For the majority of people who pay taxes, April 15th is the last day you can file your return. If you are owed a refund from the IRS you will not incur a penalty for filing late. Though if you end up owing money at the end of the tax year and you do not file or pay on time you will have late charges and interest added to the amount you owe the IRS. It make it very important to make any tax payments on time as these fees can add up quickly. The IRS levies two different penalties if you file late and owe money; a failure to pay penalty and a failure to file penalty.
The failure for filing can be just about 10 times more than the failure to not pay penalty, so if you are unable to pay your taxes on time it is still smart to have them filed before the deadline. A taxpayer is able to pay as much as they can to the IRS and file their return on time to avoid the penalty for failure to file. Generally the IRS will help you with payment arrangements for any taxes that you owe. You can visit the IRS website at irs.gov and use the Online Payment Agreement tool to help arrange payments.
Penalty for Failure to File
You have up until 60 day after the tax deadline to file your taxes, the penalty for not filing is either 100% of the amount you owe in taxes of $135, whichever one is lower. If you do not file by that time the penalty is 5% of the taxes that you owe every month or part of the month that you’re filing is late. The penalty does cap out at 25% of your total unpaid balance.
Penalty for Failure to Pay
Failure to pay your taxes owed will lead to a penalty of .5% of the balance owed every month for as long as the taxes remain unpaid, and will be assessed the day after the taxes are due. Just like the failure to file penalty there is a maximum amount of 25% worth of fees. If you happen to incur both penalties in the same month the maximum charged is 5%.
If you filed for an extension for your tax return and owe less than 10% of your total taxes you may not have penalties levied against you. The new due date will be the date all the taxes owed will have to be paid, but any taxes owed after April 15th will be subject to all interest charges.
