This post continues Tax Extension Center’s daily series of The Top 100 Reasons to File a Tax Extension. In this series of posts, we’re doing our part to educate taxpayers how 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 #97: the IRS deserves to wait as long as possible for putting you through this process every year!
I talk to a lot of people this time of year that are extremely frustrated about their tax filing situation. Most are mad because it’s close to the deadline and they haven’t done anything to file their taxes yet. And who do they blame? The IRS of course.
And the resentment towards the IRS is actually a fairly common reason why people file a tax extension. Certain people just don’t want to give the government the satisfaction of filing on time.
I’m not a lawyer or a CPA or anything, but I will say that it’s probably not a great idea to be openly subordinate to the IRS. That being said, if that’s your reason for filing an extension…more power to you. You actually don’t need a reason. Tax extensions are automatic.
The key thing to remember is that doing nothing is the biggest mistake you can make. It opens up the possibilities to late filing penalties and red flags you for possible audit. The least you should do is file that extension. Then you can work out your grudge against Uncle Sam for an extra 6 months.
Whether you are new to filing a tax extension or you are one of the 15 million individuals and businesses that file one every year, there’s one very important thing to remember: income tax extensions do not give you more time to pay what you owe the IRS for income taxes. You are still responsible for paying what you owe by midnight on April 15 (or March 15 for the corporate taxes). 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.
If you have any thoughts, comments, or questions about tax extensions let me know in the comment section below.
