You don’t need to provide a reason why to file the extension.
MADISON (WKOW) — Like it or not, the tax deadline is here, and Americans have until midnight to file their 2022 tax returns.
“This year’s deadline, Tuesday the 18th, cannot be overemphasized as an important milestone in the tax year,” said Mark Steber, the chief tax officer for Jackson Hewitt Tax Services.
Steber points out that if you don’t file your taxes by the deadline without also filing for an extension, you face all sorts of penalties. Right off the bat, you’ll get a failure to file, which is upwards of 25% of any balance that you owe. If you owe taxes, that’s another 25% penalty. The IRS lists out all the penalties you could face on its website.
“The good news is, all you need to do to avoid the failure to file penalty is either file your tax return or a qualified extension,” he said. “Matters not if you owe and pay, that’s the failure to pay penalty.”
If you’re getting a refund, you won’t face that failure to pay penalty if you file for an extension.
Even if you can’t pay, Steber said that the IRS does have a payment plan that can help.
If you do file for an extension, you don’t have to provide a reason why. Filers will have until October 17.
But Steber says people can avoid having to file an extension if they contact a tax professional. He said many of them have extended office hours on Tuesday night to help any last-minute filers.
“At this point, you’re probably in your best interest to seek out a tax professional where we do staff up, expand resources, extra hours, open early, stay open late, just because we enjoy tax season, we recognize the surge,” he said. “The IRS, on the other hand, that’d be a little bit more difficult.”
Steber recommends filing online.
“That’s not simply doing it on a computer, and then printing it and mailing it,” he said. “It is really actually sending the tax return over the internet to the IRS. It’s faster, it’s more accurate, there’s some checks and balances, and it’s certainly safer.”
Steber says if you plan to file Tuesday night, avoid estimating or guessing at the facts and figures on your tax return. Any data that doesn’t match up may delay your refund.
Refunds will likely be smaller this year because of many pandemic-era benefits that are no longer available. Steber says they are down about 10% this year, but since they were up about 10% last year, it about evens out to more pre-pandemic levels.
Here are a few more things you should know if you’re still looking to file.
Steber says it’s never too early to start thinking about next tax season.
“If you didn’t get the refund you wanted, or if you owed and you really didn’t want to do that, consider adjusting your withholding or adjusting your estimated payments,” he said. “You still have plenty of time to get a different result next year.”
And maybe make friends with a tax pro.
“Because at the end of the day, if you leave off of benefit, if you leave off a credit, it stays off forever until you fix it or amend it,” he said. “IRS is not in the business of making sure you get all your money, they’re in the business to make sure they get all their money.”