Tax Extension Center continues its daily series of The Top 100 Reasons to File a Tax Extension. Our goal is to educate taxpayers that filing a tax extension can be a valuable tax season option for you or your business because it saves time, stress, and even money.
Here’s reason #72: you qualify for some federal tax credits (like the housing tax credit) but can’t find good information on how to apply it.
Taxes all by themselves are confusing enough. So confusing that many people pay good money to a professional so they don’t have to deal with it. Mix in special one-time federal programs like the First-Time Homebuyer Credit or the Earned Income Tax Credit and the complexity ratchets up a few notches. All the more reason to hire an accountant.
Those of us who choose to do their taxes on their own really get dealt a curve ball in situations like this where federal tax credits are dealt out to the masses. We have to educate ourselves about the ramifications. That’s tough to do. The information isn’t going to just show up in the mail. It has to be searched for and found. And the source has to be reliable!
This is a perfect example of when a tax extension is a great option for taxpayers. The extra 6 months to file taxes that an extension provides is just what the doctor ordered for people looking for the information they need to file their taxes correctly.
Have you ever filed a tax extension before? Thinking about filing one this year? Whether you are new to extensions or you file one very year, remember that an IRS extension does not give you more time to pay what you owe the IRS. You still need to make your payment by midnight on April 15 (or March 15 for the corporate tax deadline). An extension gives you more time to file the necessary tax forms you’re supposed to file. Failing to make your payment on time could make you subject to tax extension penalties and interest.
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