It is Tax Day, the federal deadline for filing individual income tax. The IRS expects to receive tens of millions of last minute filings with most of them electronically.
Christopher Miller with the IRS tells KLIN News if you run out of time today and can’t get your returns done, file an extension. Miller says, “An extension gives you an automatic six months to file your tax return, until October 17th this year. It is really easy to get an extension. Just go online to IRS.gov and use our free-file program. Put free-file in the search bar and you get this tax software that will let you file for an extension for free, regardless of your income, and you will get another six months.”
Miller says it is important to remember. An extension to file is not an extension to pay. If you owe the IRS money, it is important to get that amount to together, or as much as you can, and get that to the IRS by the deadline.
Miller says, “We recommend that people still file by the deadline even if they don’t have the money to pay their taxes right now. The failure to file penalty is ten times greater than the failure to pay penalty. We recommend you get your taxes in on time even if you don’t have the money to pay those taxes and get the money to us as quickly as possible or work out an installment agreement with the IRS to pay over time.”
The best way to file so people have the best opportunity at getting their refund as quickly as possible is to e-file.
Miller says 947,000 Nebraskans will file a return this year and 72,000 will file an extension.