If you're pregnant in Georgia, you can now list your unborn child as a dependent on tax returns.

On Monday, the Georgia Department of Revenue released new guidance related to its Living Infants and Fairness Equality (LIFE) Act, which prevents doctors from performing abortions beyond six weeks, with some exceptions.

"In light of the June 24, 2022, U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and the July 20, 2022, 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Sistersong v. Kemp, the Department will recognize any unborn child with a detectable human heartbeat... as eligible for the Georgia individual income tax dependent exemption," the agency said in a press release.

According to the department, a Georgian taxpayer at least six weeks pregnant on or after July 20 through Dec. 31, 2022 can list the embryo as a dependent on next year's taxes.

Those who claim an exemption will receive $3,000 for "each unborn child," the agency said.

The IRS said Monday it would start accepting 2021 federal tax returns on Monday, January 24.

The tax filing deadline this year is Monday, April 18. That's the day by which you must have filed your 2021 individual return and paid any remaining federal income taxes owed for last year.

Normally, the tax-filing deadline is April 15, but this year that is when Emancipation Day will be observed in Washington, D.C. In two states — Massachusetts and Maine — the federal filing deadline will be April 19 due to the observation of Patriots Day on the 18th.

The federal filing deadline will be extended for anyone who files for an automatic 6-month extension. (Note: you will only be granted an extension to file your return. But you will not be given an extension to pay what you owe.)

In addition, the tax filing and payment deadlines will be extended for anyone living in counties declared federal disaster areas due to recent natural calamities.

These include tornado and storm victims in Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee, as well as wildfire victims in Colorado. They will have until May 16, 2022, to file various individual and business tax returns and make their payments. (This IRS page offers a complete listing of who is granted disaster-related tax extensions.)

Those affected taxpayers also will have until May 16 to make 2021 IRA contributions. Everyone else must make their 2021 IRA contributions no later than April 18.

Don't be surprised by delays

While every tax season is busy for the IRS, pandemic-induced backlogs from the past two years coupled with limited funding will make the current tax season even more so.

Treasury officials said in a briefing call Monday that at the start of a normal tax season, the IRS might have 1 million returns backlogged, but the number this year is "several times more."

Last week, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig noted that return processing and tax assistance delays arose as the agency was administering several COVID-19 relief efforts passed by Congress. Those included issuing three rounds of Economic Impact Payments, creating a system to send out advance monthly payments of the Child Tax Credit and making changes to the Earned Income Tax Credit.

"Despite valiant efforts by our employees handling a large portfolio and new responsibilities, we still are working through tax returns filed in 2021 and we are unable to answer an unprecedented number of telephone calls. Simply put, in many areas we are unable to deliver the amount of service and enforcement that our taxpayers and tax system deserves and needs," Rettig said.

One example: Last year, the agency was unable to answer more than two-thirds of the calls it received. That's why tax filers are encouraged to first use the online tools provided on IRS.gov to get answers to their questions before reaching out to the agency directly.

How to ensure you get your refund as quickly as possible

The majority of tax filers are typically owed a refund.

Treasury officials noted that the IRS is likely to deliver your refund within 21 days of receipt — its typical turnaround time — but only if you fill out your return accurately and completely, file it electronically and opt to have your refund delivered through direct deposit.

For anyone expecting a refund due to the Earned Income Tax Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit, the IRS is prohibited by law from issuing it before mid-February in order to give the agency time to stop fraudulent refunds from going out. But affected filers may still file their returns beginning on Jan. 24.

Despite the anticipated frustrations, Rettig noted that the agency is continuing to look for ways to improve. "We want to deliver as much as possible while also protecting the health and safety of our employees and taxpayers."

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. fought for a year and a half to get access to former President Donald Trump’s tax records.

Now, thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, he will soon have them. But what will that mean for the Democrat’s investigation into Trump’s business affairs?

Former prosecutors say the trove of records could give investigators new tools to determine whether Trump lied to lenders or tax officials, before or after he took office.

“Prosecutors look for discrepancies in paperwork. For example, if Trump told the IRS he’s broke and lenders that he’s rich that’s just the type of discrepancy they could build a case around,” said Duncan Levin, a former federal prosecutor who worked on a wide range of white collar cases as Vance’s chief of asset forfeiture.

“These documents are a very important piece of the jigsaw puzzle,” Levin said.

Whether Trump's records will contain evidence of a crime is uncertain. The former president has argued for years that he broke no laws and has been unfairly targeted by Democrats for political reasons.

Here is a look at where the tax records might be helpful, and where they might not help much, in the district attorney's investigation:

___

MORE THAN JUST RETURNS

Trump went to extraordinary lengths to keep his federal income tax returns from becoming public, but those aren’t the only valuable documents included in this haul.

Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, is supposed to turn over not only the final versions of Trump’s tax returns, but also draft versions of those returns and “any and all statements of financial condition, annual statements, periodic financial reports, and independent auditors’ reports” held by the company.

That could give state prosecutors an “open book” into Trump’s finances, said Adam D. Citron, a former state prosecutor and partner at Davidoff Hutcher & Citron. “It’s really the kitchen sink.”

Examining those other documents could be key to determining whether Trump or his companies gave tax authorities different information about his income than they presented to other officials, like banks and business partners.

___

HUSH MONEY

When the district attorney’s investigation first began, one of the initial subpoenas sent to the Trump Organization asked for information about payments Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, arranged to women who had claimed to have had extramarital sexual encounters with Trump.

Cohen has said Trump’s company later reimbursed him for one of those payments, to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels, disguising it in the form of a legal fees.

It isn’t clear, though, whether Trump’s tax records will add much to that part of the probe. The New York Times, which obtained years of Trump’s tax data, wrote that it contained “no new revelations” about the payment to Daniels and didn’t include any itemized payments to Cohen.

___

TAX BREAKS

The district attorney's office has been investigating some of the arrangements Trump made to reduce his tax bill. Data in the returns could be essential in analyzing whether any of those maneuvers crossed legal lines.

One of the breaks under scrutiny is the one that Trump got for donating part of his Seven Springs estate, north of New York City, to a conservation trust. Some experts have questioned whether Trump overvalued the land to get a bigger break than he deserved.

Investigators have already subpoenaed and received many documents related to the land deal. Trump benefited from a similar conservation donation in California.

___

STATEMENTS TO LENDERS

Vance's office hasn't disclosed the full nature of its inquiry. But in court filings, prosecutors have pointed to news articles that questioned whether Trump had chronically exaggerated the value of his assets to banks and insurance companies. The Associated Press reported last month that Vance's office recently interviewed Cohen for hours, asking him, among other things, about Trump’s relationship with Deutsche Bank, his biggest and longest standing creditor.

One Washington Post story cited by prosecutors detailed how various Trump Organization financial disclosures inflated the number of home lots for sale at a California golf course, the acreage at one of his vineyards and the number of stories in Trump Tower while excluding information about debts at his Chicago and Las Vegas hotel projects.

Tax records will only be one tool prosecutors will use to examine whether any of those statements amounted to fraud.

“They're going to look at valuations and property values,” Citron said of state prosecutors. “They'll look at the billings of attorneys to see what their expenses were for.”

Monday's ruling does not ensure the public will see Trump's financial records. For now, they are protected by grand jury secrecy rules. Even if charges are brought in the case, those documents likely would be heavily redacted if filed into the record.

“Even then, I'm sure there will be tons of litigation about that,” Citron said.