DES MOINES, Iowa — Tax season has arrived, and the IRS expects to process more than 140 million individual tax returns throughout the country this season.

If you haven’t yet filed, there’s some advice from a financial expert to keep it as simple as possible.

“Even though most people have their W-2s by now, there’s a lot of people out there still waiting for their 1099. So at this point in time, what you want to do is as you receive these documents, put them in a file, collect them and then organize them. It will make it much easier as you hand those documents to your tax preparer,” said Loren Merkle, founder of Merkle Retirement Planning.

While tax refunds can provide a financial boost for Americans, scammer activity also increases during filing season. The IRS received nearly 300,000 complaints of identity theft in 2023. But Merkle says there are ways to protect yourself from these scams.

“So it’s important to understand if you’re contacted by what seems to be an IRS agent and you don’t feel comfortable, it doesn’t feel right. Just thank them for the call, hang up and then call the IRS directly,” said Merkle.

The IRS will rarely ask for any immediate payments. The deadline to file your federal income taxes is April 15th. The deadline for filing state taxes in Iowa is April 30^th.