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IRON MOUNTAIN -- Valerie Carpenter of Hamilton Roger Accounting and Tax has been preparing personal taxes since 1998, and every year it seems the season has started sooner than the last.

This is especially true with people trying to get every penny from their tax refund.

"The biggest advantage, of course, is to get your refund earlier, and actually quite a few of our clients are seeing bigger refunds this year because of enhanced and new credits that are available,” said Carpenter.  “People will call way ahead of time to schedule their appointments, and the minute they get their W-2s, they're in here to get their taxes done."

Iron Mountain resident Vern Hixon got his W-2 in the mail at the beginning of January and filed his taxes right away.  He even did it online to speed up the process further.

"I wanted the money back in my account as fast as possible,” said Hixon.  “I did my taxes online last year and had really good luck with it and did it again this year, and it was a really quick turnaround time."

Hixon is expecting his rebate check within 10 business days.  Carpenter said she expects this trend of early tax filings to continue because people want their refunds as fast as possible.

"They come in earlier and earlier every year because probably they have access to more of their own information over the computer,” she said.  “Everything is computerized so the W-2s and 1099s are coming out earlier and earlier."