There are two outcomes if you miss the filing deadline of April 15th for tax season. One is nothing, the other is a penalty. It all depends if you owe money or not. If you are owed a refund by the IRS, the only thing you have to be concerned about is the statute of limitations for the return. In the event that you owe, a penalty accrues that has to be paid when you file.
If you are owed a refund on your taxes, you have until April 15th, 2017, or October 15th, 2017 with an extension to file. In the event you fail to file by these dates, you forfeit your refund to the U.S. Treasury.
The penalties for filing late when you owe depends on how you filed. If you owe and didn’t file a return or an extension by April 15th, you will incur a late filing penalty. The penalty is 5 percent of the taxes owed for every month your return is late, reaching a maximum of 25 percent. In the event you filed and didn’t pay what was owed, you incur a late payment penalty of 0.5 percent on what you owed. This amount can go up to a maximum of 25 percent as well.
For more information about how you can avoid tax penalties, contact the Phocus Companies in Phoenix, AZ, and talk to an expert today!
