Tax day is here and millions are behind.
As tax day closes in more Americans have waited to the last minute to pay ol' Uncle Sam. In fact, we're seeing a 24 percent increase surge in late filings than one year ago which equates to approximately 4 million people who are filing late. Some point to a new law that delayed refunds for some filers as the reason for this tax season's slow start, others say that online tax filing is also to blame. The convenience allows users to put it off until the very last minute, which many elect to do.
“You can just sit in your pajamas or your underwear and use TurboTax,” Brad Smith, chief executive of parent company Intuit Inc., said in a recent interview with Bloomberg News. “You just hit send by 11:59 p.m. and you’re good.”
However, the procrastination is creating a logistical nightmare for electronic tax filing companies. CEO of Credit Karma Kenneth Lin admits they over-estimated the amount of demand for their product, “We don’t know,” Lin said last month. “We over-invested in anticipation." Others like TurboTax reckon that the end of the season is an "all hands on deck" mindset with Intuit – the company that owns TurboTax – working the call centers for the last few days helping take customer calls.
Still, millions of people miss the mark and must file for an extension. It makes sense if you owe the IRS money or don't have your affairs completely in order, yet you still are obligated to pay any money you owe by April 18.
If you never get around to it, you'll join the six percent of U.S. taxpayers who don't file at all, which is obviously not a good idea. The IRS uses computers to analyze billions of tax records and will look for missing filings as well as unreported income. Most of us leave a paper trail, and it won't be hard for the IRS to find you.
How are you feeling about tax day? We want to know, let us know your tax day wins or woes in the comments below!
