This year’s IRS federal tax filing deadline has passed, but Delaware’s Division of Revenue is reminding Delawareans that their state Personal Income Tax forms are due on April 30.
Delawareans who didn’t file their state income taxes along with their federal income tax can still file their state income tax online for free on the state’s website or through traditional paper filing.
Director of Delaware’s Division of Revenue Patrick Carter says that the organizational benefits of filing online are passed from the state to the taxpayer.
“The average time to issue a refund for electronically filed returns is eight and a half days. For those who file paper, it’s averaging over 21 days," said Carter. It’s a dramatic difference between electronically filled refunds being issued and paper filed returns having their funds reissued.”
Carter adds that it is important to file your return by the April 30 deadline even if you can’t make the full payment.
Those who file, but can’t pay, will face an interest penalty of one and a half percent, while those who fail to file on time are hit with a 5 percent monthly penalty.
Carter also notes that those who work in Delaware but live in another state still have to file with the First State since Delaware does not maintain reciprocity agreements with other states. Because Delaware has more out-of-state workers employed in Delaware than Delawareans working outside of the state, reciprocity agreements would end up costing the state millions of dollars.
Carter says that many out of state workers will not have to pay extra tax fees.
“When they file their tax return in their home state, and let’s say they are a Maryland resident, they would get a tax credit on their tax return that should be equal to the amount that they paid to the state of Delaware," said Carter.
However, this does not apply to all out-of-state workers.
"There are some non-residents who will pay a little bit more and that tends to be Pennsylvania residents because their tax rate is a flat tax rate and our tax rate tends to be graduated,” said Carter. "Those [Pennsylvania residents] at the higher income bracket may pay more taxes to Delaware working here than if they worked full time in Pennsylvania."
The Department of Revenue is also warning Delawareans about the rising trend of identity theft and fraudulent tax returns.
If your name and Social Security number have already been used to file a fraudulent tax return, contact the Delaware Division of Revenue at 302-577-8200.