BY STEVE DINNEN
If you’ve sent your check to the U.S. Treasury (the payment deadline was Tuesday), please know that they appreciate your effort. If you haven’t sent a check to the Iowa Department of Revenue, relax—it’s not due until April 30.
It’s no big deal, but why, I wondered, does Iowa give taxpayers a 15-day break? (From what I could see, it’s the only state with a deadline that differs from the federal timeline). So I asked them. They didn’t know. Could it be that the reason is just lost in the fog of time? That thought that was as good an explanation as any.
So I also asked whether there has ever been any discussion about linking the state deadline to the federal. They were more certain on this point: not to their knowledge.
State and federal filing deadlines for extended returns differ as well. It’s Oct. 15 for federal, and Oct. 30 for the state.
So I guess my curiosity about this time lag thing will just have to be left at that. But I do know that there is a linkage when it comes to making the payment. Those deadlines—April 15 (the normal federal date, extended this year because it fell on a weekend and then April 16 was a local holiday in Washington, D.C.) or April 30—are when payments have to be made. Never mind that you haven’t finished building your return; you still have to pay by the deadline. Otherwise, penalties set in.
