Things To Consider After Filing Your Tax Return
So you finally filed your tax return... Good job! But now what? Should you forget about it and start gathering documents for the current year tax? Not so fast!
This year's tax filing deadline for the tax year 2019 was moved from the regular April 15 to July 15. In the past if you applied for an extension, it would give you additional 6 months to file your taxes (the payment was still due at April 15). This year, however, thanks to Corona virus and Covid-19, the original deadline to file AND pay individual and C- Corporation tax returns was moved to July 15. If you filed for an extension, do not expect to get additional 6 months though. Your extended due date is the same as previous years on October 15.
Whether you filed you tax return by July 15, or applied for an extension, there are 3 issues that you should always remember once you file your tax return:
This year's tax filing deadline for the tax year 2019 was moved from the regular April 15 to July 15. In the past if you applied for an extension, it would give you additional 6 months to file your taxes (the payment was still due at April 15). This year, however, thanks to Corona virus and Covid-19, the original deadline to file AND pay individual and C- Corporation tax returns was moved to July 15. If you filed for an extension, do not expect to get additional 6 months though. Your extended due date is the same as previous years on October 15.
Whether you filed you tax return by July 15, or applied for an extension, there are 3 issues that you should always remember once you file your tax return:
Check On Your Refund Status
If you expect to receive a refund, under normal circumstances you should receive it within 8 weeks from the date you filed your tax return (this year is an exception due to this pandemic and it takes much longer to get your refund.) If you do not receive our refund after 8 weeks, you can check the status of your Federal and State refund here at Where Is My Refund page. When looking for your refund from the IRS, if you receive an error message do not freak out, thinking that your tax return was not filed or there is something wrong with your account! 99% of the time the reason is that your tax return is not processed by the IRS yet, or your refund is not issued yet, Just give it few more weeks. If you still did not receive your refund, you can contact your CPA, so he can call the IRS and inquire about it.
Record Keeping
One question my clients always ask me is that how long do they have to hang onto their records for the tax return that they have already filed. The answer is it depends! Normally, the statute of limitation for the IRS to audit your tax return is 3 years after you file you tax return. So if you filed your 2016 tax return on July 21, 2017, you can get rid of your records on July 21, 2020. The Statute of limitation, however, is extended to 6 years if you have understated your gross receipt by more than 25%. And if you willfully attempted tax fraud and got indicted within 6 years or if you are outside the US, the statute of limitation stops running, in which case you do not need your documents as much as you need a good CPA and a good lawyer.
There are some documents that we strongly recommend you keep indefinitely:
There are some documents that we strongly recommend you keep indefinitely:
- Your tax return
- Documents related to the purchase of your real estate and other investments
- Documents related to your retirement accounts
Amend Your Tax Return
If you overstated your tax liability or understated your tax refund, or if you trade in stock market and had a loss this year (but had a gain in the prior year) you can file an amended return to claim your refund. In general, you have three years after the date you filed your original tax return or two years from the date you paid your taxes (whichever is later) to file and amended return. In the case of traders, if you incurred loss this year and had a gain in the prior year, we recommend that you file the Application for Tentative Refund (Form 1045) since you will receive your refund much faster. In some other cases, such as bad debt, the statute of limitation is more than three years to file the amended return, and can be up to seven years from the due date of the original tax return.
We Can Help
If you have filed your taxes but have some questions or need help, please contact us for a first time free consultation.