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October 15, ready or not.

October 15, 2009

October 15 is a big day in the tax world. Today is the final day to file extended 1040s. If you aren't filing electronically, go to the post office and use Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested, unless you trust the IRS and the Postal Service much more than I do.

It's also the last day to file for the federal offshore reporting amnesty. The TaxProf and Peter Pappas have more on this.

As much as I hate extended returns (and I do, with a white-hot blazing fury that can shatter watches and frighten staff accountants and puppies), they are necessary, and sometimes even helpful, as Robert D. Flach explains, and they don't hurt:

There is an “urban tax myth” that extending your return will help to avoid an audit. In my opinion, if you are going to be audited you are going to be audited based on the information reported on the return, regardless of when it is actually submitted.

I can't remember the last time I filed my own return without extending, and I haven't been audited (knock wood). You are much more likely to get examined based on an amended return than an extended one, so if you have to extend to get it right, extend. Just don't wait until October 10 to start trying to put together the correct information.

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