The last time I filed an extension it was for three months so when I heard about Romney’s extension I didn’t think much about it. But I just learned its a six month extension.
And this one gets him past the GOP Convention and potentially past the general election if he delays again. This is obviously a political tactic since the guy is paying handsomely for tax advice (presumably).
This is very unseemly in my opinion.
Every time I filed an extension it was a 6-month one. And I have done that for the last 13 years (this year is the first one that I am going to actually file in April and not on October 15th).
Why do you think it is “unseemly”? This year there is tremendous confusion in stock brokerages about the new IRS rules about wash sales etc. and every 1099 I got from a broker was messed up. Lots and lots of extensions being filed right now.
You know Romney is paying some prestigious CPA firm to do the work and they would have the means to finish on time.
But I admit, the release of that single year return (was it 2010?) earlier did not hurt his campaign much at all.
So am I - that is, paying some prestigious CPA firm to do the work (although my taxes forms are not as complex as Romney’s, I’m sure). They don’t have to finish on time. There is no advantage, in fact, to finishing on time, if there is some confusion with brokerage 1099s. When you file for extension you pay what you estimate your taxes should be. When you file up to six months later, you pay (or get back) the difference (and interest on it if need be), but that should not be that much.
I had a six-month extension last year. In fact, that’s the default standard. I don’t know how you got a three-month one.
Necessary materials keep arriving later and later. I waited until late March this year and a tax document still managed to appear later than that. Back when I was supplying people with 1099 forms, the deadline for getting them into their hands was Jan. 31. It would be great if half of the stuff I needed arrived by then.
Romney has also been a bit busy this year. And he’s announced that he will make his return available before the election. October the Fifteenth is not too late. (Bonus if you get the Fred Hoyle allusion.)
How is there no advantage for finishing on time? As you point out, you have to make the estimated payment in April. If you’ve finished your returns at that time you can pay the correct amount or collect your refund.
If you file for an extension, you’re either going to 1) delay collecting your refund; 2) overpay what you’ll owe and the IRS will be holding your money until you file your return; or 3) underpay and end up paying a penalty when you file. No matter which happens, it costs you financially.
In the last 13 years, it only happened once that the amount I estimated differed significantly from the final amount. So the penalties (or overpayment) are not an issue. The extra time to gather all the bullshit documentation together that I need to do full taxes is great. YMMV.
I don’t know man. Something smells fishy on my stink-o-meter.
Okay, I see what you’re saying but I had a different impression from your previous post. You said a professional CPA firm prepared your returns. I do my own taxes (which are pretty simple) but I feel I’d be annoyed if I was paying professionals to do my taxes and they tried to tell me it was no big deal if they didn’t have it ready by April and the penalties and/or overpayments involved wouldn’t be significant. I’d be more likely to have the attitude that I was paying them to have the job done on schedule.
Any Joe Schmoe’s brother in law can guarantee you that he’ll have it done on schedule. AFAIK CPAs get work because they guarantee it’ll be done accurately and to the greatest benefit to you while keeping on the sunny side of the law. If all the info isn’t yet in, or the IRS guidelines still appear to be developing on new rules, the best way to guarantee that may be to extend.
They would have it on time if I got them all the supporting docs on time. I usually don’t and some years can’t for various reasons. This year as I mentioned already, especially many extensions are filed because of screwed up 1099s from brokerages.
… and K-1’s from partnerships.
It absolutely should not be an issue…but it will be and you can feel good about yourselves since Fox News would make it an issue if a Democrat did it.
This isn’t an issue. Taxes can be complicated, and brokerages don’t always give you the information you need in a timely manner. I just reconstructed, from paper records, the cost basis for a stock purchased in 1984 with quarterly dividend reinvestments until a Q4 2011 buyout. It was a mess, and the brockerage was useless.
A family member, an accountant, once had to hire another accountant to help him out. It took 6 months to sort everything out.
Romney can afford to hire the best CPA firm in the nation to devote all of its resources to getting his taxes done now. He’s even got a wife who has all the time in the world to help. Damn right this should be an issue, there is no excuse a man of his means running for president can’t have his tax return released on schedule.
So, I take it this particular issue has changed your mind about voting for Romney? 
Preach it, brother.
In Romney’s case, any financial cost would be so insignificant that it wouldn’t even register. Plus, he probably knows exactly what amount he will have to pay (since his returns are probably all done and just sitting in a drawer until October) so 1) he won’t be getting a refund, 2) the IRS will only be holding the money he owes anyway, and 3) he won’t underpay and owe a penalty.
As I wrote, I misunderstood your previous post.
You wrote: “So am I - that is, paying some prestigious CPA firm to do the work (although my taxes forms are not as complex as Romney’s, I’m sure). They don’t have to finish on time. There is no advantage, in fact, to finishing on time, if there is some confusion with brokerage 1099s.” And I thought this sounded like the delay was coming from your CPA firm and they were taking a casual attitude towards your returns.
To me, it actually seems like this could hurt him. If he files in October, and there’s some damning material in his returns, he’s giving Obama something to bludgeon him with just weeks before the election.
And if he decides to file another extension, Obama can just play the ol’ “What’s he hiding” card.
Probably? Probably?? How could you possibly know the details of Romney tac filing process? There could be any number of reasons for filing for an extension.