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Extensions


Abby Normal

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Or they will be coming for you, and it was nice knowing you. Enjoy your stay at the crossbar motel. 
 

Just kidding. I forgot to file a 4868, remembered at the crack of 9:00 am Thursday the 16th.  I had read that IRS computers had some problems on Wednesday, so I thought what’s the worst that can happen if I send it today? It was accepted.
 

If I have to go away for a while, y’all know why. 

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I can bake a good cake.  I'll come visit.

At least we're not running to the post office.  When I started in this insane business I was the runt at the firm.  There was one post office in the area that would stay open til midnight on the 15th and guess who was appointed the midnight run?  We would have trays of envelopes to go.  That's also when the extension was until August 15 and we had to turn around and make up another pile of extensions for the next round.  

 

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19 hours ago, schirallicpa said:

I can bake a good cake.  I'll come visit.

At least we're not running to the post office.  When I started in this insane business I was the runt at the firm.  There was one post office in the area that would stay open til midnight on the 15th and guess who was appointed the midnight run?  We would have trays of envelopes to go.  That's also when the extension was until August 15 and we had to turn around and make up another pile of extensions for the next round.  

 

I remember the midnight rush and also the August 15th and having to do another extension, only then you have to "reason" to be approved.  My pat answer was always "more time needed to complete an accurate return"  Never failed, always received the accepted extension back to us in the mail stamped "approved"

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Yeah, extensions are a huge waste of time and money. The extension ought to be truly automatic, where if you don't file by 4/15, it's automatically extended to 10/15 without any effort for taxpayers or the IRS. Essentially this would make the due date 10/15 with payments still due 4/15.

At least with efiled extensions, the IRS doesn't have to manually enter 10's of millions of paper extensions.

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Abby, NO!  We had automatic extensions this year to July 15, and we saw what happened.  The April 1st folks all came in July 1st.  If they thought they had an automatic extension until October 15, they'll show up Oct 1.  They will overlap with the usual extension folks who wait until October 10.  Tax season will never end!

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On 7/22/2020 at 12:00 PM, grandmabee said:

I remember the midnight rush and also the August 15th and having to do another extension, only then you have to "reason" to be approved.  My pat answer was always "more time needed to complete an accurate return"  Never failed, always received the accepted extension back to us in the mail stamped "approved"

I always had allergy problems and/or bronchitis between Apr 15 and Aug 15.  So the excuse on the 2688 was always "Due to recent tax preparer illness, additional time is respectfully requested to complete this return."  That was my story and I'm sticking to it. Always got that magic "Approved" reply. (Remember how we had to file it in duplicate?" )

I agree with Lion, too.  Extensions meant more money in my bank account because I could prepare more returns in 10 months than I could in 4.  Plus I could live a more normal life in the first 4 and stop trying to be a tax martyr working until all hours of the night & sacrificing weekends. 

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23 hours ago, Sara EA said:

Tax season will never end!

It never really does anyway.  I put my foot down years ago that I will NOT half-kill myself to accommodate clients who knew, back on Jan 1, what the deadline was (and this year, had extra time!).  They know that, and frankly if they go PAST the deadline, that's their problem, not mine.  Anyone who whines is very welcome to go elsewhere.  That said, I'll do my best - within reasonable limits that *I* set.

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20 hours ago, Lion EA said:

I can prepare a lot more tax returns until 15 October than I can to 15 April. This is my job. I WANT to work and make money all year! 15 October still gives me plenty of time to take classes and enjoy various holidays with family.

Exactly. Spreading out the workload and lessening the stress were always goals of mine. I love my clients who always go on extension. There's no way I could do them all by 4/15.

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On 7/24/2020 at 9:41 PM, Sara EA said:

Abby, NO!  We had automatic extensions this year to July 15, and we saw what happened.  The April 1st folks all came in July 1st.  If they thought they had an automatic extension until October 15, they'll show up Oct 1.  They will overlap with the usual extension folks who wait until October 10.  Tax season will never end!

My clients are not that way. They come in the same time every year, regardless. I just hate having to do extensions for days on end, and the constant worry that I missed extending someone. I'd rather just be finishing tax returns. And doing 50% of my work in essentially two months is my least favorite thing about public accounting. I'd much rather spread the work out over the year, and work more normal hours most of the year.

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I have fewer extensions this year than ever before. My clients came in about when they usually do. But the usual May & June crowd were done and not extended this year. I have the right amount to carry me through 15 October. But, this year -- from when the IRS and all the states I needed postponed the deadline to 15 July -- I'm getting an hour more sleep each night, took off most Sundays and even full weekends. I'm healthier and less stressed. I may feel it in September & October. But, I did NOT feel it in April nor July! What filled up too much of my time was taking webinars each time new "clarifications" came out, but webinars are less stressful than tax preparation; and my CEs are in great shape for this year.

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