Forget the ides of March. It's April 15th -- synonymous with taxes -- that most Americans dread.
But tardy tax filers can breathe a little easier this year. Procrastinators get a special reprieve as the federal government is pushing the tax deadline to Monday because of Emancipation Day, a District of Columbia holiday.
This gives people like Jennifer Cobb a few extra days to delay the inevitable.
"I always procrastinate with tasks that I dread," said Cobb, of Jonesboro, who expects to owe the government money this year. "I don't always wait until the deadline, but knowing that I will not receive a refund, I don't see the point in filing early."
She is among the 20 to 25 percent of Georgians who wait until the last week of the filing season to submit their returns, according to Internal Revenue Service spokesman Mark Green.
"The mindset is that people who wait until the very last minute [usually] owe money," Green said. "Generally the first wave of tax returns ... are refunds."
However, that doesn't explain the $35 million the IRS holds in unclaimed refunds for Georgians who didn't file a 2007 return. (The feds know they owe those people that amount based on the W2 and 1099 forms filed by the individuals' employers, he said.) In order to collect that money, Georgians must file by Monday, or forfeit the funds to the U.S. Treasury.
As for filing a 2010 return, Green urged people with household incomes of less than $48,362 who worked any portion of 2010 to file, because they may qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit. The IRS offers a free electronic filing system on its website, he said.
More Georgians are turning toward e-filing to get their refunds faster, with e-files up 8.7 percent from years past, Green said. By Wednesday, Georgians had filed 2.8 million electronic returns out of 4.1 million expected returns, he said. (Paper returns are more difficult to track prior to the deadline.)
E-filing is how Alex Kenemer, 25, plans to file, if he files at all. He traveled for most of 2010 and is now unemployed, but every bit counts.
"I'm going to do it, but only because I'm broke enough that $79 will help," Kenemer said. "I'm more concerned about $79 than I am of filing my taxes to be a good citizen."
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