April 15th is just around the corner with many people waiting until the last-minute to do their filing, especially when they owe tax.  Those of you that were expecting a refund have probably filed by now.  Times have changed and gone are the days of running off to H & R Block or various tax preparers and having to pay to get your taxes prepared.  The only exceptions are wage earners over a specific dollar amount as well as the self-employed or business owners.  Hopefully you are working with a regular accountant or preparer you can trust if you own your own business.  If not, then please refer to irs.gov for information on tips to help you choose a tax preparer.

There are filing software programs available, but most are no longer needed for the average employee.  There are so many free ways you can file online, at a local IRS office or with various volunteers that make their time available after proper training with VITA and TCE for those who qualify.  For more information regarding free filing please go to the official IRS website, irs.gov and select the type of filing that you will be doing.  Most are wage earners, Individual, but some of you are self-employed or own small businesses of some kind.

ALERT:  A very important tip that many are not aware of is if you elect to file an extension to file, which is an automatic 6 months for individuals and either 5 or 6 months for some business forms or information, there is NEVER an extension on the payment of any tax due.  Refer to irs.gov for more information.  Many people stall filling because they didn’t have proper withholding during the year or did not pay an accurate amount of self-employment or estimated taxes during the year and end up with a balance due.  If this is the only reason you are filing late, don’t even bother.  The reason being is you could end up with additional penalties and interest filing an extended balance due return.

The best way is to file your individual return timely and find a way to send the full amount of the tax, even if you might have to borrow or send your return manually with the form 9465 completed in full attached for the request to pay your tax in installments.  You will end up paying interest to them by doing this, but this prevents any collection action against you in the forms of liens on your property or levies on any wages or bank accounts.  If you owe more than $50,000 in tax then you must also include the form 433-F which is a financial information statement.  Please be sure to state the amount you are able to pay with the request.  If you owe more than $50,000 you will still state what you are able to pay, but your financial information will determine what the IRS thinks you are realistically able to pay at this time.  Sometimes it’s more than the requested amount, sometimes it’s less because they don’t want the taxpayer defaulting on the Agreement by overstating what they can pay.

If you happen to live in an area that is currently designated a Federal Disaster area you may have already received information regarding any extensions for paying or filing in your area.  If not, please refer again to irs.gov for to see if you qualify if you are not working with a tax professional that has this information.

Again, if you find yourself in the ACS Collection area of the IRS or know someone who is.  Please go to Amazon.com to purchase my self-help book that will walk you through the fastest and smoothest way to resolve whatever problems you are having as well as suggestions to prevent future problems and prevent collection action such as liens and levies.  It was written to help the average taxpayer from having to give thousands of dollars to a Tax Specialist that cannot do anything more that they can do with a little knowledge.  And this is not even taking into consideration the number of so-called tax specialists that are either incompetent or down-right frauds.  In the past I have worked with thousands of taxpayers that were taken to the cleaners by so-called tax experts.

For the time being, I can no longer offer “Don’t Mess With The IRS An Unauthorized Customer Service Guide to Resolving Your ACS Collection Issues.”

I will be posting additional Federal Tax information soon because there is too much to cover for one blog post.