April 15th. Is there a day that makes American groan more? Yep, it is the annual tax filing deadline. Oh, the fun. If you have been procrastinating on your return, here is what you need to know. The good news is you have a few extra days to file in 2007. The tax code is based on business days. Any deadline that falls on a weekend is automatically bumped to the following Monday. That is the case this year, so you have to the 17th to file. Last minute filers tend to fall into two categories. They either knuckle down and get it over with or throw up their hands and file an extension for more time. Form 4868 is the filing you need to make if you want to extend. To the surprise of many, the IRS has a pretty lax attitude towards April 15th. It gives extensions without a problem. In fact, just filing form 4868 will get you an automatic extension until October to get your return in. There is something important to understand about your automatic extension. It is only an extension to file. You still are required to pay all the money you owe. Failure to do so will lead to the assessment of penalties and interest when you finally do file. Nothing is worse then preparing your return and then realizing you don't have enough money to pay the amount due. This leads to quandary and massive headache. Is there any potential relief? The first option is not to file. Instead, you can wait till you have the money to pay Uncle Sam. This is generally not a good idea since you will accrue penalties and interest on the entire amount due. Not filing a tax return sends up red flags at the IRS. To avoid this, you should file regardless of whether you can cover the amount due. Send in your return as well as the amount you can pay. The IRS will then set you up on a payment plan. Filing even if you can't pay is smart for a few reasons. First, you don't send up red flags at the IRS. Second, you will ultimately pay less then not filing. You will still pay penalties and interest on what you owe, but the amount will be less because you made at least a partial payment. Assuming you are ready to file and have the money, how do you go about actually making payment? Most just send in a check made out to the United States Treasury. The IRS now also allows credit card payments. Visit the agency online to find an approved vendor. Many people are happy to learn they are actually due a refund on their taxes. If you fall into this group, you might want to know when the heavenly money will be coming. Visit the site for the IRS and follow the link on the home page. I proudly admit to being a procrastinator. If you are like me, D-Day is here. Perhaps we should call it T-Day.
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