CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- If you're getting ready to work on your income taxes, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise.
The tax reform bill that was signed into law at the end of December 2017 can result in a lower income tax refund, or no refund at all. Some taxpayers may discover they owe for the first time in years. That's because the withholding tables were re-adjusted shortly after the bill was signed into law. Workers may have noticed more take-home pay, but the tradeoff was a lower refund.
Northern Illinois University Associate Professor of Economics Jeremy Groves said that will have an impact the economy because people won't use their refund money to buy big ticket items.
"Especially with big ticket items like automobiles. It will be interesting to see what happens to the quarterly sales in places that specialize in things like household appliances or household remodeling. I think that's where you're going to see a lot of those things just not happen now because people were planning on using that tax refund to fund those things," Groves said.
Groves said one way to avoid a similar surprise next year is to fill out a new W-4 form and readjust the amount witheld from your paycheck.