Tax returns may frighten even the best of us when the deadline is near. But this year is the season to relax, keeping your worries at bay. There are reasons for submitting the returns late and still keeping the penalties away!
With the deadline for submitting IRS tax returns extended to April 18th, 2017 this year, you are in luck! It’s still not late to file your returns.
Do You Need To File Your Tax Return?
Before you panic over your taxes, be sure you need to submit the tax return. Under certain conditions, filing taxes is not necessary.
Consider your age as well, since being over or under 65 impacts your requirement to file.
Don’t file if you have no income. You also don’t need to file if your income falls below minimum brackets. If you’re single and under 65, you file if you earn over $10,350. If you file jointly, you file if you earn over $20,700.
Dependents also can’t claim their exemptions regardless of age. When their earned income is more than the standard deduction for a single taxpayer ($6,300), they will still receive a return.
No Penalties
Not sending in your tax returns translates to penalties. You’ll be charged 5{ed162fdde9fdc472551df9f31f04601345edf7e4eff6ea93114402690d8fa616} of what you owe when you don’t submit by the due date of filing of the tax return. Being 60 days late will get you at least a $135 late filing fee.
If you don’t owe anything though, there aren’t any penalties for not filing. Being owed a refund also means that you won’t be charged a late filing fee.
Please Give An Extension!
Talk to the IRS right away if you haven’t filed but still need to. The time you have left might not be enough time, so ask for an extension.
An automatic six-month extension is given to anyone who asks when filing a federal tax return. This pushes the due date until October 16th. This way you can avoid penalties.
I Still Want My Refund!
Even if you haven’t needed to file taxes for the past three years, you can still get a refund. You can get the money you pay as a federal tax back.
For up to three years since your original due date, you can still get your refund. This means that if you haven’t filed yet, try next year or ask for your extension.
Late Refunds
Not filing yet, won’t make a huge impact as you might think. You may even have a friend who submitted in January and is still waiting to get his refund.
The IRS can’t always give out refunds fast. Part of this has to do with form issues, like errors, incomplete forms, or further review.
Claims filed before February 15th for an Earned Income Tax Credit, or an Additional Child Tax Credit will also take longer. Form 8379 for Injured Spouse Allocation can take up to 14 weeks to process.
On average, however, 21 days is usually how long you’ll have to wait regardless of when you file your tax return.
Filing tax returns need not always be stressful, you might even get lucky sometimes!
Primary Keyword: Tax returns
LSI Keywords:
Variants: IRS tax returns, federal tax return, submit the tax return, file your tax return, sending in your tax returns, filing of the tax return
Antonyms and Synonyms: refunds, extension, penalties, taxes, file your taxes, returns, submit taxes, filing
Links:
https://www.irs.gov/refunds/tax-season-refund-frequently-asked-questions
https://www.efile.com/tax-day-deadlines/
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch01.html
http://budgeting.thenest.com/need-file-tax-extension-dont-owe-26243.html
