Key Takeaways
- 72 years of an April 15 deadline.
- What's due today.
- Why most returns mailed today won't be postmarked today.
- The menu of e-filing and e-payment choices.
- IRS CEO heads to the Hill.
- The sad tale of a creative preparer.
- National Banana Day.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the foundation of the current tax law. It's 72 years since the enactment of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, which set the stage for 1986.
The tax law has not gotten simpler since 1954. We have seen the massive shift of business structures to pass-through entities. We have alternative minimum tax. We have multiple types of dividends taxed at different rates. We have deductions for tips, for overtime, for some auto interest. We have a raft of different retirement accounts, college savings accounts, health savings accounts, and on and on.
But one thing hasn't changed since the 1954 Code: the April 15 deadline for individual returns. That's ridiculous, but it persists.
It's not just 1040s that are due today:
- Gift tax returns are due today. Form 709 can now be e-filed for 2025 gifts. It can be extended if needed with Form 8892.
- Calendar-year trust and estate income tax returns are due today on Form 1041, unless extended with Form 7004.
- Calendar-year C corporation returns are due today on Form 1120, unless extended on Form 7004.
- First quarter estimated taxes are due for individuals, trusts and calendar-year C corporations today.
Many state returns are also due today.
How to file
E-File. One thing we have now that wasn't around in 1954 is electronic filing. Use it. Paper returns can delay your refund by months. Despite some silly things you may have read, e-filing is more secure than trusting your return to the vagaries of the postal service.
If you are using a paid preparer, you need to get them your signed e-filing authorization TODAY. They can't file your return based on your assurance that you will get it to them, as it could result in fines and the loss of their e-filing privileges - almost a death sentence to a practice.
If you must file on paper, Certified Mail is the way to go. Changes in postal service postmark procedures mean a return dropped in a mailbox today won't get postmarked today - making it late, as far as the IRS is concerned. Get a postmark at the post office window and save it.
If you really are a last-minute filer and you get to the post office after it closes, you can use an authorized private delivery service. Be sure you use the right delivery option; for example, UPS Next Day Air qualifies, but UPS Ground does not. Save your shipping documents. And you have to use the IRS service center street address, as the private services can't use post office boxes.
Disaster extensions. As a result of disaster declarations, some taxpayers in Mississippi, Hawaii, Tennessee, Washington, and Montana have extra time to file. See the IRS disaster relief page for details.
How to Pay
So you need to send money. If you owe on your 1040, you should pay electronically, for the same reasons you should e-file.
- If you use a paid preparer, you can likely have the payments direct-debited when you e-file through your preparer's software.
- You can use your IRS individual Online Account. If you don't have one, you should sign up. It's a one-stop shop for paying taxes, checking on refunds, responding to notices, and checking the status of your account.
- You can access IRS Direct Pay.
- If you are enrolled, you can use the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS). This option will disappear later this year.
- You can pay with a credit card, debit card or digital wallet like Venmo.
First quarter estimated taxes are also due today. These can and should be paid electronically.
What if you can't pay? It's still best to file or extend anyway. If you fail to file or extend on time and you have less than 90% of your balance due paid in, you pay a 5% penalty for being one day late, plus 5% for each additional month, up to 25%. If you file or extend on time, that comes down to 1/2% per month. Interest applies to any underpayment as well.
Can I pay in installments? Most taxpayers who owe can qualify online for a payment plan. It doesn't make interest or all penalties go away, but it helps.
Day Trader Alert
For you day traders, today is also a deadline - for 2026 taxes. Today is the last day to make a Section 475(f) mark-to-market election for this year. Those making this election are required to recognize unrealized gains and losses at the end of each year.
The gains and losses for electing taxpayers are ordinary - easing the pain of the $3,000 annual limitation on capital loss use. As day traders typically only hold their investments briefly, the loss of advantageous long-term capital gain treatment may not hurt much - and the ability to deduct ordinary losses means more to many day traders.
But if you had big trading losses in 2025, it's too late. The 2025 mark-to-market election was due a year ago.
Down to the Wire
If you need more time to file, request an extension - IRS.
- Use IRS Free File. All individual filers can use IRS Free File guided software at IRS.gov to electronically request an extension at no cost.
- Use Free File Fillable Forms. Taxpayers can complete and submit Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return PDF, electronically, regardless of income.
- Pay online and select “extension.” Taxpayers who pay all or part of what they owe using IRS online payment options, including IRS Online Account, Direct Pay, or Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (if already registered), can select “extension” as the reason for the payment. This automatically generates an extension; no additional forms are required. Taxpayers should keep their confirmation number in their records.
- File Form 4868 by mail. Taxpayers can complete and mail Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return PDF, to the address listed in the form instructions.
Again, if you mail, go to the post office and get a Certified Mail postmark.
