Mellody's Last-Minute Tax Tips

April 15, 2006 — -- Are you scrambling this weekend to get all of your receipts together so you can file your tax return? Just because you're doing it last minute doesn't mean you can't do it right.

Here are some tips from ABC News financial contributor Mellody Hobson, president of Ariel Capital Management in Chicago.

But April 17 is Patriot's Day, a state holiday in Massachusetts. New York, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Washington, D.C., file federal returns with the Andover Service Center, which is in Andover, Mass., and will be closed on the April 17. So those states and the District of Columbia have April 18 as their deadline.

If you don't file your return or an extension, the IRS can charge you interest and impose penalties by as much as 50 percent. Plus, not paying your income taxes is a criminal offense.

So, if you think you owe money, you'll need to make a good-faith estimate your tax liability and make a payment by April 17 or 18, depending upon the state in which you live. If your estimate is less than 90 percent of what you actually owe, any unpaid taxes will be subject to interest and penalties.

If you have an adjusted gross income of $50,000 or less, you are eligible for "free file," which is a partnership between the IRS and a few dozen tax preparers, that offers eligible taxpayers free online federal income tax preparation and e-filing. For more information, visit www.irs.gov.

For those who don't qualify for "free file," you should download tax preparation software online instead of buying it in the store. It will be cheaper that way.