Missed the Tax Deadline - Now What?

Sometimes, people need more time to file their taxes. And, luckily for them, there’s an extended tax deadline offered.

What happens, though, if you also miss that deadline? Well, thankfully, you’re not totally out of luck, at least not if you take the right steps.   

Go Ahead and File

When you miss the extended tax deadline, you might think that you’re not allowed to file or that you shouldn’t bother. However, that’s not the case. You should still go ahead and file your taxes as soon as you possibly can. Since the IRS’ E-File service will be closed, you’ll have to print out and mail in your tax returns instead.

Will You Owe a Penalty?

Once you file, if the IRS owes you money- a refund- then you won’t have to worry about being charged a penalty.

This will only come into play if you owe money to the IRS. In that case, you may be charged a failure to file penalty, a failure to pay penalty, and/or interest.

What about Hardships?

In some cases, the reasons that people miss filing deadlines are understandable or out of their control. If this describes your situation and you can prove it to the IRS, you may be able to escape some or all of these penalties.

This is especially true if you were a victim of a federally-declared natural disaster, in which case an exemption may already be built-in for you.

No matter what, the worst thing you can do is to ignore the situation. It won’t go away, and, in fact, it’s likely to get worse if you don’t take action. File your taxes and, if you think you’ll be charged a penalty, contact a tax professional to learn more about your options.