Consequences of not filing your taxes

If you file your taxes late, you'll receive a 5 percent penalty on the amount you owe for every month you delay. If you fail to file completely, the consequences become much worse. 

Everyone makes mistakes, especially when under the stress of collecting documentation, crunching numbers and lowering tax liabilities as much as legally possible. However, avoiding your annual tax return obligations can result in costly consequences that extend beyond your bank account. In order to prevent the consequences of not filing your taxes in time, in GUARDIAN INSURANCE AGENCY located in Fairburn, Lagrange and Norcross, we inform you what happens if you do not pay your Taxes:

1. Late penalties:

Considering the importance of filing your tax return, it's fair to expect some degree of penalty for failing to file your taxes. If you are expecting an income tax refund, chances are you won't get the same level of scolding from the Internal Revenue Service that others who owe money can expect to receive.

However, if you are owing money to the government, it's time to get your tax return in as soon as possible.

The penalty for filing late takes effect immediately following the April 18 deadline and will typically equal 5 percent of the unpaid taxes you owe for every month you delay filing your return, up to a 25 percent cap.

A less hefty penalty of 0.5 to 1 percent of your unpaid taxes per month applies to taxpayers who file by the deadline, but owe taxes and don't pay up. Even if you can't afford your taxes now, it's best to at the very least file your tax return on time.

Those who both file late and fail to pay the taxes they owe are charged a maximum penalty of 5 percent of their unpaid taxes for every month the bill is late.

2. Delayed refund:

Those who wait until the last minute to file taxes and claim their refunds may not only get a late-filing penalty, but holding up refunds does an equal disservice.

If you are expecting to receive a refund on your taxes or a refund for the taxes you have paid, you will not be able to receive it or you may receive less money because of the penalties you have incurred.

By failing to file your taxes, you’re giving up the ability to save or invest that money at a higher return.

3. Forfeiture of tax refund:

Just because you don't owe the IRS money doesn't mean you can keep your refund on hold indefinitely. When you're owed a reimbursement from the government, its in no rush to pay you back. In fact, IRS will give you three long years after the tax year for which you filed to claim your back tax refund.

After this time, however, the IRS will consider your unclaimed refund a generous "donation," and you'll be out of your rightful cash.

4. Legal consequences:

The consequences for ignoring an IRS bill can be a lot more dire than warning letters. After sending multiple correspondences regarding an unpaid tax bill, the IRS will send a representative to your residence or business to collect payment, generally, if you owe $25,000 or more.

Continuing to avoid this responsibility can result in automatic wage garnishments, asset seizures like your car and may even lead to arrest and jail time for tax evasion.

The 2017 tax season is next to finish and at GUARDIAN INSURANCE AGENCY located in Fairburn, Lagrange and Norcross we help you with all about the Tax Filing Season.

For more Information contact us: (706)884-5006 or (770)969-5666

Please visit us: www.go-guardian.com