Deciding When To File A Tax Return

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pril 15th – “The Day of         withholding income at the source.
Reckoning”! Every year,         The commissioner was given
millions of Americans get       authority to assess, levy and
ready to pay taxes to Uncle Sam,      collect federal income taxes. The
or get ready to collect a tax         authority to enforce tax laws by
refund from Uncle Sam; when did       seizure of property and income
this become the great day that it     and by prosecution.
is for taxpayers, and when are we
actually required to file a           Originally, the deadline for
income tax return? Let’s take a       completing and filing your
look at the beginnings of the         individual income tax was not
income tax date of April 15 and       April 15th. In the beginning, it
why it was chosen?                    was first set for March 1st.
                                      Then, during 1918, Congress
The first known income tax that       pushed the date out to March
Americans were legally required       15th. Then, in the great overhaul
to pay was enacted during the         of 1954, the date was once again
early 1860s, and the Presidency       moved forward to April 15th, and
of Abraham Lincoln. The Civil War     this is where it remains today.
was proving very costly to            Why April 15th? The main thought
finance, and the President and        from most scholars say the
Congress created the Commissioner     reasoning is that the date gives
of Internal Revenue and enacted a     the IRS more time to handle the
law requiring citizens to pay         work load and more time to hang
federal income tax. This could be     on to your money before offering
considered the start of our           a tax refund. This date has only
modern day income tax. This           been set this way for a little
income tax was based on               over 50 years. That’s not very
principles of graduated or            long, in historical terms, and it
progressive taxation and of           could possibly be changed again.

                                      part of the individual, and less
If you are an individual              on the business backs. To
taxpayer, you are required to         demonstrate how special interests
file either a return or an            have begun to overtake American
extension of time to file (Form       politics, during 1867, public
4868) by April 15th. Corporate        opinion was so strong, and the
and other legal entities are          outcry of the general public so
required to file their federal        loud, that the President and
income tax return by March 15th,      Congress abolished the income tax
and if not, they also must file       law in 1872, and from 1872 until
an extension of time to file.         1913 almost all of the revenue
What this extension does not do,      for government operation came
is to extend the amount of time       from the sale of liquor, beer,
you have to pay any taxes due the     wine, and tobacco. Although the
government. So, if you are unable     income tax did make a small come
to ready your personal or             back in 1894, it was found
business financial information in     unconstitutional in 1895 by the
a timely manner, and have no          U.S. Supreme Court because it was
reasonable estimate as to the         not apportioned among the states
amount of tax you may owe, you        in conformity with the
can expect to pay some form of        Constitution.
penalty.
                                      An interesting time during the
In the years following WWII, the      formation and eventual taxation
burden of tax responsibility was      of America occurred during 1918.
shared fairly equally by the          Until that point in time, the
corporate world and the               vast majority of tax revenue for
individual taxpayer. Today,           government funding came from
however, the shift has been           alcoholic beverage sales and high
toward more responsibility on the     tariffs. In 1919, Congress passed

an amendment to the Constitution      control, power, and expenditures
that made it illegal to               has continued to increase at a
manufacture or sell alcohol; what     phenomenal rate, and today the
would replace the revenue?            American taxpayer supports a
American federal income tax was       trillion dollar giant known as
the proposed solution, and we’ve      the United States government.
been paying since. Although           This ravenous beast consumes more
during the great years known as       than 10% of our earned income
Prohibition, many “revenue            each year, and if the Social
agents” spent their days tracking     Security Administration has their
down “moon shiners” not tax           way, will continue to consume
evaders, the American citizen,        even more of our weekly earnings.
the individual taxpayer took on       We can foresee no other relief in
the heavy burden of supporting        sight.
government revenue, and it has
become heavier with each passing      Currently, all the tax
year. On a side note, although        regulations for this country are
“moon shining” was illegal, the       the responsibility of the
“moon shiners” still had to pay       Internal Revenue Service, and
taxes on the moon shine so they       there are four major divisions of
were incarcerated for tax evasion     this government office: the Wage
and not “moon shining”. Taxes         and Investment, Small/Business
seem to always come into play         Self-Employed, the Large and
when looking for a way to             Midsize Business and the Tax
prosecute someone.                    Exempt and Government Entities.
                                      Each division has
Then, during 1942, the Revenue        responsibilities as they pertain
Act of 1942 was passed and the        to their individual specialty.
“New Deal” era was begun. Since
that point in time, government        There continues to be talk on the

hill to change the way taxes are      courage to step up to the plate
calculated and collected. The         and change it, taxes will remain
most common themes are the flat       as cumbersome as always.
tax and the national sales tax.

Until Congress actually has the

About the Author:

Keith Hoyng is the web master and operator of http://www.quickcash2u.com which is an excellent source of financial, travel, remodeling, and more key information. Visit us at http://www.quickcash2u.com/TaxHelp.html