It is always a scary ordeal when you know you are not going to be able to meet that April 15th tax deadline. When you know that your taxes are going to be complicated to file, it sometimes makes us procrastinate even more. Many times, try as we might, we just can not get everything ready to file on time. It can be a difficult process, especially when we are going to try and go it alone and get them prepared without using a CPA.
Only the bravest of tax filers that have complicated issues to deal with are crazy enough to do their own taxes without the benefit of a professional tax preparer. CPAs can be very expensive and cost several hundred or even several thousand dollars to hire depending on the complexity of your return. If you do not really know what you are doing, hiring a CPA might be well worth the money anyway.
If you are going to be one of many who will not be prepared to file by the April 15th deadline, you may be eligible to file a tax extension. You must understand that filing an extension does not mean that you have extra time to pay the IRS if you are going to owe them money. This only applies to your paperwork. It is strange how this works, but it is the way it is. This kind of dilemma is one reason that you might need that CPA.
The deadline for filing a tax extension is also April 15th. If your application for an extension has any mistakes, they give you until April 20th to get those in. When you file a tax extension, you will have until October 15th 2008 as your new deadline. If you are not using a CPA, you can visit the official Internal Revenue Service website on the internet to get any information you need as to how to go about filing the forms. This is a great place to go to get free and accurate information.
Whenever possible, it is always better to try and get your taxes filed on time. When you get an extension and it takes you until mid October to get all your tax issues settled, it is not any time at all until you have to start the whole process all over again. Avoid the headache of filing an extension because you waited until the last minute and try to make a habit of keeping your receipts and other tax related information in proper order all year long. It is so much easier to do it this way and even though it requires a little work to do this each month, it is still better than having to go through that last minute headache on April 15th every year.
