What happens if you mail taxes late

If you missed the tax deadline but are due a refund there is no penalty. The government is happy to hold on to your money, interest-free, for a bit longer. In fact, you have up to three years from the filing deadline to complete a return and get that refund.

This is especially true if you get a Premium Tax Credit to help pay for insurance. More bad news: you will be charged failure-to-file and failure-to-pay penalties for missing the deadline.

Ok, that might not seem like great news. The return we prepare for you our proposed assessment will lead to a tax bill, which, if unpaid, will trigger the collection process. This can include such actions as a levy on your wages or bank account or the filing of a notice of federal tax lien. If you need wage and income information to help prepare a past due return, complete Form T, Request for Transcript of Tax Return , and check the box on line 8.

You can also contact your employer or payer of income. If you need information from a prior year tax return, use Get Transcript to request a return or account transcript. If you received a notice, you should send us a copy of the past due return to the indicated address.

More In File. Claim a Refund You risk losing your refund if you don't file your return. Protect Social Security Benefits If you are self-employed and do not file your federal income tax return, any self-employment income you earned will not be reported to the Social Security Administration and you will not receive credits toward Social Security retirement or disability benefits.

Avoid Issues Obtaining Loans Loan approvals may be delayed if you don't file your return. But they'll rack up 0. Some Americans will receive automatic extensions , including those affected by the winter storms that hit Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana in February Residents of those states have until June 15, to file their taxes.

If you expect to receive a tax refund, there is no punishment for not filing your federal return, but you are depriving yourself of the funds that the IRS has set aside for you. However, Steber says that late filers should be aware of their home state's tax code. File your previous year return as soon as possible. Regardless if you miss your refund, you should consider filing a previous year return even if you will not get a tax refund. Here at eFile. Prepare and e-file your returns on eFile.

Prepare, eFile your Tax Return Now. Prepare, file your Tax Return on paper. The failure-to-file penalty amount will be reduced by the amount you owe for failure-to-pay penalty for any month that both penalties apply. If you do not pay the full amount you owe by the tax deadline, even if you file an extension , you will be assessed a penalty of 0. If you do not pay your full balance due, you will also owe interest on the unpaid amount. The interest rate is set quarterly by the federal government.

In general, you will not face penalties, but you must file a return to claim your tax refund. You will have 3 years from the original due date or until April 15, to file a Tax Return and claim your tax refund. After April 15, , you can no longer claim your refund and the money goes to the U.

Information about unclaimed tax refunds. What Next? Prepare and e-file a tax return through eFile. After October 15, , you will need to manually prepare and file your tax return via mail. You DID e-file or file a federal tax return on time and you owe unpaid taxes.

You will probably have to pay the failure-to-pay penalty, which is 0. Pay some or all of your taxes as soon as possible. If you cannot pay the full amount at one time , you may be able to enter into an installment agreement with the IRS. You did NOT e-file or file a federal tax return or an extension on time and you owe unpaid taxes. You will probably face two types of penalties: one for not filing a tax return or extension on time and one for not paying your taxes on time.