, using a 737 MAX 8 on cording to Cirium. It is the soon, likely starting with
a flight from Sao Paulo to only Brazilian company American Airlines on Dec.
Porto Alegre, according to with the model in its fleet. 29.
flightradar24.com. The Boeing plane was "The MAX is one of the most
The company own an- grounded globally in efficient aircraft in aviation A Gol Airlines Boeing 737 Max plane approaches to land at
nouncement didn't specify March 2019, shortly after a history and the only one the international airport in Guarulhos, near Sao Paulo, Brazil,
the route of the flight. 737 Max crashed in Ethio- to undergo a complete Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020.
Gol is set to start regular ser- pia. A prior crash in Indo- recertification process," Associated Press
vice on Dec. 18, according nesia involving the model Gol's chief executive of-
to aviation data firm Cirium, occurred in October 2018. ficer, Paulo Kakinoff, said in a statement earlier this week.q