It’s Tax Day, So File Them or File An Extension
If you're anything like me, you took the first extension of taxes this year as a "Baaaah, they're not due until May!" approach to the usual April deadline.
Well, it's May 17th, that extended tax deadline window has expired, and if you just said "Oh, better get those done tonight," you're not the only one.
A new study showed that around one in seven Americans have waited until the last minute, and will either get their taxes done tonight or file their extension.
About 15% of the country actually waits until the deadline is within a few days, but there's about 54% of people do them as soon as they can.
Really, it makes more sense to do them sooner, because then it's out of the way and you don't have to worry, but you also get that money back sooner.
The study showed a few other interesting things:
- Men think they know more about taxes, but after a study of 1,000 people, they found that about 49% of women get an "A" on their taxes, whereas only 35% of men did.
- More than an acceptable amount of people thought you could claim a pet as a dependent - at 44%.
- 7/10 Americans take the standard deductions, 21% itemize theirs, but 10% of people don't know what a deduction is.
- Our biggest fears are:
- Finding out we owe money
- Making a big mistake
- Not maximizing our refund
- Getting audited
If we get a refund, our plans this year are a little different than normal. Respondents to the study said they were planning to pay off debt, save the money, use it for living expenses, invest it, and only 1 in 10 people said they'd treat themselves.
Read more at Credello