COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The 2023 tax season is officially underway.

The IRS is now accepting returns, and the deadline to file is April 18. But there are some things to consider and changes to be aware of.

“Unfortunately, 2022 is another year of great change in both taxes, people’s lives,” said Mark Steber, chief tax information officer for Jackson Hewitt Tax Services.

Steber said that could change what your refund looks like this year.

“So, there’s a lot of change on the 2022 tax return,” he said. “The least of which was the pullback on some of the credits that were put into place to kind of help people out at the peak of the pandemic.”

The child tax credit, dependent care credit, and earned income credit for singles were all reduced. Additionally, there’s no tax deduction for charitable donations, if you itemize, and there were no stimulus payments in 2022.

“If you’re the same as you were last year, and if nothing else, you enjoyed one or more of those, you may see a smaller credit,” Steber said.

But tax returns and refund amounts vary person-to-person, based on your situation, he said.

“On the other hand, you may have added new things, gone back to school, you or a spouse or a dependent, education credits,” Steber said.

If any of these apply to you, you may qualify for deductions you didn’t before. You may also see some extra cash if you received unemployment benefits in 2020. Here’s how Steber explained it:

“Back in 2021, they changed the law after the year end, retroactive to the prior year. And to your point, they exempt the unemployment from taxation when typically, and even this year, it is taxable.” In layman’s terms, millions of taxpayers paid taxes on their unemployment compensation for 2020 when they didn’t have to.

“So, if you’re due money from unemployment law change, meaning that you got it back in 2020 and you put it on a tax return, you might be due money,” he said.

Steber also said the IRS is working to correct those returns, but if you haven’t received that refund and don’t want to wait on the agency to act, you can amend the return yourself.