The October 15 deadline for extended tax returns lands on a Thursday this year. If you filed an extension back in April, that is the day your personal return is due. For a sole proprietor or a single-member LLC, that return carries the whole business.
I have been the owner who got the September email from the accountant. I was running the factory floor, and I knew the books were not ready. So here is the plain version, from the bookkeeping side of the table.
Three things the October 15 deadline does not do
It does not move again. There is no second extension. October 15 is the stop.
It never moved the payment date. The IRS says it in one line: an extension of time to file is not an extension of time to pay. If you owe, interest and the late-payment penalty have been running since April 15.
It does not forgive a late return. Miss it and the failure-to-file penalty starts. That one is 5% of the unpaid tax for each month or part of a month, up to 25%. The late-payment penalty is 0.5% a month. Filing late costs far more than paying late, so file on time even if you cannot pay it all.
Partnerships and S corporations on extension had September 15. If that was you and the return is still open, call your CPA today.
What your CPA needs, and when
Your CPA cannot file from a shoebox. They need reconciled books for the tax year being filed, and they need them well before the October 15 deadline, not on it. Ask for their date this week. It is earlier than you think.
Then work only the year being filed, in this order:
- Reconcile every bank and credit card account, month by month through the tax year.
- Categorize every transaction. Nothing left in a catch-all account.
- Pull the personal charges out of the business accounts.
- Run the Profit and Loss and the Balance Sheet, and read them before you send them.
The full step-by-step is in my tax extension bookkeeping checklist. The packet itself is laid out in what your CPA needs before they can file.
If the books are further behind than that
A normal cleanup takes about 30 days. There are not 30 days left. A straightforward file, one or two accounts with bank feeds connected, can still be done in as little as five business days. A file with years of untouched transactions cannot, and anyone who promises otherwise is guessing.
Either way, know the number before you decide. I publish mine: what a bookkeeping cleanup costs, including the rush price for work against the October 15 deadline. And if the books will not be ready, talk to your CPA about your options before the 15th, not after.
This is general information, not tax advice. Your CPA knows your return. Ask them about your situation.
Which account in your books have you not reconciled since January?
