Last day to file your taxes: Here’s what penalties you can face if you miss the deadline

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) -Millions of Americans have until midnight to file their taxes without being penalized. April 15th has been the deadline to file your taxes for the past 70 years. However, taxpayers got a few extra days with the 15th landing on a Saturday this year.

Mark Steber, a chief tax information officer for Jackson Hewitt spoke with TV20 and told us what penalties you face if you miss the deadline.

“There are really two principally three penalties that you can encounter,” said Steber. “One is the failure to file, just that simple. If you haven’t filed on time you face a penalty up to 25 percent of tax due on top of the tax. Now secondly, if you don’t pay your taxes, which is separate from filing a return of extension, you can have a failure to pay penalty.”

Steber said about 10 million people miss the deadline annually and the IRS reported that in the 2022 tax year, almost 19 million people filed for an extension.”

The IRS allows taxpayers to submit a six-month extension form.

It’s an automatic extension of time to file by automatic, you do have to actually send in the form either paper or electronic but that’s pretty easy to do. You can do it by yourself but it’s better with a pro,” said Steber.

If you owe taxes but can’t afford to pay on time, you can apply for a payment agreement on IRS website. It’s free to apply but may cost a fee for some taxpayers.

Steber says while all these alternatives serve as a great option, the best is to plan ahead.

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