When Do You File Your Tax Return? (Trivia)

[Midpack]

I've always done my Fed and State income taxes in early Feb. If I have a refund coming, I file as soon as I'm certain I have everything and it's all correct. However, I deliberately plan to owe so more often than not I have waited to file "amount due" a few days before the mid Apr deadline. It appears from the graph below, somewhat bimodal, others follow the same filing thought process. Obviously procrastinators fall in the last few weeks, along with those who plan to wait.

When I was young and stupid, I filed late thinking the IRS would be so swamped with returns they had less chance of auditing. I see now that probably wasn't the case anyway. Now I file late because I'm waiting on first quarter dividends to pay estimated taxes.

Too soon old, too late smart...

About one in five tax filers waits until the last two weeks before the filing deadline to file their taxes.

"We process about a third of all volume in April," said a spokesperson for the Internal Revenue Service. That includes the people who file extensions in April and the return itself later in the year.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

2nd. week in April as we ALWAYS owe money back to the IRS.

 

[gerntz]

When K-1's don't arrive till March, hard to file in January, even February.

And how does one know what info is correct? Just received a correct 1099-DIV from Schwab.

 

[geeky_grrl]

I used to do my taxes pretty early (as soon as I got all the forms - usually early Feb.). I've gotten so many amended 1099s in the past few years I'm waiting until mid-March hoping all the forms I've gotten are accurate by then.

 

[Ronstar]

Most years I file in April after coming back from Arizona for the winter. Usually in the first week of April. No longer a snowbird, I emailed my CPA this past Monday to see if could drop off my stuff to him on Tuesday. No return email Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. So I googled his name to see if he retired. Nope - He died this past Sunday or Monday from a heart attack. 55 yo.

So I've lined up a new cpa. Can't get in until April 1.

 

[Midpack]

2nd. week in April as we ALWAYS owe money back to the IRS.

I ALWAYS plan on owing the IRS and State, but I've been wrong a couple times when we had big changes in our $ picture and/or tax law changes - and had a small refund. I have a $116 IRS refund this year, but our taxes were the most complex we've seen in many years.

 

[kgtest]

Depends. I am still accumulating. If I end up oweing a small amount I wait until the 15th... true for Fed and State...if it's known that I will get a small refund I file it the day all my forms are available. That was around Feb 6th I think this year. Money was deposited by the 12th less than a week later.

 

[gwraigty]

Mid-to-late Feb., shortly after the brokerage 1099's are in.

 

[dixonge]

One big reason to not wait: fraud.

If someone files a fraudulent return in your name before you've filed yours, YOU have to set about proving you are the real you and filling out oodles of paperwork. I ended up using a taxpayer advocate to help cut red tape. My refund was delayed about a year.

 

[cathy63]

... I deliberately plan to owe so more often than not I have waited to file "amount due" a few days before the mid Apr deadline...

2nd. week in April as we ALWAYS owe money back to the IRS.

... If I end up oweing a small amount I wait until the 15th... true for Fed and State...if it's known that I will get a small refund I file it the day all my forms are available...

Are you all mailing in paper returns? If you e-file, you can send in your return early in the season and schedule to have your payment direct debited on April 15. You can also e-file now and mail in your payment later.

 

[kgtest]

Are you all mailing in paper returns? If you e-file, you can send in your return early in the season and schedule to have your payment direct debited on April 15. You can also e-file now and mail in your payment later.

I totally forgot you can file and delay the payment.

 

[vince]

Filled already, and the IRS kindly returned my overpayment.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Are you all mailing in paper returns? If you e-file, you can send in your return early in the season and schedule to have your payment direct debited on April 15. You can also e-file now and mail in your payment later.

Yes, we know.... BUT we would rather pay my ~$2500 at the last minute. FYI I always have my Taxes done by mid to the end of January (When all our relevant paperwork comes in), but hang on to it till the 2nd week in April. We always pay by direct debit.

 

[Midpack]

Are you all mailing in paper returns? If you e-file, you can send in your return early in the season and schedule to have your payment direct debited on April 15. You can also e-file now and mail in your payment later.

I eFile Fed, but I snail mail state because I refuse to pay a fee to do so. Has to be easier for them than paper so why charge? States should make eFile free and charge a fee for paper these days?

 

[easysurfer]

When I was w*rking, I used to file early to get the chore done and out of the way.

But now I procrastinate until around St. Patrick's day whether I expect a refund or not.

This year, I'm still waiting on my IRS tax filing identity PIN. Looks like that's missing in action so I've have to try to get the PIN online.

 

[scrabbler1]

Because I haven't had any taxes withheld since I ERed in late 2008, I have total control over how much of the tax bill I pay throughout the year in estimated taxes and what is left over in April. Most years, I make an estimated tax payment only in the 4th qtr and the rest in April.


When I file my return depends mostly on how much I owe in April. Most of the time, it is at least several hundred dollars so I don't mail in the return until I get my monthly dividends a few days into April. This is despite having put together my returns in late February and am just waiting to make sure there are no revised 1099s lurking out there to much things up.


This time, though, I had more of the money available to pay my tax bill in early January, so I made a bigger 4th qtr estimated tax back then so I don't owe much in April, around $100 total between federal and state. So, I don't have to wait for my early April dividends to arrive. I'll send out my returns some time in mid-to-late March.


The last time I got a refund was back in ~2005, when I was still working. I had to file 2 state returns because I worked in another state and filed a non-resident return. The 2 state returns were linked because of the resident credit. That year, I made a mistake on calculating the estimated tax payments among the 2 states so I got a small refund from one while owing the other one more than I expected. I filed the refund state's return in late February.


Getting the ACA subsidy snag straightened out for 2020 means I won't be getting a huge refund due to overpaying the HI premium all year. I may get a refund but I'll probably still owe next year, just not too much. It will probably go back to filing in early April.

 

[OAG]

Last 11 years my taxes Fed and State have been completed, acknowledged by taxing authorities, by the last week of January. Bit OCD about that, maybe.

 

[audreyh1]

It’s been late March recently when we got all our info, so that’s when we file. We may be able to do it a little earlier this year. Maybe mid-March.

I always schedule the payment for April 15.

 

[euro]

When K-1's don't arrive till March, hard to file in January, even February.

.

Same here. I NEVER have all the necessary documents before early April, if that. Probably more often than not, I have to file for extension because one or more K1 or 1099 are still missing by the deadline. Have been trying to slowly weed out the more notorious outfits, but I'm quite sure it'll be April again this year before the last one trickles in.

 

[LOL!]

We file in October. That is, we always get an extension. It doesn't matter to us if we are getting a refund or not. I even don't care about fraud because that's not my problem, but it might be an IRS problem.

Here's a trick about a refund: Since we apply any refund to our next year's tax liability, we simply make sure any paycheck withholding already takes that into account. For instance, paychecks have had $0.00 withheld so far this year.

 

[dvalley]

I just filed yesterday, and got a nice little surprise in the form of a decent sized refund. I know it's better to owe a little but there's something about finding money you didn't know about. I'll be putting it towards a house project that's been on the back burner for a while.

 

[donheff]

DW’s K1 comes in mid March and state data at the beginning of April so we file at the 11th hour. Next year it will be a 1099R do maybe earlier.

 

[davebarnes]

I file the day after my annual meeting with my tax prep guy. Been going to the same small firm for 40 years.

 

[unclemick]

2nd. week in April as we ALWAYS owe money back to the IRS.

and usually State also.

heh heh heh -

 

[Scuba]

April, because we usually owe money and we have to wait for K-1’s.