IRS Reminds Taxpayers of October 15 Deadlines

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

04 October 2010

The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is warning about the approaching October 15 deadline for individual taxpayers who requested an extension to file their 2009 tax returns, and for small non-profit organizations at risk of losing their tax-exempt status because they have not filed the required forms in the last three years.

“The October 15 deadline is particularly important this year because it’s the last chance for many small charities to comply with the law under the one-time relief programme the IRS announced in July,” said IRS Commissioner, Doug Shulman. “And as always, it’s an important deadline for taxpayers who took an extension to file their returns.”

The IRS expects to receive as many as 10m tax returns from taxpayers who requested a six-month extension to file their returns. It encourages taxpayers to e-file as that could result in a faster refund than by using a paper return. Electronic returns also have fewer errors than paper returns.

October 15 is the last day to take advantage of e-file and the Free File programme. The Free File programme provides free federal income tax preparation and electronic filing for eligible taxpayers through a partnership between the IRS and the Free File Alliance, a group of private sector tax software companies.

The IRS also points out small non-profit organizations are at risk of losing their tax-exempt status if they failed to file the required returns for 2007, 2008 and 2009, but can preserve their status by filing returns by October 15 under a one-time relief programme.

The IRS has posted on its website the names and last-known addresses of these at-risk organizations, along with guidance about how to come back into compliance. The organizations on the list have return due dates between May 17 and October 15, 2010, but the IRS has no record that they filed the required returns for any of the past three years.

In addition, with little more than three months remaining in the calendar year, individual taxpayers are encouraged to double check their federal withholding now to make sure they are having enough taxes taken out of their pay.

“Now is a good time to make sure your employer is withholding the proper amount,” Shulman said. “If you face a shortfall in your federal withholding, there is still time left in the year to make up the difference.”

As was the case in 2009, taxpayers who wind up owing tax because too little was taken out of their pay during this year, may qualify for special relief on a penalty that sometimes applies. However, failure to adjust withholding could result in potentially smaller refunds or, in limited instances, may cause a taxpayer to owe tax rather than receive a refund next year.

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