What is the mid year deadline for tax refund?

Question

I am aware that April 15th is the 'negligent' deadline for those who must legally file a return. However in the event someone does not NEED to file(low income), do they still HAVE to file by the 15th to receive their entitled tax refund(s)?

Been having a tough time finding pertinent information on an official document about this.

Answer 1

If you owe tax and don't file on time, the total late–filing penalty is usually four and one-half percent of the tax owed for each month, or part of a month, that your return is late up to five months. If your return is over 60 days late, the minimum penalty for late filing is the smaller of $100 or 100 percent of the tax owed.

There is no penalty for failure to file a tax return if a refund is due. But by waiting too long to file, you can lose your refund. In order to receive a refund, the return must be filed within 3 years of the due date. If you file a return, and later realize you made an error on the return, the deadline for claiming any refund due is three years after the return was filed, or two years after the tax was paid, whichever expires later.

Answer 2

The filing deadline for everyone is April 17, 2007 for tax year 2006. If you are due a refund, there is no penalty for late filing since the penalty is based upon any balance due the IRS with the return.

You have 3 years from the filing deadline to claim any refund due. This would make the technical filing deadline for a tax year 2006 return showing a refund due to the taxpayer April 15, 2010. If you didn't file by then, you'd lose the right to the refund forever.

The risk of filing late, aside from the fact that you could lose your refund if you're REALLY lazy, is that the tax year remains "open" until a return is filed unless your income is lower than the filing requirement amount ($8,450 in wages for a Single taxpayer who is not the dependent of another taxpayer). An "open" tax year can be reviewed by the IRS at any time, even 30 years down the road, since the Statute of Limitations (3 year) clock doesn't start ticking until the later of the filing deadline or the date the return is filed.

Answer 3

No---if you are getting a refund you do not have to file by April 17th (new date this year) in order to receive your refund-although that is legally the filing date for everyone. Actually, you can back track up to 3 years and still file and get a refund if it is due you. One year when my husband was in school and we were taking care of my grandmother and getting a small salary for that, we did not file thinking it was unneccessary based on our living conditions and income, ect. However, the next year we realized that had we filed, that we would of received a refund! So, we filed our current years tax return and then filed the previous year as well, and there was no problem at all and we ended up getting our refund from the year before!