IRS expects to receive 9.6 million extensions this year
Gilroy – Brian Corliss breezed into the post office Friday morning, hair disheveled, eyes scanning the countertops for tax forms.
“I haven’t done anything yet,” he said, while sifting through papers. “Taxes to me are just a pain. I’ll probably do them tomorrow. I just hope I don’t owe.”
Corliss joins the millions of Americans nationwide scrambling to finish their taxes before Monday’s midnight deadline. The Internal Revenue Service expects to receive 9.6 million extensions this year. For the first time an automatic six-month extension will give taxpayers until Oct. 16 to file their returns.
“I am up to my eyeballs. This is called crunch time,” said Barbara DeLorenzo, a certified public accountant in Gilroy. “I start getting busy in early February.”
During tax season, DeLorenzo works 14 hour days. But with 20 years experience, she has learned how to save time and pace herself. She filed her last big return Thursday and is in the clean up phase.
“It’s not uncommon for some CPAs to work 5am to 11pm,” she said. “I know people who are working until midnight the 17th.”
But DeLorenzo will not work Monday. Instead, she hopes to spend it on the golf course for a break after the hectic season.
For those who are still rushing and afraid they may not be able to file by Monday night, the IRS is urging taxpayers to e-file their extensions.
“You should not panic,” said IRS spokesperson Jesse Weller. “If you are unable to file a timely or accurate return, then you need to file an extension.”
As of Thursday, the IRS had received a total of 17,629,831 e-filed returns from computer users – a 15-percent increase over last year at this time.
“We are pretty much a nation of procrastinators,” Weller said. “We do expect more people to file extensions this year … But it’s not an extension to pay. Any amount paid late would be subject to late fees.”
While truckloads of mail will be arriving at IRS processing centers next week, many more taxes will be filed electronically. Last year, more than 52 percent of taxpayers submitted their taxes online.
“It’s safe, easy, and accurate,” Weller said. “The error rate of an e-filed return is less than 1 percent. The error rate of paper returns is 20 percent.”
According to Weller, of the 134 million tax returns the IRS expects to be filed this year – 75 percent of the nation will receive a tax refund – and of those, many will notice the return is a little heftier than last year. The average return is $2,290 – about $100 more than in 2004.
But for Mercy Cabotaje, she will be one of the 25 percent nationwide who have to pay. She learned the ugly news while doing her taxes at H&R Block Friday morning.
“I’m just glad it’s over,” she said.
So is H&R Block manager Jennifer Smith.
For the past four weeks the agency has been open seven days a week with extended hours.
“As of today we hit the 1,600 mark,” she said. “I had a couple of clients say, ‘I was going to surprise you this year and be early. But guess what’ … People who procrastinate think they’re going to have to owe money. They don’t want to hear the bad news.”
