Tax extension question...this is the first year ever....?

Question

Ok...I know I royally screwed up last year. I changed my dependents at the beginning of 2006 to 7 (I was having a hard time and I heard this would help get more money on paycheck) I didn't realize until I went to get my taxes filled out last month that when you do that all year long you will not have any Federal held out on you. I should have only did that for 6 months. When H & R Block told me this I was scared to death. I didn't fill them out then. People I talked to told me to wait until the very last day to file. So that is what I was planning on doing today....well sadly my fiance's aunt passed away yesterday and we have to travel 250 miles one way to go to the funeral this weekend. I will not have the money to file. I called and ask for an extension and they explained to me how to do it but told me if I owe anything it has to be paid before April 17th but how will I now how much I have to pay if I am not filing yet?Also, is there anyway I can get an extension on paying it back?

Ok...Judy, you really didn't have to be such a sarcastic B****. I have always done my taxes as soon as I got my W-2's. I got wrong information and it is my fault for not asking more questions and finding out more info but I trusted a friend and I didn't know it was "cheating" as you called it nor did I know it would cause a problem. Thank you to the other answer.

Answer 1

If you can do it at all, please prepare your tax return and calculate what you owe.
Then attach an installment agreement request form ( http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f9465.pdf ) and ask to pay the tax you owe in installments. It will cost extra - they will charge you interest on this, but at least no penalties, whereas if you just don't file for an extension and owe money, they might charge you both.

Answer 2

Did you really think that if you just claimed more allowances on your W-4 to get less withholding, it wouldn't ever catch up with you? OK, what's done is done.

If you file for an extension, but don't pay whatever you owe by April 17, then they'll charge interest, and possible penalties for underwithholding. That probably wouldn't be a huge sum.

So your question is this.... you cheated on your withholding, and now you owe the extra and can't pay on time, can you just say "sorry" and they'll forgive it? Not very likely.

OK, lecture is over. If you just take the standard deduction and your income is all W-2, if you post the W-2 total wages, amount withheld for federal income tax, and your age and marital status and whether you have any dependents, somebody will probably get back to you within about half an hour with a decent estimate of how much you'll owe, so should send in with by April 17 if you can - if you don't have it to send, it really doesn't matter.

Next year don't try to play games with your taxes, and don't wait until the last minute.

Answer 3

The installment agreement link (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f9465.pdf ) above is correct. You need to know how much you're asking to pay in installments though both for the extension request (Form 4868) and for the installment request (Form 9465). Print out a practice 1040 and estimate the amounts to see how much you expect you'll need to pay. Taking an hour (or less) to estimate the amounts will generally get you very close to where several hours of researching exact amounts will get you--in other words, DON'T be discouraged and fail to estimate for your extension.

If you want to see the effect of changes to your W-4 going forward due to life changes (it sounds like getting married is on the horizon--don't forget to file a new W-4 with married instead of single checked), visit the IRS website and do a search (at the top right of the page) for the "withholding calculator". It's actually quite the useful tool.

Finally, this is not a sarcastic comment, just genuine advice: In the future, only take tax advice from a CPA. Paying for a 1/2 hour of advice is generally cheaper than paying IRS penalties. (Many CPAs won't charge for that 1/2 hour anyway because they like to build good will and generate possible future business.) Note: most H&R Block tax preparers are not CPAs and can prepare a tax return based on what has occurred in the past but not give you advice for the future.

Good luck.

Answer 4

2010 Tax return is due by using April 15, 2011 and in case you record an extension to record your taxes (not pay) you may get an extension to record till October 15, 2011. Wow! you already be attentive to you are able to choose an extension to record your 2010 taxes, guess you're have your 2009 waiting to record. sturdy luck! Now that prepared.

Answer 5

Sadly, no there is not an extension on paying it back.

The worst part you might encounter is a late payment penalty. Do the best you can, try to set up a payment plan.

But please, do file for an extension for time to file....unless your return is ready to go.

You'll also encounter late payment interest as you catch up on your taxes. Whenever my corporate clients have this, I remind them that they would have had to pay interest to a bank for lending. Obviously, that's not the same in your situation but at least interest is easier to swallow than the penalties. (Think of it as borrowing money...)

It might take some time, but you'll get through this. I would suggest fixing your paycheck (use an IRS Form W4) as soon as possible so you can cover your 2007 taxes and do your best to catch up on 2006.

Best of luck.