Freelancing, Federal Business Income Tax, and You

If you’re a small business owner, a Fortune 500 company, or somewhere in between, chances are you’ve had to deal with freelance employees (aka 1099 employees aka contract employees). These are people who, rather than working for your company, work for themselves. Instead of coming in from 9-5 every day, they work on a single project or for a few hours a day. And they are also affected greatly by federal business income tax law.

And, of course, when someone you are using is affected, your business is affected too. Here’s the lowdown on how federal business income tax affects your freelancers and your company:
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The 2009 Tax Extension is October 15th

The season for E-filing tax returns officially ends on October 15th. You can still mail in your 2009 tax return after the deadline but your return will be considered late. Remember that all returns mailed after the deadline must be signed.

Tax returns filed prior to the closing of the tax season must have their postage affixed and be postmarked  by 11:59PM on October 15, 2010 in order to avoid late filing penalties. If you have a liability for tax year 2009 and you do not file by the deadline, penalties will be added to the amount owed and interest will accrue from the date of the original April deadline!

E-File my 2009 Return Now!

Can I Still File 2008 Taxes Online?

We all know April 15th is the deadline for taxes, but few of us know what to do if you miss that deadline. Is there a way you can still pay your tax due? Are you forever hurt by this one mistake? What about if you didn’t just miss this year, but several other years as well. What then? Can you still file your 2008 taxes online? Or are you a hopeless case?

Here’s everything you always wondered about tax extensions, but were afraid to ask:

Can I still file a 2008 extension?

Well, no. You’re time is up on this one. You were only able to file an extension up until the April 15th deadline of that year in order to extend your file date to October 15th. This is something to keep in mind for your current year returns though.

Can I file back taxes at any time?

Okay, let’s go back to doing those 2008 taxes online: can you? Of course! The IRS is about getting your money, after all, so they want you to pay as long as you’re willing to. You can file past due taxes at any time. Of course, these come with some penalties…

What penalties am I responsible for?

Well, there are two penalty fees that may apply to you for not filing your 2008 taxes.

  1. failure-to-file penalty
  2. failure-to-pay penalty

To find out more about these fees and how to calculate the amount you owe, check out our other article!

Can I still claim my 2008 tax refund?

Refunds can be claimed up to three years after the filing deadline. As you may have guessed, that deadline has passed already. However, now is the time to think of any other prior year tax returns that you need to file that may fall into that three-year time frame. You’ll want to file them ASAP in order to claim that refund.

Why should I still file my 2008 tax return?

You always want to be as up to date on your tax filing as possible to avoid a situation where the IRS holds onto your current year refund due to the fact that you haven’t filed and paid your tax due for a prior year. It wouldn’t be a very happy surprise to find that you can’t collect your expected 2014 tax refund because you decided to skip filing for 2008.

 

So there you have it: all your major questions answered. And yes, you can still file 2008 taxes online (or 2007, 2006, 2005, etc). There’s no statute of limitations on taxes, only increasing fees. So stop worrying about filing and start doing it. Chances are, it’ll be the best choice you ever made.