HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2024 was quite the year!
The IRS announced that the filing season will officially start on Monday, January 27, 2025. I would however recommend waiting until after January 31st to ensure you have all your tax documents. Most refunds should be within 21 days, however refunds which include Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) will be held until mid February.
In consideration of limited time during the season, I prefer you to upload your docs through SmartVault. I am trying to avoid too many sit down appointments. This will likely be the first year since 2020 that they won’t extend the deadline (yikes) Please log into your SmartVault account (taxesbyrachel.smartvault.com) where you can securely upload your tax documents to me. If you have not activated your account yet, please search your inbox for “SmartVault”- there should be an email inviting you to it. If you forgot your password, there is a reset link. You do not need to schedule an appointment with me unless you want to. If you want to schedule a phone call with me to discuss things, I must have docs at least 3 business days prior to appt. If you prefer to drop off your documents, that is an option too.
I get to know so much about each of you, so I always like to give you a little update on me and my family.
2024 was well, not the best, but still full of many great moments and lots to still be grateful for! The year started busy with lots of cheer events, baseball games and tournaments but then summer came and we were hit with a big challenge! As many of you might already know (especially if we are friends on social media), our middle son Drake was diagnosed with a brain tumor (size of a golf ball) in June 2024. He had a 3.5 hour brain surgery where they luckily were able to remove it completely and the best news of all was that it was benign!! God is good! It was a challenging 3 month recovery, but we are happy to say he is doing amazing and thriving now! He returned to baseball in Sept and has kept us busy with not only baseball, but basketball and flag football too! I will take that sports juggle all day and never complain!
Our daughter, Karlee, just turned 17 in November 2024! She’s a junior in high school and still keeping those great grades (even an AP class) and did sideline cheer. She definitely continues to make us proud. She is the best big sister to both of her brothers.
Our son, Drake, just turned 14. He’s in eighth grade (can’t believe he’s off to high school in August)! I am so proud of this kid! With everything he went through in 2024, he sure is resilient! He continues to excel at travel baseball, OTL, basketball and currently even flag football! He definitely keeps us the busiest, but we absolutely love it! He has such a big heart and of course little brother, Trent, adores his brother and wants to be just like him!
Our son, Trent, will be 7 in March 2025. He makes us laugh daily! He loves being a part of everything and adores his sister and brother. He’s in first grade now and is doing great! He played flag football this year for the first time and did so good! His baseball season is about to start – he gets to go up to the caps division – we can’t wait (although our schedule will be crazy)! We are so thankful to get to do all the little kid things again but he sure is growing up fast!
Donny & I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary last May – time flies when you’re having fun! When I reflect on the last year, it was definitely hard but I still pick the word GRATITUDE – we have so much to be thankful for and I never lose sight of that! I was thankful we could end our 2024 year with a surprise family trip to Cabo – it was just what we needed! I cherish these days with the kids because I know they’ll be grown up and out before we know it! I certainly hope 2024 was fun and manageable for you as well. Mostly, I hope it was full of good health, happiness and success.
I look forward to hearing from you soon!… and as much as I truly appreciate all the referrals over the years, unfortunately I have reached my max and will NOT be accepting new clients this year (until the kids are grown and I can spend even more time at the office instead of the field)!
Rachel