Skip to Content

Find your next home with Luxist's "Estate of the Day"

Tips for Tax Procrastinators: Pay what you owe now

More
Text SizeAAA

Filed under: Tax

If you're pretty sure that you're going to owe the IRS or the state, it's important to send in your payment as soon as possible. When you're delaying filing your taxes, it's tempting to also delay paying the taxes you know you'll owe.

But delaying paying your taxes only increases the pain. In reality, the tax money is due in quarterly installments throughout the tax year. If you haven't sent in those quarterly payments, you've been accruing some interest and penalties. And each day you wait to pay now is another day of penalties and interest.

It's important to pay your taxes as soon as possible to stop the interest and penalties from adding up. The bad news is that you never get out of your tax debts. Barring unusual circumstances or a settlement with the IRS, you're going to have to keep paying them so long as you owe them tax money. The good news? You can stop the pain by paying now.

Read more Tips for Tax Procrastinators

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.
Subscribe to Walletpop

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

Featured Sponsor

Vote Now For the Readers' Choice Best in Food Awards
Nominations have been received and vetted for the best-of-breed in gourmet grocers, online gourmet ...
Zingerman's Bakehouse: Artisan Bread and Pastry from Ann Arbor
Zingerman's Bakehouse of Ann Arbor, Michigan, is nominated for a Luxist Award in the best bread ...

Featured Sponsor

Tax Calculators

Get a quick and easy estimate of your tax savings.

Jason Cochran
Jason Cochran Filed under: Bargains, Extracurriculars, Transportation, Travel, Celebs & Money

On board the new Oasis of the Seas: Is it worth the money?

So here I am, writing this from off the coast of Florida as part of the first two-day preview cruise of the magnificent Oasis of the Seas. Royal Caribbean has launched the largest cruise ship in the ...
Geoff Williams
Geoff Williams Filed under: Credit cards

Citigroup holds its customers hostage

Across the nation, Citibank credit card holders are receiving what pretty much amounts to a ransom note: We're going to raise your rates, says the letter, in so many words, but if you spend more ...
Bonnie McCarthy
Bonnie McCarthy Filed under: Budgets, Kids and Money, Saving Money, Technology

Family budgets: Make movie night safe again with family-friendly review sites

Around my house, we don't make the decision to pile into the car and head over to our local Cineplex as easily as we once did. It costs a lot of money these days to see talking animals, wild things ...
Madhusmita Bora
Madhusmita Bora Filed under: Transportation

Shop the friendly skies? The airlines are hoping you'll buy while in the sky

Along with sandwiches and soda, you may one day be able to buy tickets to Lion King and Animal Kingdom while cruising 35,000 feet above ground. A New York Times story reported that the airline ...

Headlines from WalletPop Partners