Tax Extension?
 

Has anyone ever requested a Federal tax extension? If so, the way I understand it is you have a small % added on to the amount you owe, plus additional % very month its late. How do you account for this extra amount owed? Do you send the amount you owe for income tax, and they request additional payment, or do they add it on to next years taxes? I plan to call my local office Monday, but was wondering if anyone has ever done this, and knows about it. My state taxes ended up being about 4x what I estimated, and my next paycheck will be 2 days late of April 15th :facepalm: I'm just a wee bit short. Taxes killed me this year.

Will you have enough with the paycheck? Just mail it on the 15th. By the time they get the check and process it the funds should be there. That said, I would guess bouncing a check to the IRS wouldn't be pretty.

Yeah, I had that thought too, but I dunno if I want to chance it.

Extension means you submit your taxes late. However, you MUST file for said extension by the 15th or you pay large fines.

You can file on time, and pay later. This is different. What it is is you make a "payment plan" for the taxes you owe. Sounds to me this is what you want.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure that you file on time. That way you won't be penalized for late filing as well. Once they get it, trust me, they will send you a bill for the amount owed with penalties. It's not nearly as bad as people make it out to be. The horror stories that you hear about are when people don't file or intentionally cheat on their taxes to avoid have to pay at all. There will be a late fee for you, but it's not as bad as the fees you would pay if you file late and pay late. If it were me, I would mail it on the latest possible day and enclose a check. If you'll have the cash in the account within a couple of days you'll be fine.

Well, how I understand it from the IRS website is if you file late without filing for an extension, its only 5% per month, up to 25%.

If I were to go ahead and file, do I just send the paperwork minus the payment? Then they will send me something requesting the payment?

FILE your taxes on time, no exception. Don't send money, you'll receive a bill, which will prompt you to pay or call for payment options. From what you're explaining, you'll be able to just pay it soon as you get the bill.

Also, I pay like every year and it takes them about 3+wks on avg to cash my checks, I can't promise that they wont cash it before, but I can say that in 6yrs it's never happened to me.

You have payment plan options, and though they make it sound like %/fee is alot, its not. Its not much at all.

I owed like almost 5k one yr and was strapped so took me like 9mos to pay and I think it was less than $200 IIRC in fees/%. Wouldve been less if I paid earlier obviously.

IMO the IRS was actually pretty accomodating which I wasn't expecting.

Hope this helps

(thanks for reminding me to call accountant as the 15th is drawing near!)