A Poll on the March 1 Filing "Deadline"
We take a poll on whether the March 1 filing deadline should be abolished
The March 1 option for farmers to file and pay their tax by March 1 to prevent having to pay one estimate on January 15 has been in the Code for many decades.
It is getting more difficult for many farmers to meet this deadline due to their more complex structure and delays in getting needed information. As an example, we had many tax preparers reach out to us indicating the form to file out the gas tax refund was not available for e-filing until this week. Also, many farmers have investment brokerage accounts and those 1099s tend to show up very late in February.
We thought we would do a poll on this topic today.
I don't understand why they can't just allow farmers to file and pay penalty free by April 15th. Is 1.5 months of interest revenue really that critical to our government's budget? Farmers make up 1% to 2% of the total employed US population.
If it was abolished a lot of farmers and ranchers wouldn't bring stuff until April 14th causing extensions to be filled and us explaining the need to make an estimated payment with the extension. Then you wouldn't see needed information to file them until October 14th. Then if they owe and you can't finalize the return in time they yell and scream about the penalty notice they receive.