Deadline Nears --
Extensions, Installment Plans Available

WASHINGTON - With the tax filing deadline just around the weekend corner, the Internal Revenue Service today reminded taxpayers that it offers extensions for those who can't complete their forms and installment plans for those who can't pay.

If you can't finish your tax form on time, you can get an extra four months -- until Aug. 15 -- to file your return by sending Form 4868 to the IRS by Apr. 17. This filing extension does not give you more time to pay any taxes owed. You must estimate your total tax liability when requesting the extension. You may pay any projected balance due with the Form 4868, but if you can't pay the full amount, you can still get the extension.

Interest charges apply to any tax not paid by Apr. 17. You may also be liable for a late payment penalty if the amount paid by Apr. 17 is less than 90 percent of your actual 1994 tax.

If you've completed your tax forms, but you can't pay the full amount owed, you should still file your return on time, since the late filing penalty is ten times the late payment penalty. Send as large a payment as possible with your return, to lessen interest and penalty charges, which currently total an annual rate of 16 percent -- ten percent annual interest, plus a late payment penalty of 0.5 percent per month.

You can ask the IRS for an installment payment plan when you file. There is a $43 fee for setting up the plan. Attach Form 9465 to the front of your tax return, listing the amount you propose to pay each month and on which day. The IRS should let you know within 30 days if your proposal is accepted. You will add the $43 fee to your first payment.

If you did not have enough tax withheld last year, you should act now to avoid this problem next year. Get a 1995 Form W-4 from your employer or from the IRS and use it to find the proper number of withholding allowances for your situation. Claiming fewer allowances -- or asking your employer to withhold an extra amount each payday -- will spread your tax payments more evenly throughout the year.

Make your payment check out to "Internal Revenue Service," not "IRS." Be sure the check includes your name, address, Social Security number, a daytime phone number, the tax year and the form you filed. Do not attach your check to your tax form, and do not include any 1995 estimated tax payment.

As of April 7, the IRS had received nearly 68 million returns, and had issued over $47 billion in refunds so far. At $1,087, the average refund is up six percent from last year.

                     1995 Filing Season Statistics

Cumulative through the week ending 4/8/94 and 4/7/95

                           1994        1995      % Change

Individual Income Tax Returns

  Total Receipts         68,142,000    67,858,000      -0.4
  Total Processed        58,576,000    56,727,000      -3.2

Electronic Filing (ELF) -- Total Receipts:

  Standard ELF           12,683,000    10,236,000     -19.3
  TeleFile                  490,000       635,000      29.6
  Total Electronic       13,173,000    10,871,000     -17.5
  Federal/State ELF       1,066,000     1,408,000      32.1
    (incl. above)

States participating or testing: 1994 - 23; 1995 - 29

Refunds Certified by the Martinsburg Computing Center as of 4/3:

  Number                47,860,000     43,641,000      -8.8
  Amount of
  principal         $49.054 billion   $47.426 billion  -3.3
  Average refund          $1025         $1087           6.0

(NOTE: refund data should NOT be compared to the "processed" numbers above, since those figures reflect Service Center processing, which is generally completed the week before refunds are certified at the Computing Center)

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