Don't Mess With Taxes

The April 15 federal income tax filing deadline is Tuesday. For most folks, that’s the only thing they have to worry about on that day.

But there are some of us for whom Tax Day means more tax tasks.

Here are nine instances — yes, that includes the regular annual filing of tax returns — where some people might need to take additional tax action on April 15.

Most of these tax-related moves will ensure you fulfill your tax duties and avoid any additional contact with the Internal Revenue Service. But some also could save you some tax dollars.

File your 2024 tax return. Of course, we start here. April 15 is the day to get your Form 1040 and other material to the IRS. You also need to pay any tax you owe on Tax Day. The IRS imposes separate penalties, and adds interest, for both not filing on time and not paying on time, so take care of both today. You might even be able to find a way to file your taxes for free.

File Form 4868 and to get more time to file. If you just can’t finish your taxes by April 15, then file Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, by Tuesday’s deadline. This will prevent any late- or nonfiling penalties. But you must pay all or at least part of what you owe with your extension filing. That separate late/nonpayment penalty starts accruing if you don’t.

File your 2021 tax year return to get your unclaimed refund. Every year, around a billion taxpayers just don’t file a tax return. They don’t get in trouble, though, because they don’t owe any taxes. However, they also don’t get refunds they are due because they don’t file.

Tax law gives these taxpayers three years to claim the refunds by filing the old Form 1040. Since the 2021 returns were due on April 15, 2022, that three-year window closed on April 15, 2025. This year, the IRS says that comes to 1.1 million people who, in 2022, didn't claim a total of $1 billion tax refunds. Some individual also might be eligible for some COVID-19 enhanced tax breaks available that tax year.

But there’s no extension to claim this money. If you miss next week’s deadline, Uncle Sam gets to keep your unclaimed tax cash.

Make your first quarter 2025 estimated tax payment. Tax Day is always double Tax Day for those who get money not subject to withholding. These taxpayers must pay the tax on those amounts, which include self-employment earnings, prize and gambling winnings, and investment income, via estimated taxes.

These four extra payments start each tax year on April 15, with the three remaining payments due on June 15, Sept. 15, and Jan. 15 of the next year. You can mail the IRS paper Form 1040-ES by April 15, along with a check, or you can sidestep the form by paying electronically.

Contribute to your IRA for the 2024 tax year. Tax Day is the last day to maximize prior year IRA contributions, whether you’re putting money in a traditional IRA or a Roth version. For the 2024 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.

Not only will the prior-year contributions help bulk up your retirement account, they could mean addition tax breaks.

If you put the money into a traditional IRA, you might be able to claim an above-the-line deduction, which you can claim whether you take the standard deduction or itemize, on your 2024 return filing if you qualify. Adding to either type of IRA also could, again if your meet income requirements, also might let you claim the Saver’s Credit, which could be worth a $1,000 (or $2,000 if married filing jointly taxpayers both contribute and qualify) dollar-for-dollar reduction of your tax bill.

Add to your HSA for the 2024 tax year. The same tax year shifting is available to those with a health savings account, or HSA. The special tax advantaged medical accounts are used by those who have a high deductible health plan (HDHP). You use the HSA to cover the larger deductible amounts you face in exchange for your HDHP’s lower policy premiums.

For 2024, you can contribute up to $4,150 to an HSA if you had self-only coverage. Those who had family coverage last year, the HSA contribution limit is $8,300. If you’re 55 or older, you can contribute an additional $1,000.

Before you add more, though, double check your earlier contributions. If you exceed HSA contribution limits, you’ll face penalties.

Don’t forget your state return filing, or extension. Most states collect individual income taxes. And most of them follow the IRS calendar, requiring state returns and payments be made by April 15. The good news, though, is that they also tend to mimic the IRS when it comes to extensions. The better news is that most also offer their own state tax free filing options. So, if your state taxes are due on April 15, file and pay, or check with your state tax department on how you can extend this tax obligation, too.

April 15 isn’t just a key deadline for individual taxpayers. There are a couple of other situations where tax tasks must be accomplished on the usual Tax Day.

File your business’ return if it is a C corporation. Businesses organized as a C corporation and which operate on a calendar need to file Form 1120, the U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return, by April 15 if they are a calendar year business. If your business uses a fiscal year, you need to file your tax return by the 15th day of the fourth month following the close of your tax year. For example, if your business uses a July 1 to June 30 tax year, your business tax return would be due Oct. 15 instead of in April.

Submit your FBAR foreign assets to the U.S. Treasury. This is the due date for the required filing of Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, or FBAR. The information in the FBAR filing is the federal government's way of tracking foreign bank and financial accounts owned by U.S. taxpayers. In 2016, the law was changed so that the FBAR filing coincided with the annual April individual federal tax return deadline, which already was on most taxpayers’ filing radar.

But the report isn’t filed with the IRS. Instead, if you’re required to report, you submit your information to the U.S. Treasury using Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) Form 114. File it electronically at FinCEN's BSA (Bank Secrecy Act) E-Filing System website.

If you’re freaking out about filing a FBAR by Tuesday, don’t. To make it easier for affected individual to meet the FBAR filing requirement, FinCEN grants filers failing to meet the FBAR annual due date of April 15 an automatic extension to Oct. 15 each year (yes, the same as the IRS extension deadline), with no need to file a separate extension request. And this year, some FBAR filers get even longer. FinCEN issued a notice on Nov. 20, 2024, extending the FBAR filing date for certain U.S. individuals who have only signature or other authority over certain foreign financial accounts to April 15, 2026.

Okay, ready to file your 2024 tax return or take care of more tax tasks by April 15, which also is this weekend’s By the Numbers figure? You still have time, but you need to get to work. Now!

You also might find these items of interest:

• 15 filing tips for the last weekend before Tax Day 
• IRS payment plans available if you owe but can't pay in full 
• April 15 is not Tax Day for taxpayers abroad or in 13 disaster-area states

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