Don't Mess With Taxes

June's a busy month for me. Lots of family birthdays. Father's Day. Graduations. Taxes.

Yep. Taxes. In June. Specifically, June 15.

The midpoint of the first month of summer is a major tax deadline.

Estimated taxes: The biggie for a lot of taxpayers (including me) is the second installment of 2018's estimated taxes that's due by June 15.

You have several ways to make this payment — six, actually, according to the current Weekly Tax Tip. I'll let you check out the details in that other post at your leisure, but here are some of the more popular options:

1. Credit or debit card payments by phone or online,
2. Direct Pay via direct online transfer from a checking or savings,
3. Cash at a local participating convenience store,
4. Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, or EFTPS, if you're already signed up for this program,
5. IRS2Go mobile app, or
6. Check or money order that's snail mailed with a postmark by at least June 15.

Time's up for taxpayers abroad: If you're a U.S. taxpayer who's living or working out of the country, Uncle Sam hopes you're enjoying your international experience. However, he still wants you to complete your Form 1040 filing task by June 15.

Taxpayers qualify for the June 15 filing deadline if both their tax home and abode are outside the United States and Puerto Rico. This also applies to folks serving in the military and who are posted outside the U.S. and its nearby island territory.

Note, however, if you owe any tax that wasn't paid by the April deadline (the 18th this year), that balance has been accruing interest charges. But at least your location abroad forestalls the late filing penalty.

More on these situations is available in the When To File and Pay section of Publication 54, Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad.

June tax tasks for businesses, too: The middle of June also is important for business filers.

The IRS reminds affected companies that they must deposit payroll taxes for May if the monthly deposit rule applies.

If instead your company follows the IRS' semiweekly deposit rule, payroll tax for payments on June 9 through 12 are due by the end of this week.

And corporate estimate tax installment #2, paid using Form 1120-W, also is due by June 15.

If any of these individual or corporate tax situations apply to you, get busy ASAP. June 15 is almost here!

You also might find these items of interest:

• Calculating your new tax law bill
• File by June 14 to avoid higher late-filing tax penalties
• Special circumstances give some taxpayers more filing time