For the thousands of Iowans who put off the inevitable, it’s now time to pay the piper. And Uncle Sam. Some 46,000 Iowans requested a six-month extension to file their 2006 federal tax returns back in April, and I-R-S spokesman Christopher Miller says they all face a final deadline on Monday.
"Because there’s not a lot of time left, we encourage those taxpayers to e-file, just precisely because it’s fast, accurate, safe and secure," Miller says, "October 15th is the last day taxpayers can e-file or use our free-file program, which allows most people to e-file at no cost." Many people are notorious for waiting until the final hours on April 15th to drop their tax returns in the mailbox, but Miller says procrastinators need to buckle down and finish the job now.
Miller encourages people to get their financial information together now, not to wait until the last minute, and get it all in to the I-R-S by the 15th. So why did so many thousands of Iowans file for the extensions this year? Miller says their reasons are all a little different but many folks simply ran out of time six months ago.
Miller says: "April 15th comes along and they haven’t figured out exactly what deductions or credits they have coming to them and they want to take advantage of all the law allows, so they need a little bit more time to get their paperwork in order. Perhaps they need some mortgage records or some bank records and that has delayed the process." For more information, visit "irs.gov" or call 800-TAX-1040.