The 2022 tax deadline, April 18, 2023, is less than four weeks away. The IRS anticipates that the majority of people will file their taxes at this time. And those who don’t risk getting into a lot of trouble, or not. What will happen if you don’t submit your taxes on time is explained here.
You might not run into any issues if you don’t submit your tax return on time if any of the following items hold true for you.
You reside in a region that has experienced a federally declared disaster.
In order to provide residents of areas affected by federally declared disasters more time to recover and gather the necessary documentation, the federal government frequently extends the deadline for filing taxes. Although the length of the extension can vary, it typically lasts at least one month past the regular tax filing deadline. On the IRS website, you can see a list of all tax extensions that have been given in disaster zones.
You’ve submitted a tax extension.
If they like, individuals can always file their own tax extension. You now have until October 16, 2023 to submit your 2022 taxes. You must complete an application and submit it to the IRS in order to do this.
You should be aware that getting a longer period to file your tax return does not provide you an extension to pay any unpaid taxes you may still owe. You ought to be okay if you anticipate receiving a reimbursement. However, if you owe the IRS money and miss the April payment date, you’ll start to pay the penalties listed below.
You are not required to file taxes.
Federal tax filing is not legally obligatory for everyone. If a person’s income is less than the standard deduction for their age and tax-filing status, they are not required to submit a return. The earnings threshold before having to file a 2022 tax return is displayed in the table below.
It’s important to remember that even if you are not required to file a tax return, you still should. Even though their annual income was below the criteria shown in the table above, those who are eligible for refundable tax credits, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, can gain from filing a return. By doing this, you might receive a refund check that you can use as you like.
failing to pay a fine
The severity of this fine is based on how long your taxes go unpaid. If you didn’t pay enough taxes in 2022, you might owe this. Each month or portion of a month that your taxes are not paid results in a penalty of 0.5% of the outstanding taxes. It won’t go over 25% of your outstanding debt. If you owe both Failure to File and Failure to Pay penalties, your monthly penalties cannot exceed 5% of your overdue tax balance. Depending on how much you owe, the total might potentially reach hundreds of dollars.
How to prevent late filing fees
You should make every effort to file your taxes on the due date in order to avoid penalties and any confrontation with the IRS. You should still file your return even if you anticipate having to pay more taxes than you can afford.
By doing this, you can avoid the Failure to File penalty and reduce your Failure to Pay penalty in half by enrolling in one of the available payment plans. You must arrange for recurring payments from a connected bank account in order to achieve this. This will buy you additional time to make your debt payments without having the IRS show up at your house.