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Is filing on time that hard? I'm serious, why is an extension to file the most requested form? I don't get it, especially if you are getting a refund.
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@Tuuurd_Ferguson: People with income abroad usually request an extension. I'm not sure if it's the same form. Foreign income paperwork might be on a different timetable or take time to collect, so you need extra time.
@Tuuurd_Ferguson: I plan on buying a house this year, before Dec 1, and want to claim the credit for my '08 taxes. That means either filing and then amending or just getting an extention. Since I would owe a couple hundred without the credit, it just makes more sense for me to extend until I get the house.
I imagine that most folks planning on buying between 4/15 and 12/1 are going to go the extension route this year.
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@Tuuurd_Ferguson: Well, in my case my father took seriously ill very suddenly (like, ten days ago) and I'm going to have to do his taxes. It will take me some time to get his paperwork together, so I'm filing for an extension in his name.
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@Tuuurd_Ferguson: We didn't get our mortgage 1098 until late March -- because of the deadline extension until the end of February, we didn't get all our 1099s until the first week of March, and only then did we realize that the mortgage lender either hadn't sent the 1098 or it had gotten lost in the mail.
That REALLY delayed our ability to get certain sections of the forms filled out, and by the time the form finally came, I was 7 1/2 months pregnant and in the last three weeks of a political campaign that culminated in an April 7 election, while my husband was panickedly working on two simultaneous litigation deadlines. Our final compilation JUST got to our CPA (i.e., my father-in-law) today (two-day priority mail my ass). I think I mailed everything on the 9th, which I consider pretty good since I had no free time until after the election on the 7th and then spent two solid days with my phone ringing constantly.
So yeah. We filed the extension this year. And we're due a refund.
Had we gotten all the forms on time, we probably would have filed on time, but we didn't, so we didn't.
@Tuuurd_Ferguson: B/c someone else is being a pain in getting you information? You have to hunt down some records from one of the many companies that have gone under? Information got lost, needs to be replaced? Etc...
@undefined: My CPA gets extremely busy during tax time and generally files extensions for all of his clients who are due refunds.
@Tuuurd_Ferguson: Depends on your circumstances. My business partner and I usually have to file extensions. You have all the regular 1040 stuff and on top of that you have all the S corporation stuff, estimated payments etc. etc. It usually takes a while to get all that figured out, especially when you have to account for receivables, depreciation, etc.
@Canino: I can understand some small businesses needing more time. My question was more for the individual taxpayer. As wgrune says, I too am just curious, I think my original post sounded a little harsh.
@Tuuurd_Ferguson: I don't understand it either.
It seems to me knowing that you owe or are going to receive a refund requires that a pretty substantial portion of your 'tax legwork,' as it were, is already done. Why not get it over and done with?
I understand that there are businesses that have difficulty with them due to all the rules, but that's one of the reasons you'd hire a CPA or something to do them for you: handling financials seems like one of those things that's so complex and so fraught with peril that you'd be stupid *not* to have someone else handle it.
Face it: it's not like tax season is a surprise to anyone.
@discordance: I agree a lot of the work is done if you're filing an extension .
I've used them for anything from lazyness to needing consultations . When I use an extension I do them really fast once and use the first set of crude numbers . I do my taxes 3 times to get them right-at a much slower and thorough pace . That's my rule : once I get the same sets of numbers 2-3 times in a row then I consider them done .
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@discordance: Most people who file an extension actually file because they OWE money (ie me two years ago) so its really an extension so you can come up with the money because you or your employer miscalculated on your W-4
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@Yokai Monsters Spook Warfare:
But you still need to send in 90% of your underpayment so how does the extension help. I am not trying to be combative, I am just curious.
@wgrune: Just because you are suppose to send 90% doesn't mean you have to. I am filing an extension because I owe a lot more then I currently have in my bank account. In a few months I will have the money and I will pay the fine. It's not as much as the IRS pretends it is and in the mean time it keeps the IRS off your back
@Yokai Monsters Spook Warfare: That doesn't make sense - since you have to pay 90% of what you owe on time (or you'll start accumulating fines). If you owe $500, you still have to pay $450 by 4/15. I doubt people file an extension simply to \"come up with\" the last 10% most of the time.
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I prefer form 5050. With that form, you send it in, and they spin a big wheel which says if you owe or are owed money, and how much.
But seriously. Just do what I did. I signed up to have my SS# unlisted. Yeah, it's a few extra dollars a month, but it pays off in the end.
@BlueLabCoatWanting_GitEmSteveDave: Vlever, sir. Very clever...