If you’ve put off your tax filing until the very last minute, don’t panic. You still have (a little) time to finish. But get to work on that return or filing extension request. Now.
Tax Day is tomorrow. If you’re a last-minute filer, you’re painfully aware of the deadline. (If you’re a real tax masochist, the count-down clock on the ol’ blog’s Tax Tips page will let you see just how quickly the time is ticking away.)
I don’t want to interrupt your effort to finalize your Form 1040, but if you are looking for some suggestions on how to get the job done, here are six tips to help you finish in time.
1. Get an extension. Okay, this won’t help you wrap up your tax return, but it will deal with the immediate issue of too little time.
Even if you are close to finishing your taxes, you don’t want to make a mistake in your rush to be done with this annual task. So, your wisest move could be to get more time.
It’s easy. Just send the Internal Revenue Service Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return. This will get you six more months, until Oct. 15, to get your return to the IRS.
You can do so electronically, which is the smart move since changes to the Internal Revenue Service rule about timely filing mean that snail mailing a paper extension could make you late in filing and paying any tax due.
Note, that reference to any tax due. A Form 4868 extension is just for filing your return. You still must pay your tax bill, or as much as you can, when ask for more time to finish your forms.
2. Don’t make common mistakes. When you do finish your return, review it for mistakes. They’re easy to make, and every year the IRS says it sees a lot of the same ones, with bad math being one of the most common.
Tax software, used by most taxpayers and tax professionals that millions of us hire can help with tax addition and subtraction. But if you enter a wrong amount, either by using bad information or simply transposing figures, it could cause you tax trouble down the road.
Math and other mistakes, like the 11 common ones listed in this post, also could literally cost you. A return error might reduce any refund you’re due or add to your tax bill.
So, double check your 1040 before hitting send on your keyboard.
3. Don’t miss out on tax breaks. You also don’t want to cheat yourself by missing out on tax breaks. That also happens every filing season, with lots of filers overlooking tax credits and/or deductions.
That’s why your final Form 1040 review should include an examination of these 10 too-often overlooked tax breaks, as well as a review of the above-the-line deductions that don’t require itemizing. These items reduce your gross income to arrive at your lower adjusted gross income (AGI).
And this filing season, there are several new tax breaks — for older taxpayers, folks who bought a new car, workers who get overtime or gratuities as part of their income — to consider. These temporary below-the-line tax deductions don’t affect your AGI, but do help you get to an even lower taxable income amount.
4. Reduce your tax bill with last-minute 2025 IRA or HSA contributions. In most tax cases, you must make moves by the end of the tax year for them to apply to your tax filing the following year. But a couple tax moves, contributing to an IRA or health savings account (HSA), can be made as late as Tax Day and could, in some cases, help cut your tax bill.
The IRA contribution, to either a traditional or Roth account, can count as being made in 2025 as long as you make it by April 15. For the 2025 tax year, you can add up to $7,000 to your traditional or Roth IRA. Taxpayers age 50 and older can contribute up to $8,000. And if you put money in a traditional IRA, you might be able to claim the amount as one of those above-the-line deductions mentions in tip #3.
A Roth IRA contribution won’t provide you an immediate tax break, since it’s made with already taxed dollars. But like a traditional IRA amount, you can use it to claim the Saver’s Credit if you qualify for this dollar-for-dollar reduction of you tax bill.
Similarly, an HSA contribution for the prior tax year can be made by Tax Day. This special medial account helps owners who have a high deductible health plan cover that policy’s higher deductible with tax-free money.
For 2025, you can contribute up to $4,300 to an HSA if you had self-only coverage. Those who had family coverage last year, the HSA contribution limit is $8,5500. If you’re 55 or older, you can contribute an additional $1,000. When you make HSA contributions directly, you can claim the amount as an above-the-line deduction on your return.
5. File your state taxes. Residents of 41 states and the District of Columbia also face taxes on the income they earned. And most of those state returns also are due on April 15.
The five states that have filing deadlines that don’t line up with Uncle Sam’s April 18 Tax Day are —
- Hawai’i, which wants state flings by April 20;
- Delaware, with an April 30 deadline;
- Iowa, which also wants returns by April 30;
- Virginia, with a May 1 tax due date; and
- Louisiana, which has a May 15 filing deadline.
Regardless of your state’s tax filing due date, you’ll probably need to finish your federal return first. That’s because states tend to use IRS information as a starting point for their more local taxes.
So, if you’re having trouble filing your federal forms and get an extension, check with your state tax office about its rules on giving you more time to file those forms.
States that follow the IRS Tax Day deadline also tend to also allow their state filers six months to submit those returns. But they also, like Uncle Sam, want any tax due the state treasury by April 15.
Okay, I’ve kept you from finalizing your tax return for long enough. But I hope these last-minute filing tips help, and at least provided you with a little break from your tax task.
And if you want or need more, you can find additional tax advice in the ol’ tax blog’s monthly collections of tax tips for January, February, March, and April.
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