ASHEBORO, N.C. — Time is ticking as the tax deadline quickly closes in.
If you haven't filed your return, you're not alone.
"My old boss used to say, 'Hey, what's the purpose of a deadline if you're not going to use it?' So we find a lot of customers like to use that deadline," said Ryan Dodson with Liberty Tax.
In 2022, more than 80 million people waited until the last minute to file their return.
This year, you will have until 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, April 18th to get it done.
"For years in our office in Asheboro, we would have one customer, this was like for five years in a row, we had the exact same customer walk in our office sometime between 11:20 and 11:40 p.m. to file a tax return that night. He was just that predictable and he liked to wait until the last minute and he was almost always the last customer we would file a tax return for," said Dodson.
Dodson says their offices always get busier in the days and weeks leading up to the deadline.
If you are one that has been putting it off, Dodson says to get started now.
Waiting until the absolute last minute can create more undue stress.
"You never know when you're going through a tax return if you're going to need another piece of information and you'd much rather have a couple days to find that piece of information than all of a sudden be sitting there on the 18th and having to produce it that day," said Dodson.
If you are not going to meet the deadline this week, you can file for an extension with the IRS.
Dodson reminds you that "An extension is an extension to file, not an extension to pay."
According to Fidelity, owing taxes is one of the biggest reasons people wait until the last minute to file their return.
If you do have to pay, it still needs to be paid by the April 18th deadline.
Dodson says the best thing you can do is to just get it done.
That also ensures your return is accurate, and you can avoid an unexpected encounter with Uncle Sam later on.
"By all means, get it now and get it in, get it started get it done and get it finished. Just so you know," said Dodson.