Despite the fact that filing your taxes is a requirement, many people find taxes to be confusing and overwhelming. Unfortunately, this mostly leads people to put off their taxes for as long as possible. Although it’s not ideal, it is possible to efficiently fill out your taxes even with a tight deadline.
Whether you are filing for your business, or your individual taxes, we have tips and other helpful information that can simplify your last-minute tax preparations.
Knowing What Documents Are Needed
Regardless of working with a tax professional, you still need to gather all necessary information yourself. Knowing what documents are necessary ahead of time can make the process much simpler. Here’s a general checklist of what you’ll need when filing your taxes.
- The Social Security numbers of yourself, your spouse, and dependents.
- A W-2 form you’ve collected from your job(s) in the past year.
- The 1099 form that documents any money you’ve received from any person or entity aside from your employer.
- Contributions made to your retirement account.
- Property taxes and mortgage interest.
- Any charitable donation you have made.
- State and local taxes that have been paid.
- Educational expenses.
- Unreimbursed medical bills that qualify for tax deductions.
- Federal and state taxes from the previous year.
Even if you are filing your taxes alone, you can still ask a tax professional any questions you have about required paperwork.
Filing For Your Business
As suspected, filing taxes for a business is quite similar to filing individual taxes. However, there are different forms to use depending on how you run your business.
Small businesses mostly use a sole proprietorship, meaning that they report their business earnings and expenses on a Schedule C attachment to their personal tax return. If your business is a corporation or treated as one, you would file a separate tax return, using either a Form 1120 for C-Corporations or Form 1120S for S-Corporations. Multi-member LLCs typically file Form 1065 since they are considered partnerships.
When working with a tax-filing program, you can simply just answer questions that pertain to your business that will lead you to the right forms.
The most important thing to note about business filings is that there are different deadlines for each form. This mostly applies to filing as an S-Corp or partnership, as the due date for those tax forms is typically March 15 rather than April 15.
Extending the Deadline If Necessary
Speaking of deadlines, sometimes you may have to ask for an extension. When you file for an extension, your deadline will automatically be moved to October 16. Keep in mind, though, that you should pay the taxes that you owe as early as you can to avoid any penalties.
If You Owe the IRS Money
Fortunately, there are many options for sending money to the IRS. You can pay electronically, send money via wire transfer, use debit or credit cards, and even use cash if necessary.
If it is not possible for you to fully pay your tax bill by the deadline, there are payment plan options: short-term or long-term plans. It’s important to remember that like most other payment plans, interest and other penalties will accrue until you pay it off.
There is also a fee for signing up for long-term payment plans. However, lower income taxpayers will receive a discount. There are also monetary limits to each payment plan; for the long-term plan, you cannot owe more than $50,000 in combined tax, interest, and penalties, while you cannot owe more than $100,000 for the short-term plan.
If the IRS Owes You Money
If you suspect you’ll be receiving a tax refund this year, you should file your taxes electronically. Typically, it takes the IRS much longer to process paper returns. Therefore, you will receive your refund much quicker if you do it online.
The same can be said for how your refund is sent to your bank account. Having it deposited directly into your bank account will be much quicker than waiting for a check in the mail.
Some Final Thoughts To Note
Lastly, we want to go over some brief things to keep note of when filing taxes that apply to specific situations.
- In the case of divorced families, only one parent can claim their children as dependents.
- If you have recently had a baby, the hospital will likely help you file for a Social Security card right away so you’re ready for tax time.
- Keeping track of your investment gains and losses throughout the year and understanding what will be taxed can make the process much easier for you.
- Unfortunately, there are many scammers who will pose as the IRS to receive money and personal information from their targets. Note that the IRS will never contact you by email, text, or social media about this kind of sensitive information. Learn more about IRS scams.
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