If you are panicking about filing your taxes, then this is your lucky year. Because of Emancipation Day, an April 16 holiday celebrated in Washington, D.C., that marks the abolition of slavery in the region, you will find yourself with a little bit of a tax extension. Because the honorable holiday occurs on a Saturday this year, it will be celebrated the Friday before. That’s right! April 15, which means three extra days for all of you last-minute filers.
But what if an extra three days aren’t enough?
To start, ask yourself: “Why can’t I get my taxes filed by the deadline?”
There are two common responses to this question:
1) “I am still waiting on a tax document/facing some other kind of difficulty that is preventing me from filing.”
If this is the case, then be sure to file an extension with the IRS. An extension can give you extra time to receive and prepare pertinent tax documents. Just be sure to file the necessary paperwork by April 18 (the magic Tax Day deadline).
2) “I know I will owe taxes and I can’t afford to pay.”
If you are stalling to file because you are expecting a large tax bill, you are not alone. In fact, we’ve seen this again and again with high-profile celebrities (think Iggy Azalea, Wesley Snipes, and Nicolas Cage). Often, errors in accounting, bad advice or the unsteady income of someone who is self-employed or running their own business are to blame for large tax bills. However, the IRS isn’t concerned with the reason, they are focused on collecting the bill.
So what do I do if I can’t pay what I owe?
The worst thing you can possibly do is ignore the problem. The longer you let your taxes go unpaid, the larger that bill will grow (and it will grow rapidly). Instead of owing $10,000, you may be slapped with a tax bill five times (or more) that size.
If you’ve found yourself in a situation where you are living in fear of the IRS, give Direct Tax Relief a call immediately at 1-877-505-4829. Our tax attorneys can take over the fight for you and get your tax debt issues resolved once and for all.