 internal revenue service IRS tax news IRS don't miss this important October 17th tax extension deadline honestly you know why they call it a deadline because if you crossed it your body will be nothing more than a horizontal line on the ground like one of those chalk lines you see at a murder scene the IRS looking over your dead linear body saying you crossed the deadline and now you are a deadline well you can't make a deadline out of me IRS I'll tell you what why because my belly's too round I mean I've been trying to make a line out of it for years it's impossible I mean best you could do is make me into a plump hairy speed bump yeah that it may actually be worse now that I think about okay I'll pay I'll pay but honestly I mean can't we lower the bill just a little bit IRS the deadline approaches carrying it's sickle okay okay I'll pay I'll pay why aren't you worried about COVID anymore Phil you were freaking out about it just last week is it because of the vaccine oh I see Phil why would you care about COVID anymore why would I possibly care about the opinion of this pathetic bottom feeder you're now a helicopter the helicopters don't get COVID hey the state of California even changed your birth certificate wow okay here are your fraudulent documents mr. Nahasa Pima pedal on your US passport social security card with certificate and your death certificate yeah I totally understand Phil now you're much more afraid of rain than COVID just hold on to that one in your safe deposit box rain leading to rust for you helicopters yeah I just hope to stop COVID California doesn't mandate we all become helicopters I mean I could clearly see that I hereby decree planet Express to be our city's new fire department California hereby declares based on gender animal and inanimate object fluidity theory that all citizens must flow their fluid being missed into that of helicopters but that doesn't make sense am I going mad or did the word fake escape your lips anyways it's just until we flatten the curve even though the curves already flat but whatever anybody who does get COVID clearly did not follow the helicopter mandate and will thereby be arrested honestly I don't think we're in good hands here Phil sorry sir doing my best who made that man a gunner I are 2022-175 October 7 2022 Washington the internal revenue service today reminds taxpayers who requested an extension to file their 2021 tax return to do so by Monday October 17th that is once again Monday October 17th while October 17th is the last day for most people to file a form 1040 to avoid late filing penalty those who still need to file should do so as soon as possible so obviously our goal as taxpayers has tried to avoid the sticks of penalties and interest so we want to be filing by the October 17th deadline in order to do so so if they have their information ready there's no need to wait clearly from the IRS's perspective they would like to have people filing as soon as possible so they can kind of my assumption would be that they would like to get through the backlog of these returns that are going to be going in for the returns on extension before they get into the next filing season for 2022 so the earlier the better from the IRS's perspective so they can you know get through their backlog that they have so however some taxpayers may have additional time they include members of the military and others serving in a combat zone so if your life's at risk in your in a combat zone the IRS will be gracious enough possibly to have an extension of time even beyond like normal extension time they typically have 180 days after they leave the combat zone to file returns and pay any taxes due the IRS calls special attention to people hit by recent national disasters including Hurricane Ian so if you're currently in your home as your home floats away off into the ocean the IRS may be gracious enough also to give you an extension in that situation taxpayers with an IRS address of record in areas covered by the federal emergency management agency disaster declaration in Missouri Kentucky that the Island of St. Crocs in the U.S. Virgin Islands and members of the tribal nation of the Salt River I'm gonna mispronounce his Pima Marie Kaba Indian community have until November 15th 2022 to file various individual and business tax returns taxpayers in Florida Puerto Rico North Carolina South Carolina parts of Alaska and hence can have County Mississippi have until February 15th 2023 this list continues to be updated regularly potentially affected taxpayers by recent storms should visit that disaster relief page there's a link to that disaster relief page here so you could check out if you believe that you might be subject to an extension due to that disaster relief you could see the updated list here there'll be a link to this in the description it's on irs.gov for the latest information irs free file and other resources now remember that the irs has this kind of deal with third-party preparers to allow people to have a free file if their income is below a certain threshold which is a great deal especially these days because the tax code has been changing from year to year more so than it has in the past and the complexity of the tax returns especially for low income individuals has been changing a lot as they kind of change the refundable credits so actually lower income tax returns have become more complex so you really would like to not have to do your tax return by hand you would like to be using some kind of software or have a tax preparer helping you with it and so you could get access to the software here you really want to do that before the extension not just because you'll be subject to the sticks of the iris hitting you with late penalties and so on but also because you might not have access to the software after that point in time which will make filing after that point in time more difficult I think this is the last date in other words that the iris can kind of strong arm these third-party companies to actually provide their software for free for individuals with income below a certain threshold so you got the link to it it's irs free file here available to any person or family with an adjusted gross income agi of seventy three thousand dollars or less in two thousand twenty one leading tax software providers make their online products available for free taxpayers can use irs free file to claim the child tax credit the earned income tax credit and other important credits irs free file fillable forms there's a link to that here is