Pros/Cons of Extending your Return There are really almost no cons to extending your return, unless of course you are expecting a huge refund. Most of our clients (that have been with us for more than a year) will not be expecting huge refunds, since we take the extra time as a part of our service, to review and adjust your tax withholdings and estimated payments for the following year. Why leave your money on deposit with the government? They will just use it to bail out another failing American institution…while your family continues to struggle to earn and save and realize the American dream! eeCPA PLC is different in that rather than just looking at historical data and making estimates based on that data, we actually take a forward looking approach to anticipate new changes in your business or financial life. Further, by staying on top of the new tax law changes, we apply the new law to our forward-looking calculations to save you from paying more tax than you should. The Myths of Extension… Filing on time does not yield any substantial benefit for you. In fact, it is often a benefit to extend your returns. Many times a thorough analysis will yield greater tax savings for you. When you do not receive your tax documents until late February, there is just not enough time to thoroughly analyze all deductions and potential tax savings strategies for all clients in just 6 weeks. By extending, we can take more time in making meaningful recommendations to save you money. You do not have a greater chance of audit by extending your returns. In fact, many times your risk of audit may be deferred. For example, we have a number of clients that file in late summer every year. This year, the IRS computer system was down for about 5 weeks from December through January. Thus, it is likely that these later filers will not even receive discrepancy notices until late this year, if at all. Getting an extension of time to file is not viewed by the government like the teacher may have viewed your request for extension of homework. The government is well aware that it is impossible for tax professionals to prepare and file all of their clients’ returns within a six-week time frame. Extensions of time to file are now granted “automatically”. Times have changed, technology has changed, and business investments have all become more complex. It takes time to sort out some of these issues and make accurate calculations to provide proper reporting to the government. Get tax information you can use! Tax News Elizabeth Hale, CPA 20 years of experience eeCPA Site Map eeCPA PLC 4612 E Robert E Lee St. Phoenix, AZ 85032  We’re at Tatum and Bell Tel. 602.923.2111 | Fax 480.323.2644 | Email: elizabeth@eecpa.com | Web: www.eecpa.com Copyright © 2010 eeCPA PLC. All rights reserved.