How The Season is going
Drop in immigrant tax filings may cost government billions as IRS shares data with ICE - Marissa Lang, Washington Post:
But this year, she said, more than 550 of her regular clients have disappeared. That’s about 15 percent of her customer base at Toro Taxes, the bilingual firm in Wheaton, Maryland, that Solís runs.
...
The Trump administration’s decision to reverse a long-standing practice to keep IRS information walled off and encourage undocumented immigrants to file tax returns has stoked fear and distrust — and led to a marked decline in the number of immigrants willing to engage in the tax system amid a parallel escalation of ICE arrests.
The Politics of this Tax Season
White House touts refunds, as most Americans say taxes are too high - Cat Zakrzewski, Washington Post:
Tax Day arrives with Republicans struggling to sell their cuts - Bernie Becker, Politico:
But Trump and other senior Republicans had laid the groundwork for taxpayers to expect a much bigger check, vowing that refunds would grow by $1,000 — with an average all the way past $4,000. Instead, average refunds fell below $3,500 by the start of April, according to the IRS’s most recent filing season statistics.
...
More than 20 million households had claimed the new deduction for overtime pay by the end of March, well over projections for the entire filing season. The incentive for tipped income has outpaced projections as well, while about 20 million households are taking advantage of an additional deduction for seniors.
Other new GOP tax cuts, like the deduction for car loan interest, have been more of a dud, while Democrats have tarred what’s known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act as a giveaway to the rich — much like the 2017 Trump tax cuts before it, and this time with safety-net cuts added in.
IRS "CEO" Heads to the Hill Today
Three Key Themes as IRS CEO Meets Lawmakers at Tax Season’s End - Erin Slowey, Bloomberg ($):
Chaos and confusion surrounding the tips and overtime deductions will come up:
Republicans are counting on the bigger refunds to drive voters to the polls in the midterms but only a small percentage of households are expected to benefit from the breaks, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
It’s raised concerns from tax experts about overstated claims and both accidental and intentional abuse.
Democrats Ask Bisignano About Potential IRS Political Targeting - Cady Stanton, Tax Notes ($):
The group voiced concern that the initiative — alongside reports that the IRS has compiled a list of Democratic donors and “left-leaning” nonprofit organizations — is unlawful and unacceptable and asked a series of questions about how the agency is handling the investigations and whether it was directed by the White House to open them.
...
The letter cites March reports that FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation agents are forming a new initiative to look into nonprofits with suspected links to domestic terrorism, defined as opposing immigration enforcement, “radical gender ideology, anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, or anti-Christianity.”
Related: Eide Bailly Exempt Organization Tax Services.
Blogs and Bits
5 last-minute tax-filing tips - Kay Bell, Don't Mess With Taxes. "Even if you are close to finishing your taxes, you don’t want to make a mistake in your rush to be done with this annual task. So, your wisest move could be to get more time."
Bozo Tax Tip #1: If It Sounds too Good to be True… - Russ Fox, Taxable Talk. "If you purchase $20,000 of Brazilian accounts receivable, there’s no way you can get a $120,000 deduction."
Court Upholds OBBBA's Retroactive Prohibition of ERTC Refunds - Parker Tax Pro Library. "The court rejected the taxpayer's argument that the retroactive bar was a due process violation, finding that the provision is rationally related to the legitimate legislative purpose of preventing tax fraud."
Related: Eide Bailly Employer Retention Credit Services.
Tax Day Roundup - Adam Michel, Liberty Taxed. "Anthony shares his tax return, noting that it runs more than 70 pages long because he’s required by the IRS to detail a capital gain and loss for every one of his Bitcoin transactions."
Spanberger signs bill ending tax breaks for Confederate groups - Max Rego, The Hill. Making it official only 161 years after General Grant took care of that?
Why You Don't Really Want a Super Creative Accountant
Former Connecticut Tax Preparer Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison - US Attorney's Office, District of Connecticut (Defendant name omitted, emphasis added):
...
Defendant routinely obtained substantial federal tax refunds for her clients, many of whom had annual incomes exceeding $500,000, by disregarding information provided by the clients and their employers, and by fabricating and improperly deducting charitable contributions and business expenses, including advertising, repairs and maintenance, travel, meals, utilities, insurance, and legal services.
As a result of these fraudulent deductions, for the 2016 through 2021 tax years, Defendant attempted to obtain for her clients at least $1,062,293 in either fraudulent refunds or fraudulent reductions on owed tax payments. The IRS detected apparent fraudulent activity on several of the filed returns before refund monies were paid, resulting in an actual loss to the government of $472,913.
Taxes are easy when you make up the numbers. Don't do that.
The clients with six-figure incomes won't be off the hook, either. The IRS is surely working through the Defendant's client list, which probably included referrals from others who praised her creativity.
What day is it?
Forget tax day. It's National Banana Day! Remember the ice cream.
Make a habit of sustained success.
