Procrastinators Rejoice!
In case you have not heard, the IRS tax filing deadline for 2017 taxes is on April 17 this year, per this info from the IRS:
April 17 Filing Deadline
The filing deadline to submit 2017 tax returns is Tuesday, April 17, 2018, rather than the traditional April 15 date. In 2018, April 15 falls on a Sunday, and this would usually move the filing deadline to the following Monday – April 16. However, Emancipation Day – a legal holiday in the District of Columbia – will be observed on that Monday, which pushes the nation’s filing deadline to Tuesday, April 17, 2018. Under the tax law, legal holidays in the District of Columbia affect the filing deadline across the nation.
If you pay by sending a check or money order via US Postal Service, I suggest you do that using a ‘green’ card that is returned to you and shows the signature and date of delivery. Do that from a private postal mailing center or US post office. You will pay a bit more, but have the assurance that your check was actually delivered.
As long as your envelope with check is postmarked on/before April 17, you are “good to go” as they say.
Even though the IRS encourages quarterly payments for taxes for self-employed folks (based on the prior year income), I don’t do that. Instead, I pay a penalty fee which is added to the tax amount. I have noticed over the years that this penalty has been increasing annually. Grrrrr! I do my own taxes using TaxAct.
Dave Towne on e-AppraisersDirectory.com
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I’m doing mine now. A colleague of mine said he writes off lunches. What are others doing?
Lunch can be a biz deduction if you dine with another person and discuss business. Also if you do an assignment 50 or more miles from office. Actual deduction will be 50% of total expense.
Thanks Dave. Almost all of my assignments are within 25 miles.
Oops…I didn’t know about the 50 miles rule
BEWARE of commuter mile rules! Home office folks this affects you! IRS has argued that the drive to your first appointment is a normal commute and miles to it are disallowed. I fought with them for years on this. I’m surprised they ever hired me afterward.
Back when I lived on a boat (25 years) and space was very limited (and after my first battle with IRS) I made it a point to have my first stop of the day FOR BUSINESS PURPOSE commuting to be my local hamburger-stand-truckstop-coffee shop. I’d get my coffee and sit down with my entire workfile where I could spread out maps books, file data etc. and route my stops. I argued it was a necessary step before I could then go on any appointments. This way I limited my ‘lost’ mileage deductions to on 1 1/2 miles.