WASHINGTON – The U.S. Internal Revenue Service offers several tips for those who have not yet filed their 2007 federal tax returns, due by midnight this Tuesday, April 15. State taxes also are due April 15.
(The U.S. Postal Service’s Corliss Park Station, 24 Corliss St., Providence, 02904, will be open until 9 p.m. on April 15. For more information, call the U.S. Postal Service at (800) ASK-USPS or visit www.USPS.com.)
“If your adjusted gross income was $54,000 or less in 2007, you can use Free File to prepare and e-file your taxes online,” the agency says on its Web site. Free online preparation and filing of federal returns is available to 70 percent of U.S. taxpayers through the IRS-sponsored service.
“Taxpayers can speed their receipt of their Economic Stimulus Payment by choosing IRS e-file and direct deposit, and by filing by the due date,” the IRS says.
This year’s special stimulus check will be paid and calculated separately from taxpayers’ refund or amount due, the agency notes. The government will begin sending the payments in May to more than 130 million households nationwide. Families may receive as much as $600 per adult and $300 per eligible child younger than 17.
To be eligible, residents must have a Social Security number; must have eligible income of at least $3,000; and must file a 2007 federal return. For those who are filing only to receive this year’s stimulus check – such as retired, disabled or low-wage workers who do not usually need to file a tax form – the federal return is due by Oct. 15.
Those who are required to file a federal return, but who cannot meet tonight’s deadline, should file a Form 4868 to obtain a six-month extension, the IRS says. The extension request must be postmarked or e-filed by midnight tonight – those who miss the deadline may face a failure-to-file penalty – and should be accompanied by a payment for the estimated amount due. But some of the companies in the Free File program also offer free filing of extension requests, the IRS notes.
Taxpayers “also can minimize possible interest assessments and late filing or late payment penalties by filing and paying by the due date,” the IRS notes, adding: “If you owe tax but cannot pay the full amount, you should pay as much as you can by the April 15 due date, in order to minimize any interest and penalty charges.”
The agency now offers electronic payment options, including charging tax payments and fees (at an additional cost) via American Express, MasterCard, Visa or Discover cards.
It also “is willing to allow extensions of time to pay, in order to assist in tax-debt repayment, [though] interest and certain penalties may apply.” Taxpayers who qualify to pay back taxes within 30 to 120 days “generally will pay less in penalties and interest than if the debt were repaid through an installment agreement,” the IRS notes.
By Friday, April 4, the IRS had received 96.82 million forms, 9.3 percent more than by the same time a year ago, and had processed 90.06 million, a 6.9-percent increase. The number of refunds issued by that point in this tax season rose 2.1 percent to 75.14 million, while their total amount rose 5.1 percent to $183.04 billion. Visits to IRS.gov were 21.1-percent higher than a year ago.
Additional information – and federal tax forms, including requests for an installment agreement, payment extension or six-month filing extension – is available from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service at www.irs.gov.
State tax forms and information are available from the R.I. Division of Taxation at www.tax.ri.gov and from the Mass. Department of Revenue at www.mass.gov.
