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If your finances were out of control in April, you may very well have filed a tax extension. While a tax extension doesn’t extend the time you have to pay what you owe Uncle Sam (darn!), it does give you until October 15^th to get your paperwork together and file your income taxes. Of course… October 15^th is now rapidly sneaking up!

So what the heck do you do now that the time is almost up? Well, first of all, don’t panic. There’s still time even if you haven’t given taxes a single thought since April. But make no mistake – it’s time to get moving!

Filing, Not Paying…Maybe

Remember when you filed for your tax extension back in April you still had to pay? That was because the tax extension only worked for the actual paperwork and not for the payment. However, also remember that you probably didn’t pay the actual amount you owe.

Why? Because you had to make an estimate on your payment and send that in. Now you’re going to have to figure out the real amount you owe(d). This amount may be much different than what you sent before since you may not have taken every expense or bit of income into account.

Once you figure out the real amount you owe to the IRS just send it in with your filed paperwork. If you overpaid back in April, you’ll get a refund.

Still Time to Get Organized

If you’ve barely looked at your taxes since April (or plain forgot about them), it’s definitely time to bite the bullet. Hopefully you’ve at least organized your receipts and other paperwork so you can pull it out and get started. If not, might as well start there!

Make sure you have everything you need before you start. There’s nothing more infuriating than calculating all your deductions and then discovering another box of receipts. You only want to do this once so you can get it done with!

Pro Tip: If you still need help, use your free account with Outright. Calculations are much easier when we do it for you!

After you figure out exactly what you owe, go ahead and file. The IRS suggests using efile, their online payment system. If you’re filing via snail mail, make sure it’s postmarked by midnight on October 15^th! If not, you may incur penalties and fees.

If you need more tax help, make sure to come on over to our Customer Care Center and ask away!

This post is brought to you by Outright.com, the easiest way to manage your small business finances online.