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You can file a tax extension. It defers your taxes by 6 months. You pay 5% annual interest on it. http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/article/0,,id=98155,00.html http

• thaumaturgy 17y ago
  You can defer filing your tax forms for 6 months, yes; however, any amounts that you owe must be paid by April 15th. From the link: "Please be aware that an extension of time to file your return does not grant you any extension of time to pay your tax liability." It is possible to file an application for a payment plan with the IRS. IIRC, you can only do this once every 5 years or so; having done it anytime in the last five years disqualifies you from being eligible for a payment plan. You must also show that you can't actually afford the amount owed. You're able to choose your own payment plan -- $/month for N months -- but the longer you stretch it out, the uglier it gets, due to interest. If you default on the payment plan for any reason, there are some pretty serious fees and other interest added on (so said my CPA). The big lesson for me here is that there is a 15% self-employment tax for sole proprietors and partnerships, and that it's assessed against your AGI, no matter how low your AGI is. I was confused about this and hadn't bothered to figure out my tax situation ahead of time because I was certain that my AGI would put me below the usual poverty line. But, there is no such thing for those that are self-employed. Oops. I would have saved myself quite a bit of money if I'd taken care of this earlier last year, rather than waiting until the deadline was too near.