available for taxpayers whose two thousand twenty one agi is greater than seventy three thousand now notice if your income is greater than seventy three thousand usually that used to mean that your tax return is going to be more complex because generally more income would generally come along with more complexity in the tax preparation although these days note that the low income side of things are going to be subject to a lot a lot of those refundable credit rules so those can actually be more complex sometimes but once you get above a certain threshold of income your tax returns also become more complex and you also might have more needs such as planning needs so you might want to at that point in time be working with a tax professional that you're going to be sticking with for some time into the future to help you out with not just the tax preparation but those planning needs I wouldn't I and at the very least you might want to then fill out your tax returns with the use of tax software rather than the free fillable forms because that's kind of like filling out the tax returns by hand which again the tax code's been changing a lot for the last couple years more than normal and more becoming more complex in some ways so I would think the use of tax software would be a good tool that you'd want to be putting into place so in any case and so if you're comfortable preparing their own tax return so there's a free option for everyone I think the iris just points that option out because the iris likes to claim that there's a free option for everyone and there is but again most people that would like to use software because it's going to help you to limit any errors in file properly but online account provides information to help file an accurate return including advanced child tax credit and earn impact payment amounts there's a link to that here your online account is becoming more and more important which is kind of good because that you would think that the IRS login information and the account information should be secure they should be able to do it in a secure way similar to how most people kind of deal with their financial institutions these days and use the online resources for that but as the as that happens as people can get access more readily to their online accounts it also allows the iris to do some more complicated things as they have been doing giving out these prepayments and whatnot which actually makes this whole tax process a little bit more complicated in general so there's pros and cons every time the technology advances something to make say tax preparation easier what ends up happening is of course the iris wants more information they want more stuff so and any case you got a GI amounts from last year's tax return estimated tax payment amounts and refunds applied as a credit you could find some of that stuff on your account so taxpayers can also get answers to many tax law questions by using the irs's interactive tasks assistant tools so if you got a tax law question you can check that tool out there's a link to it here additionally taxpayers can view tax information in several languages by clicking the English tab located on irs.gov home page schedule federal tax payments electronically so you can just pay them electronically here the iris loves that it's probably the easiest thing to do at the same time taxpayers can file now and schedule their federal tax payments up to October 17th due date they can pay online by phone or with their mobile device and the irs to go app so if you're out like on a roller coaster or something and you just you could just pull out your iris to go app and pay the irs while you're while you're doing that although I don't think the rules usually allow you to do that but I mean theoretically you can do that that's the cool way to do it I don't have the app yet but I might get it I might get the app when paying federal taxes electronically taxpayers should remember electronic payment options there's a link to that here are the optimal way to make tax payments so the irs likes the electronic tax payments and they're probably are the easiest way to make payment they can pay when they file electronically using tax software online if using a tax preparer taxpayers should ask the preparer to make tax payments through an electronic funds withdrawal from a bank account so most tax software has the capacity to do that although you'll have to give them your banking information to do that online account and irs direct pay allow taxpayers to pay online directly from a checking or savings account for free so note that's still a pretty easy option as well so if you if you don't want to give them or put into the tax software your banking information you could go onto irs direct pay onto the website and so on and pay that way which is pretty easy and you can still check your accounts it's still an electronic payment in essence and so on so you could schedule payments up to 365 days in advance that way taxpayers should be aware they will need to create an account to use online account services so clearly you know not you have to have an account in order to use your account online you got to create one so choices to pay with a credit card a debit card or digital wallet options are available through payment processors so you could use a credit card although you might have credit card fees to pay with a credit card the payment processor not the irs charges a fee for these services the irs to go mobile app provides mobile friendly payment options including direct pay and debit or credit card payments so that's the cool way to pay the irs I think a lot of people actually do that it still seems a little unusual to me to do the taxes on the phone but you know maybe that's maybe that's the best option people a lot of people have so in the case the irs to go app is available for payments as well you got the electronic federal tax payment system that's the EFTPS there's a link to that here is convenient safe and easy says the IRS choose to pay online or by phone using the EFTPS voice response system EFTPS payments must be scheduled by 8 p.m. Eastern time at least one calendar day before the tax due date so there's links to all that kind of stuff here and so you could check it out especially get get access to that tax software if you haven't filed make sure you get the payment in before the deadline so you don't get hit with the sticks of the irs penalties and interest and so that you don't lose access to the free software that makes the tax filing much easier