Here's what happens if you don't pay your taxes

[Right_in_Virginia]

Here's what happens if you don't pay your taxes
CNBC, Apr 13, 2018

Taxes are due early next week and, if you don't file and pay your taxes, you could face some consequences.
 
Everyone's tax situation is different, but here are some of the things that might happen if you don't submit your 2017 tax returns by the filing deadline of Tuesday, April 17.

First, there are different penalties for not filing your taxes and not paying them, says Lisa Greene-Lewis, certified public accountant and TurboTax blog editor.

• If you don't file, you'll face a failure-to-file penalty. The penalty is 5 percent of your unpaid taxes for each month your tax return is late, up to 25 percent. Plus, if you file more than 60 days late, you'll pay a minimum of $135 or 100 percent of the taxes you owe (whichever is less).

• If you file your taxes but don't pay them, the IRS will charge you a failure-to-pay penalty. The penalty is far less: Generally, the IRS will charge you 0.5 percent of your unpaid taxes for each month you don't pay, up to 25 percent. Interest also accrues on your unpaid taxes. The interest rate is equal to the federal short-term rate, plus 3 percent.


Read more:  https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/13/heres-what-happens-if-you-dont-pay-your-taxes.html

[Right_in_Virginia]

So why is Tax Day on April 17 this year? Basically, it's due to a combination of the 15th falling on a Sunday and a holiday unique to Washington, D.C., hitting on Monday the 16th.

The nation's capital celebrates Emancipation Day to mark the date that President Abraham Lincoln freed slaves there in 1862. While it's a local holiday, it affects when taxes are due.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/13/heres-why-tax-day-is-april-17.html

[Elderberry]

My Dad was a CPA and he would file exemptions until they ran out. And then he would wait until he received the third letter from the IRS before he paid.

One year when tax time came around, I didn't have the money to pay scratched up by Apr15. So I filed, but did not pay. By the time the third letter came, I had the money to pay. I had to pay some interest, but it wasn't much.

[Victoria33]

@Elderberry
@mystery-ak

Many years ago, I was a school counselor and had three months off in the summer.  So, I took a job for those three months at a cable company that was just then putting cable in that area.  I didn't know they had a retirement policy and I only worked for them that three months.

When I filled out our tax form, I took off the amount I paid into an IRA which was what one did back then.  Not long after that, we got a nasty letter from the IRS and they said I could not do that since I was in a company that had a retirement plan.  They also said they were going to take the extra amount we owned out of our bank account.

My husband send them a nasty letter with the extra money owed and told them to leave our bank account alone.  The IRS has the power to take your private money out of your bank account if they want it.

Also, in an earlier year, we had a rent house and I didn't know how to report that on our income tax so I went to a real estate company to ask them what to do and I did that on our income tax.  Then, I got a letter from the IRS that we were being audited because of the rent house and I had to meet with an IRS audit guy at the courthouse.  I was a 5th grade school teacher then.  On the day I was to meet with this guy, John Kennedy was killed.  An announcement was made by the school into the classrooms that he was just killed.  After school, I went to that meeting with this guy, and we were both so stunned Kennedy was killed, that was what we talked about.  I explained why I had reported the rent house like I did and he understood I did my best to do that right.  This guy was nice.  The rent house problem was changed and I paid the extra amount the rent house problem caused.  I will always remember that meeting due to Kennedy being killed.