With tax season now until April, U.S. Ferris students will want to set aside time in their schedules to file for tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service if they have not already.
There are several free options students can use if they are filing their taxes on their own this year. Software company Intuit offers a free version of their popular TurboTax program through its website, which can be used to file both federal and state taxes. Tax preparation company H&R Block also offers a free filing software, H&R Free File, through their website for citizens who earn less than $66,000 a year.
“I use TurboTax,” Ferris business administration senior Connor McKee said. “I mostly just do it for the refund. I just did them on my phone yesterday.”
The IRS has curated a list of several free tax filing software options, including TurboTax Free Edition and H&R Free File. These programs are available through the IRS official website.
These tax ling programs are becoming popular among Americans. The website Go Banking Rates conducted a survey asking more than 5,000 Americans how they prefer to file their taxes in 2016, with 34.5 percent of respondents claiming they used a tax ling software like TurboTax, while 28.5 percent still hire an accountant to le their taxes.
According to an article by CNBC, if a person does not file their previous year’s taxes, they may face a “failure-to-file” penalty. This penalty consists of an additional charge of five percent of the person’s unpaid taxes for every month that person does not file their taxes. These charges must be paid along with whatever unpaid taxes the person owes to the IRS for that year. Additionally, if a person is entitled to a tax refund but does not file their previous year’s taxes, they can miss out on any type of repayment from the IRS.
However, there are much more significant consequences that arise when someone continuously does not file their taxes. According to an article by the U.S. News, if a person does not file or pay their taxes and their taxes exceed $25,000, the IRS will send a representative to that person’s home or business to collect said payment. This is done by taking a certain amount of money out of that person’s wages — known as wage garnishment — as well as the option of property seizure.
“I hand-do mine and submit it to my dad’s accountant,” Ferris business administration junior Joe Rockwell said. “It’s just something you have to do.”