Tag: Washington D.C.

Putting Off Doing Your Taxes

This year many people will once again put off doing their taxes until the proverbial last minute. Many will apply for an automatic extension and file on October 15. Although tax day is normally on April 15, the District of Columbia’s “Emancipation Day” automatically moves the date to April 17. Since this year is also a leap year, that gives us an extra day as well.

While it may tempting with all this extra time to keep putting it off, the best thing to do would be to get started gathering all the forms and paperwork you will need in order to file, including W2’s, 1099’s, K-1’s, and anything else that may be required.

Of course, tax filers are not the only ones who may procrastinate when it comes to tax matters. Last year, not only was tax day on April 18 due to Emancipation Day, but the federal government also gave almost 50 million Americans even longer to file due to a legislative mess created by the last minute enactment of the 2010 Tax Relief Act. It appears that the forms required by the act weren’t quite ready at the time. The IRS Commissioner was not pleased at all and made sure to inform Congress of the headache this caused the IRS.

Nonetheless, federal government incompetence is no excuse for us to put off preparing our tax returns, leap year or not. The sooner you send your return in the sooner you will get any refund you may be owed. In these economic times, who can’t use a little extra money?

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