National

The Tax Man is Knocking

Tuesday, April 17th is tax day ! The typical tax deadline of April 15th fell on a Sunday, the day would have normally been moved to Monday, April 16th but this year, April 16 is Emancipation Day, a holiday observed in Washington, D.C. Emancipation Day is a holiday set aside to commemorate the 1862 signing of the Emancipation Act by President Abraham Lincoln. Emancipation Day is a legal holiday in D.C. with city workers off the job. So that's why tax day is today!!

If you are twisting and bending a little bit with your taxes, what are the chances you'll get audited? WSB Consumer expert Clark Howard says, "in reality the number of audits going on is way down because of a severe reduction in the number of people working at the IRS."

He says two groups of people are far more subject to an audit than others, business owners and those who make huge amounts of money. "Because historically people who own their own business are more often people who will fudge on reported income and expenses," says Howard. He says people who make a lot of money are also targeted by the IRS. "The IRS goes just where bank robbers do , where the money is and the IRS is much more likely to target you for an audit even if you haven't done anything weird," says Howard.

What if you still haven't done your taxes? If you’re expecting a refund, that’s not a problem, but if you owe money, you’ll have to pay late payment penalties and interest on that amount if don’t pay today. You can file an extension if you don't have your taxes together . The IRS Data Book reveals that in 2017, nearly 16 million taxpayers filed extensions to request additional time to file their returns.

For more info visit: https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/extension-of-time-to-file-your-tax-return

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