Tax filers push the midnight deadline

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Many tax service companies stayed open until midnight Wednesday to help those filing their taxes at the very last minute.

“At Plainfield, we’ve seen an increase in people coming in on tax day,” said Jon Helpling, client service leader for H&R Block.

Helpling spent his day helping those last minute filers.

But he said if you didn’t make the deadline, still file as soon as possible.

The IRS starts adding up fees immediately.

“If you come in Thursday versus six weeks from now, you’re only going to have one month of late filing penalties to pay,” he said.

There are two penalties late filers might have to pay: late filing and late payment.

A big misconception is that if you file an extension, you don’t own the IRS money on April 15.

“The extension only gets rid of the late filing penalty. You still will have the penalty for not paying,” Helpling said.

If you file an extension and need to guess how much you’ll owe the IRS, he recommends paying 100 percent of what you paid last year.

“That can go towards preventing them from having a late payment penalty as well,” he said.

You will get that money back if it turns out that you’ll owe less or have a refund.

He said it’s actually pretty common to have people file extensions, but if you can plan ahead for next year, he has this advice.

“As soon as you are available and have all of your documents you should definitely file,” he said.

He said filing early can help prevent a lot of the identity theft we saw this year and also you can get a faster return.

He said that so many people either file late or with an extension that it keeps them busy throughout the summer.