File Today, Pay Later?

Yes.

Ira Smilovitz, EA Leonia, NJ

Of course. You can also generally do the reverse, which is to pay on April

10th but file an extension request and do the actual return up to six months later.

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Wade Garrett snipped-for-privacy@cooler.net wrote in news:suujh8$iph$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

What would the purpose of that be? Why not file *and* pay on the 10th? Simply because you are ready to file?

A due date is a due date. Paying on the due date is timely. There's no advantage to the taxpayer in paying early.

That's fewer days that the government has to wreak havoc with the taxpayer's money.

Yes. If you have done all the work and you don't want to be bothered with remembering to file in April (or perhaps you will be busy in April with other things), you file in February or whenever and you specify on the return to deduct your payment from your account on April 10th.

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Failure to file penalty is 5% of unpaid balance per month. Failure to pay penalty is only 0.5% of the unpaid balance per month. File early to avoid the larger penalty.

Ira Smilovitz, EA Leonia, NJ

There is a disadvantage of filing early - you end up with a statue of limitations longer than 3 years. Your 3 years start ticking from the later of the due date or the filed date.

Maria U. Ku, CPA Oakland, CA