The IRS
received over 99 million tax returns and issued more than 77 million in refunds
through April 3, 2015, with the average refund amount being $2,800. If you haven’t
yet filed your tax return or paid your taxes, you should act now to avoid
penalties. Here is how:
If you
cannot file your tax return by April 15, you can request a tax-filing extension.
You can do that by using the IRS Free File on irs.gov. This is a free service that provides you with an automatic
extension of six months to file (until Oct. 15) on Form 4868. By filing this
form, you avoid the late-payment penalty of 5 percent.
When filing
for an extension, pay as much of your tax liability as you can to avoid the
late-payment penalty of 0.5 percent. Even if you can only pay a small part of
your tax bill, you must file your return. Any payments made with an extension
request will reduce or eliminate interest and late-payment penalties. The
failure-to-pay penalty is 0.5 percent per month and the interest rate is 3
percent per year, compounded daily.
Apart from
free file, you can request an extension through a return preparer, tax-preparation
software, or by filing Form 4868.
To pay your
taxes, you may use the IRS Direct Pay facility or any other electronic payment
option and pay your estimated tax liability by April 15.
If you owe
taxes after filing season, you can set up a payment agreement with the IRS. If
you owe $50,000 or less in back taxes (including penalties and interest), you
may use the Online Payment Agreement feature on the IRS site to spread your
payments over up to 72 months. If not, you can choose from a variety of payment
agreements from the IRS, such as an Installment Agreement and Offer in
Compromise, to resolve your back taxes.