Finance Tax Time

Yes, the tax season is upon with the first filing date for
some businesses being March 15, 2005. If you can’t imagine
getting your tax returns together by that date, you need not
worry. The IRS automatically gives you an extension if your
file the appropriate form. As you might expect, there are
different forms for different businesses.

An Important Note

It is vitally important that you understand that an
extension to file taxes is not an extension to PAY taxes.
The IRS will give you a break on the filing date, but it
wants the money now! If you anticipate that you will owe
taxes, you need to send in the appropriate payment. Failure
to do so could result in interest charges when you
eventually get around to filing your returns.

Corporations

If you conduct business as a corporation with a fiscal
year-end of December 31st, you are required to file your
2004 tax returns on or before March 15, 2005. You can get an
automatic extension, however, by filing form 7004 before the
March 15 deadline. Form 7004 applies both to “C” and “S”
corporations and grants you an automatic 6-month extension
to September 15, 2005.

While this automatic extension applies to “S” corporations,
you should be aware of a quirk in the tax code. Since “S”
corporations “pass through” taxes to your personal returns,
the six-month extension is really only a five-month
extension. To file your personal tax returns, you must
report information from the K-1 issued from the “S”
corporation. Unfortunately, the IRS only grants automatic
extensions for filing personal tax returns to August 15,
2005.

Limited Liability Company

The IRS has never really figured out to how to handle
limited liability companies. It has settled on a policy of
avoiding the issue and simply treating the entity as a
corporation or partnership.

Limited liability companies with more than one owner
typically elect to be treated as partnerships for tax
purposes. If this describes your situation, the LLC is
required to file tax returns by April 15, 2005. You can
obtain a 3-month extension by filing form 8736. Although
form 8736 contains language regarding partnerships, you will
still use this form since the IRS classifies you as a
partnership for tax purposes.

If you are the sole owner of an LLC, you may be in for a
surprise. The IRS doesn’t recognize LLCs owned by one
person. Instead, it simply considers you a sole proprietor
and the rules for sole proprietorships apply. These are
discussed below.

Partnership

If your business is a partnership, you are required to file
tax returns by April 15, 2005. You can use form 8736 to
obtain a 3-month extension.

Self-Employed/Sole-Proprietor

If you are not using a business entity, your business tax
information should be reported on your personal tax return.
The due date for filing your personal tax returns is April
15, 2005. You can obtain a four-month extension by filing
form 4868.

Summary

Regardless of how your business is organized, the IRS will
automatically grant you an extension to file your tax
returns. By sending in the appropriate form, you can avoid a
mad rush that will inevitably result in missing deductions
and overpaying your taxes. Just make sure you pay any taxes
you anticipate owing by the appropriate date.

Richard A. Chapo is with http://www.businesstaxrecovery.com - recovery of business taxes through tax help and tax relief. Visit http://www.businesstaxrecovery.com/articles to read more business tax articles.

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The magic tax date of April 15th has passed. If you did not file a tax return or extension request, you need to consider the following.

Didn’t File Anything with the IRS on April 15th?

The Internal Revenue Service is a bit touchy about filing tax returns. It would prefer you to file a return or extension to doing nothing, even if you cannot pay. If worse comes to worse, the IRS will simply put you on a payment plan. Failing to file anything, however, can lead too more unwanted attention from the agency than you could possible want to receive.

In general, you should always try to pay your taxes whenever possible. Failure to do so can lead to brutal penalties and interest charges. If the IRS thinks you are up to something funny, the penalties and interest can add up to 25 percent of your tax bill. That is a big chunk of change!

If you are due a refund, but just did not get around to filing your taxes, you do not have to worry about penalties and interest. There are none since you are owed money. That being said, are you nuts? Why would you give the government an interest free loan? What could you be using that money for in your daily life? Get off the couch and get a return filed so you can get your money back. For obvious reasons, few people let refunds sit at the IRS. If you are insanely lazy, keep in mind you will lose the refunds if you do not claim them within three years of the original filing date. Frankly, you deserve to if you are that lazy!

If you owe taxes and do not have the cash, there may be an alternative you can use. To the surprise of many, the IRS accepts credit cards as a payment method. With high interest rates, credit cards are not a great option. On the other hand, credit card companies cannot audit you!

The IRS understands that a certain percentage of taxpayers may not be able to pay all of their taxes. The key to keeping the agency off your back is to file the return even if you cannot pay.

Richard A. Chapo is with BusinessTaxRecovery.com - providing information on taxes.

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Preparing your income taxes can seem challenging, but it doesn’t have to be. Millions of people are using tax websites to prepare and file their income tax return online.

By preparing and filing your tax return online you will, avoid the work involved in doing everything by hand, save the cost of paid tax preparation, and you’ll get your tax refund much faster.

Filing online will allow you to get your tax refund in as little as 10 days (according to the IRS)

If you’re still preparing your taxes with pen and paper, you may be surprised to learn that an estimated 70 million tax returns will be filed electronically in 2007. Such trends show the growing popularity of preparing and filing income tax returns online.

There are several good reasons to prepare and file your taxes online

• If you expect a refund check, filing online is a great option. The IRS can process your return and issue tax refunds much sooner than if you mailed a paper return.

• Preparing and filing directly from your computer will cost you much less than going to a tax professional, and way less than going to a CPA.

• By using your computer, your forms will be much more legible than anything you could hand-write, which will help cut down on possible errors.

Join the millions of people who have discovered how easy, online tax filing can be. The cost will be much less, your tax forms will get to the IRS with no hand-written errors, and you’ll get your tax refund in as little as 10 days.

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