Leaving little time to file tax returns could bring you lots of problems.
About 50-75 per cent of Kenyans wait until the last 14 days before the deadline to prepare their tax returns. Leaving less time to file could bring you lots of problems.
This year, you don’t have to file your income taxes until June 30. That doesn’t mean you should procrastinate. If you wait until the last minute, you could run into headaches, expenses and other problems.
You’ll have less time to come up with any money owed.
A lot of people are blindsided by their tax bill, if you wait too long to file your taxes, you’re short-changing yourself on time.
The sooner you file, the sooner you’ll know if and how much you owe the government. That knowledge can help you plan to save for the bill and reduce the likelihood that you’ll need to take out a loan or use a credit card to cover it.
You increase your risk of tax identity theft
People who are trying to scam the system are getting their fake returns in very early; getting it in earlier is a defense against identity theft.
You leave more room for errors. If you wait until the final days (or hours) to work on your taxes, you might have to frantically hunt down or call a relative to ask the cost basis on stocks they gave you. Instead, give yourself enough time to research what documents you’ll need and to gather them.
Ideally, tax filers should step away from their returns upon completion, then reassess, It’s human nature, It’s easier to see blatant errors once you’ve put it down and look at it later.
Even technical issues like a computer failure (or realising that your information is on a laptop you left at work) could increase your chances of making mistakes. If you run into a glitch at the last minute, there’s just not enough time to remedy the situation which may result in your return getting filed late.
You’ll receive less attention from your adviser
If you’re using a tax professional, expect them to be busy as that June 30 deadlines approaches. As things come in, we put them in a queue, first in first out, You’ll get more attention from your tax adviser if you get it in in May than if you get it in in June.
In addition, rushing last’s year filing could leave you less tax-informed about this year. If you need another incentive, remember: The sooner you file, the sooner that return will be in your back account. The longer you go without it, the longer you’re giving the government an interest-free loan.
PAYE Tax Calculator
Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
