Importance of filing before tax deadline
Living on the Central Coast, we don’t typically get to see and feel all the different seasons the rest of the country does, but one we all share is tax season.
Every tax-paying citizen should already know, Tuesday is the deadline to file your taxes, so if you haven’t done so already, get to it!
The last day to file your taxes is normally April 15th, but seeing as that landed on a Sunday and today is Emacipation Day in Washington DC, this year’s deadline falls on the 17th. What exactly is tax deadline day? It’s the last chance you have to report all income you have made to the IRS, so they can figure out if you overpaid in taxes through the year, granting you that hard-earned refund, or didn’t pay enough, meaning time to fork over some more cash. Filing taxes *online* has become a popular way to get them done over the last few years, but tax experts say going into a specialist could be more beneficial.
“We’re going to look around for deductions for you that you probably didn’t even know you had. You know, some people have a hobby, they don’t realize that this is actually a business that they can covert into a tax deduction. There’s a lot of deductions that we’ll look for that most people aren’t even aware they’re eligible for,” said Lopez Tax Service CEO Carlos Lopez.
Failure to file your taxes by Tuesday can lead to late penalties, interest charges, and, in incredibly late instances, the IRS can garnish your wages or even your bank account. Lopez tells us his company sees people coming in to file all the way until the last possible day. He says they’ll still help you get your taxes done, but it’s advisable to come in well before deadline day to be able to take a little time to look them over and find every possible deduction.
Though it might be too late to tell you now, procrastinating on getting your taxes done is not advised as you might have forgotten to add a form or report something. But to those who haven’t filed yet, just make sure you get them electronically filed or post-marked before the end of Tuesday’s business day.
