Retirement Daily’s Robert Powell caught up with Jeffrey Levine, CPA and tax pro from Buckingham Strategic Wealth Partners to provide some tips for taxpayers who requested an extension to file their 2021 tax return.
TurboTax Live experts look out for you. Expert help your way: get help as you go, or hand your taxes off. You can talk live to tax experts online for unlimited answers and advice OR, have a dedicated tax expert do your taxes for you, so you can be confident in your tax return. Enjoy up to an additional $20 off when you get started with TurboTax Live.
Recommended Read: Understanding Tax Extensions
Tips for Those Who Requested an ExtensionKnow that an extension of time to file is not an extension of time to payOrganize your documents and get them to your tax professional as soon as possibleIf you file quarterly tax payments, you are responsible for your previous year’s tax liability and continuing to make estimated tax paymentsQuotes| Tips for Taxpayers Who Requested an Extension Jeffrey Levine, Chief Planning Officer, Buckingham Strategic Wealth Jeffrey Levine, Chief Planning Officer, Buckingham Strategic WealthVideo Transcript| Jeffrey Levine, CPA and Tax Expert, Buckingham Strategic WealthRobert Powell: Are you among the millions of taxpayers who requested an extension to file your 2021 tax return? Well, here to talk tax tips with me about that topic is Jeffrey Levine from Buckingham Wealth Partners. Jeffrey, what can these folks do?
Recommended Read: How to File a Tax Extension
Jeffrey Levine: Well, those folks include me. So the first thing is making sure that you know that an extension of time to file is not an extension of time to pay. All too often, people who have not filed an extension before don’t realize that. And then they end up having a significant amount of either interest and/or penalties when they ultimately pay that tax bill. So, if you haven’t paid already, pay that as soon as possible. Stop the penalties and interest from accruing.
Beyond that, I would also say that as human beings, we tend to push off and delay things, and sometimes people file their extension, and all of a sudden, they look up and it’s October 14. And they’re panicking because they’ve got one day left and you can’t file another extension. You can’t go beyond that. So if you are on an extension right now try to get your things together, for many folks, summer tends to be a slower time, with more vacation time, and a little bit of time away. Take a few hours out of that freedom you have and put your stuff together. Get it to your tax professional as soon as possible. This way, you can get this done and off your plate and spend your time and brainpower focusing on things you might enjoy a little bit more.
Robert Powell: So if by chance you also file quarterly estimated tax payments, filing an extension doesn’t mean you don’t have to file those quarterly estimated either. Is that right?
Jeffrey Levine: That’s right, you must both pay for your previous year’s tax liability, as well as continue to make your estimated taxes. And what can be a little bit of a challenge there is that many people make their current year estimated tax payments based on the previous year’s taxes. And if you haven’t filed last year’s return, you may not know exactly what that is. So you’re back to the guessing game once again.
Editor’s Note: The content was reviewed for tax accuracy by a TurboTax CPA expert.
Zach Faulds contributed to the writing of this article and produced the video and/or the graphics associated with it.