By WHITNEE ICE
St. Joseph Post
This year is like no other when it comes to taxes.
The IRS has extended this year's tax deadlines to May 17th from its original deadline of April 15th.
IRS spokesperson Michael Devine says filing season has been extended due to tax filers having complications getting the information they need to file their tax returns.
"For most of the country, May 17th is the day that you would need to file your tax return and pay any taxes that you owe to avoid any penalties or interest. If you can't file by May 17th, you can request an extension to file until October 15th, but that's not an extension of time to pay," Devine tells St. Joseph Post. "Any taxes that you owe have to be paid by May 17th."
Devine says to make sure to file your tax return on time.
"Some people who owe money in more taxes to the government, figure they don't have to file a tax return and that's the worst thing you can do," says Devine. "The failure to file by the May 17th deadline, the penalty for that is ten times larger than the failure to pay penalties."
Devine says filing season is running smoothly from his perspective.
"We've received about 100 million returns," says Devine. "This is about where we were last year and last year was a bit of an unusual year too."
Devine says the filing season is running smoothly so far.