What Happens If You Don’t File Your Taxes On Time
By · CommentsToday is April 15. For those of you from non-US countries, that probably doesn’t mean much. To us Americans, today is Tax Day, the deadline to file my tax returns.
If you’re working at the last minute then you might be looking for last minute tax tips. Of course, what many people really want to know is what happens if you don’t file your taxes by the deadline and is there anything I can do if I can’t get my taxes done?
The answer, actually, is surprisingly benign. Filing late is a no-no and can result in all kinds of problems, not the least of which are penalties. But, there is a ray of hope. Instead of filing your tax return, file for an extension. One extension is granted automatcially, so all you have to do is send in the form. If you can’t get your taxes done by April 15, then make sure you file your request for extension in its place to avoid penalties, fees, and interest.
If you file for an extension when are your taxes due? October 15th, a full six months later. Whew, big relief eh? You’ll need IRS Form 4688 Filing for an Extension. It has instructions for using the paper form, or other electronic methods.
But, there is a catch. Your TAX RETURNS are given an extension to September, your TAX PAYMENT is not. In other words, if you end up owing money, you still have to pay it by April 15th even if you get an extension. How are you supposed to know how much to pay if you haven’t done the tax return yet? Guess.
Actually, estimate, is the correct answer, and make sure you are on the “over” side, not the “under” side.
For example, if you’ve partially completed your taxes and it looks like you would owe about $2,000 but you haven’t gotten all of your income entered in yet, then send Uncle Sam a check for $3,000, or whatever you are pretty sure will end up being too much. You’ll get the extra back as a refund when you do finally file your income taxes which is an incentive to do them before September.
On the other hand, if it looks like maybe you’ll owe $2,000 and you are positive all of your income is accounted for, it’s just that you aren’t sure about some deductions, then send the IRS the two-grand and see if those deductions work out. If not, no harm, no foul. If so, you’ll get a rebate too.
If you still plan to beat the midnight deadline, make sure you know which, if any, post office in your area will be staying open late to collect tax returns. With budget cutbacks, you can expect the post office to be a little less grand in how many collection locations it leaves open late.
You want to travel, but with the recession, you want to travel cheap, or travel for free. Here is one way to help. United Airlines offers a non-flight way to earn free Milage Plus points without flying that can add up fast and help get you those last miles you need to get a free flight. Its a dining rewards program called United Mileage Plus Dining.
The best part is that it is really easy and you don’t really have to do anything once you set it up.
Basically, you go to Mileage Rewards Dining website and create a Dining Rewards password to go with your United frequent flyer miles number. Then, you register your credit cards with the dining miles rewards program by entering the credit card number, expiration date, and so on.
Once your credit cards are registered, then you earn miles whenever you eat at a participating United Mileage Plus Dining restaurant if you pay with any of the credit cards you registered. That’s it! It couldn’t be any simpler.
You don’t have to remember a coupon, you don’t have to remember to tell the waiter, or give someone your Mileage Rewards number or anything. It’s all electronic behind the scenes. You pay like normal, and voila, free points in your account. As a double bonus, this has nothing to do with the regular credit card rewards points you are earning. So, for example, if you buy dinner with your Capital One Rewards Credit Card, you still earn Capital One No Hassle Miles for the dinner PLUS the United Miles.
For each dollar you spend, you get one free United frequent flyer mile. But, from now until June 30th, you get double points on the Dining Rewards program so that is 2 free miles per dollar spent eating out at restaurants. Depending on the kind of person you are, this can add up to big points. Eat out twice a week at $40 each and that is 160 miles earned per week without flying anywhere!
If you take clients out for meals, try and setup your meetings at restaurants in the program and you can earn points for those meals too. Pretty soon, you’ll be setting up your free vacation.
There is no cost and no charge to register your credit cards, so I registered every credit card I have. I never even look at the list of participating restaurants. I just go out to eat where I want to eat and just by coincidence hit rewards restaurants all the time.
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Important Week for Stock Market Coming Up
By · CommentsThis coming week will be an important one for the stock market. With some analysts calling the recent month long up trend a bottom, investors will be closely watching earnings reports from US companies releasing this week.
Everyone knows that the Q1 2009 news will be bad and that companies probably continue to lose money even today, but the focus will be on what the companies say about the future. Company projections for the rest of the year will determine if Wall Street has been right in predicting an economic turn around and the end of the recession or if the latest rally was nothing more than bottom fishing followed by overly optimistic traders hoping to get in early on the next big up move.
Start your trading machines and keep an eye on the charts because the ride could get bumpy.
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US Government Money Help
By · CommentsHave you ever wondered what a website from the US Government about money and personal finances would look like? Wonder no longer.
The US Financial Literacy and Education Commission (what did that cost?) provides a basic financial resource for investing, saving, retirement planning, mortgages, and even starting a small business, all on mymoney.gov.
I’m not saying anything on there is earth shaking knowledge that you probably didn’t know, but it is always nice to have an unbiased government resource to direct people to whether you are in finance or not. There’s nothing scarier than sending your Grandma to a finance website and just hoping that there are no money scams on there waiting to ambush her.
Check it out.
