Tax Question

[ascendinginto]

Question for all you smarties:

Do you have to pay penalities to file your taxes if you don't owe? We always file late and haven't had to in the past, but H&R Block says something different..

Comments

[kairotic]

You can hedge your bets by filing an extension at taxslayer.com (free, I just did it too). I can't imagine why you would have to pay a penalty, though; even if you DO owe, you don't have to pay a penalty unless you've paid less than 90% of your balance due by your extended due date. You just have to pay interest on what you owed.

So what the heck penalty could they charge you?

[ascendinginto]

Tony got me all worried for nothing. I told him they can't charge you a penalty unless you owe, but we don't. I just looked at the irs website and double checked.

Dumb British hubby. ;oP You'd think almost 10 years of filing taxes here and he'd remember these things!

[tigerwillow]

no way do you have to pay a penalty for filing late if you are due a refund. I think that you even get interest on your money if you get a refund. I filed my 2000 taxes in 2003 or something stupid like that, and got an assload of money back.

The penalties start coming if you owe them money and don't file an extension, or go well past your extension deadline, etc.

[70schild]

Even in Canada, if you file late and don't owe, there's no penalty.