Tax Filing Deadline Approaches

Hoosiers have a little less than a week left to file their taxes for 2017.

Those who file their state and federal taxes online can submit electronically any time before April 18. For those who use paper to file, Indiana Department of Revenue Commissioner Adam Krupp says their returns must be in the mail by April 17.

“It can arrive after April 17. But it needs to be postmarked that day," Krupp says. "That’s a common mistake that people make.”

Hoosiers won't see many differences in the federal taxes they file this year. Krupp says that's because changes from the major federal tax overhaul bill passed by Congress a few months ago apply to taxes people will file in 2019.

“All of those things people have been hearing about, in terms of doubling that standard deduction, lowering the rate of those seven tax brackets – those are for next year,” Krupp says.

The Indiana Department of Revenue says close to 90 percent of Hoosiers file their taxes online. And Krupp says e-filed returns have a much lower error rate – only about 2 percent, compared to an error rate of about 20 percent for paper returns.

Online filing is available for free to Hoosiers who make $66,000 or less in adjusted gross income, through the state Department of Revenue's website.