What Happens if You File Taxes Late in Illinois?

You know you need to file your taxes in April, but what if you don't do it on time? There's a fine if you live in Illinois. 

There are only a few things that are guaranteed in life, and one of them is that you need to file your taxes every April.

Do to the fact that my birthday is April 14, I have no trouble remembering that tax day is April 15.

But, I imagine that's actually not as easy for everyone else to remember, either way April 15 is tax day.

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However, it 'moves' more times than not because of holidays and weekend. Specifically this year, tax day is actually tomorrow, April 18, because the 15th was a Saturday and today (April 17) is Emancipation Day in Washington D.C.

So you have a little over a day to file those taxes.

But what if you don't get it done by the deadline?

According to EFile.com, you basically need to file a Tax Extension or pay a fine. I'd suggest filing the extension... which will give you six months to get those taxes done.

If you end up skipping out on the taxes and the extension application (which must be filled out by Tax Day), you're going to get a Failure to File Penalty.

How Much Will You Owe if You Pay Your Taxes Late

That penalty varies from person to person, it's 5% of the unpaid taxes for each month or part of the month that the return is late, according to the IRS.

The IRS also notes that if your return is over 60 days late, the minimum Failure to Pay Penalty is $435.

That's for Federal taxes... here in Illinois, you'll get another fine if you don't pay your state tax by tomorrow, which looks to be a bit less than the Federal amount, but you still don't want to owe an extra $200+.

The bottom line is, file an extension if you need it! Or you might want to move to Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington or Wyoming, because they don't make you pay state taxes.