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The Internal Revenue Service today urged taxpayers who requested the six-month filing extension to double check their tax returns and file on or before the mid-October deadline. IRS e-file and Free File are excellent filing options and are still available.
More than 14 million taxpayers filed for an extension in 2018 and, although Oct. 15 is the last day for most people to file, some may have more time. They include:
• Members of the military and others serving in combat zone localities still have more time. They typically have until at least 180 days after they leave the combat zone to both file returns and pay any taxes due.
• Taxpayers in several disaster area localities who already had valid extensions now have more time to file. Currently, taxpayers in parts of California, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas qualify for this relief. For details, see the disaster relief page on IRS.gov. However, like other extension filers, these taxpayers were required to pay what they owed by April 18, which was this year’s filing deadline for 2017 tax returns.
Recordkeeping and Adjusted Gross Income
As a reminder, taxpayers should keep a copy of their tax returns and supporting documents for a minimum of three years. It’s more important than ever for taxpayers to have prior-year tax returns available as the IRS made changes last year to protect taxpayers and authenticate their identity. To authenticate their identities, taxpayers will need to enter either of two items: their prior-year AGI or their prior-year self-select PIN and their date of birth. If married filing jointly, both taxpayers must authenticate their identities with this information.
Extension filers should also plan ahead if they are using a software product for the first time as using an electronic PIN is no longer an option.
Those who lack access to their prior-year tax returns can go to irs.gov/transcript and use Get Transcript Online or Get Transcript by Mail to get last year’s AGI. (IRS.gov)
