Deadline Today for Those With IRS Tax Extension

Today is the deadline for those who were granted six-month federal income tax extensions in the Spring to file their taxes.

The Internal Revenue Service has urged taxpayers whose tax-filing extension runs out today to double check their returns for often-overlooked tax benefits and then file their returns electronically using IRS e-file or the Free File system.

According to the IRS, fewer than a third of the 13 million taxpayers who requested an automatic six-month extension this year have yet to file.

IRS Spokesman Mark Green said that the IRS encourage individuals and small businesses to double check their returns for expanded tax benefits, and that IRS e-file and Free File are available only through today for those filing their 2015 returns.

According to Green, the IRS verifies receipt of an e-filed return, and people who file electronically make fewer mistakes.

Of the 147 million returns received by the IRS so far this year, about 87 percent or 128 million have been e-filed.

Also, taxpayers who purchase their own software can also choose to e-file, and most paid tax preparers are now required to file their clients’ returns electronically.

The IRS said everyone can use Free File, either the brand-name software, offered by the IRS’s commercial partners to individuals and families with incomes of $62,000 or less, or online fillable forms, the electronic version of IRS paper forms available to taxpayers at all income levels.

Green also said that taxpayers with extensions should file their returns by today, even if they can’t pay the full amount due.

He said by doing so, taxpayers will avoid the late-filing penalty, normally five percent per month, that would otherwise apply to any unpaid balance after today.

However, he said interest, currently at the rate of four percent per year compounded daily, and late-payment penalties, normally one-half a percent per month, will continue to accrue.

For more information on taxes, visit www.irs.gov.