It’s Tax ‘D-Day’: IRS Expects 25% to File at Last Minute

Today is D-Day--Deadline Day for filing 1990 income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service. If you waited this year until the very last minute to file, join the crowd.

The IRS says you are among 27 million taxpayers--about a fourth of the 113 million taxpayers expected to file this year--whose returns will reach IRS processing centers sometime this week.

What do you do if you owe the government money but you’re short of cash and cannot pay by the deadline?

“File for an extension (of time) to file,” IRS spokesman John Schnellmann said. “If you owe money, send as much as you can,” but be sure to file a return, whether or not you send money with it.

He urged that taxpayers unable to pay all they owe “attach a brief note of explanation” and offer to pay installments--perhaps $100 a month on a $1,000 tax liability.

How the IRS might respond to such a proposal “depends on individual circumstances,” Schnellmann said.

The IRS said that “taxpayers who end up owing more than they can pay either did not have enough taxes withheld from their paychecks or failed to make sufficient quarterly estimated tax payments.”

Filing a timely tax return--even without sending any or all of the money due the government--can help taxpayers avoid a severe late payment penalty of 5% of the tax due for each month it’s due. The penalty is not allowed to exceed 25%.

Schnellmann said roughly 73% of all taxpayers get refunds and that the average refund check so far has been $902. But the longer someone waits to file, he said, the longer it takes to get the refund.

As of April 5, the IRS had gotten more than 66 million returns and had sent out more than 45 million refunds totaling more than $41 billion.

Last-day filers who have tax questions may call the IRS toll-free information number: 800-829-1040. The line will be open through early tonight, according to officials at the IRS.