If you’re always putting off filing your taxes until right before April 15, this time it may just pay off a little bit – because here you get some last-minute tax filing tips!

 

In this episode, I interview Certified Public Accountant Lucy Petry on helpful tax filing tips. Lucy is a tax lawyer, professor at the South Texas College of Law, and works with the IRS through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. Additionally, she works on close to a thousand tax returns per year.

 

Key Points in the Podcast:

-Filing for an extension does not exempt you from paying taxes or late penalties

-Making estimated tax payments to the IRS to avoid penalties

-Filing for an extension is probably better than having to file an amendment

-You can import investment trade history records from your brokers to tax filing software

-You can reduce your taxes on investment profits by selling other investments that you’re losing money on (offsetting gains with losses)

-Making IRA contributions will reduce the taxes you owe today

-You can still make 2017 contributions to your IRA up until you file your 2018 return

-Beware of tax fraud and scammers

-Don’t be afraid to find a credentialed tax advisor to help you with your taxes if your financial situation is complicated

-The standard deduction will be doubling next year

 

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