As the Internal Revenue Service mentions, approximately a quarter of Americans wait until the last two weeks before the deadline to prepare and file their income tax report. If you are part of that 25% of the population, there are only two possible routes of action, either get around it and prepare your taxes before Monday or request an extension. This way, you will be able to avoid failing to report on time, which would represent getting fines and interests when you finally come around it. Whichever you might choose, we have prepared some important last-minute tax tips you should keep in mind before the deadline arrives.  

Regardless of when we are preparing our tax returns, we must remember that organization is a key element of this important process. It will help us save time and money as we know where every receipt and useful paper are. Keep all your receipts in one place, including those for purchases, payments, business expenses, healthcare, and education. Also, make sure you have all the forms you need, such as Form W-2, which shows your earnings and taxes withheld by your employer.

Whenever we are running low on time, filing our tax returns online is the best way to take advantage of every single minute. This is the most convenient, accurate, and accessible way to file your income tax, and since 1990, almost 1 billion people have filed their taxes electronically. Besides, the vast majority of taxpayers actually file this way, either by themselves or with the assistance of a professional tax preparer. Besides the advantage of accuracy, filing our tax online can also mean a faster refund. 

It is not uncommon to make easily avoidable mistakes when we are preparing our tax return, especially when working against the clock trying to have everything ready. So, make sure you don’t end up overlooking any of these errors since even the simplest one can cause a delay in our refund. The most common tax mistakes include math errors, which can be prevented using a calculator or any tax software, writing our Social Security Number incorrectly, and even forgetting to sing a form. Keep your eyes open and proofread everything.  

With less than a week in the calendar before the deadline is here, having an alternative might be the best route to take for some. If we believe won’t be able to make it to April 15^th, considering an extension request could work out for us. When we apply for an extension, this means that we have until October 15^th to finish preparing our taxes. However, we must remember that an extension does not grant us more time to pay our owed taxes, so we still need to cover our balance by April. If we were looking for a payment extension, we should contact the IRS and request a payment plan instead.