Why You May Want to File Your Taxes Early, Especially This Year
April 15th is a date most Americans are at least a little apprehensive about. If you’re old enough you may remember standing in a never-ending line at the post office to get those returns mailed off in time.
This year, think about filing early. Technically you’ve got until April 17th, 2018 to file (the 15th is a Sunday) but there are a lot of advantages to getting it done ahead of time.
Faster Refunds – Around 80% of tax returns result in a refund. The sooner you file, the sooner that refund is processed and in your bank account instead of the IRS’s.
Have Time To Plan If You Owe – If you’re not in that fortunate 80% and it turns out you owe money this year filing early will give you time to plan how to make that payment. You don’t have to file and pay at the same time, so filing early can give you enough time to plan how to pay any amount owed by the April 17th deadline.
Relax – Let everyone else deal with the stress of an approaching deadline in March and April. By filing early, you’ll have done your taxes (or worked with someone to prepare them for you) at your own pace and have one less (major) thing to worry about as April approaches.
Protect Yourself From Fraud – In 2015 alone the IRS caught, and stopped, 1.4 million attempted fraudulent returns that would have resulted in the theft of $8 billion worth of refunds. Identity thieves file tax returns using their victim’s information and pocket the refund check. By filing early, you lessen your chances of a fraudulent return being filed “for you” first. The Equifax data breach (among others) put a lot of people’s information up for grabs this year. Filing early is one way to protect yourself.
One word of caution – filing early doesn’t mean filing hastily. No one wants to have to file an amended return later because they rushed through it the first time. Take your time and do it right, but don’t put it off. Get started as soon as you’ve got all your tax documents so you can rest easy come April.