What should you do when you are waiting for a K-1 form to file your tax return?  If you are a business owner that has a K-1 that contains the majority of your income for the year, hopefully you have been doing tax plans so you have a pretty good idea of what that K-1 will contain.

For people who only have small K-1s from investments they do not totally control, it can be a mystery what is coming on the K-1 and when it might be coming.  One option is to file your return without the K-1 and then amend your return later.

The other choice is to extend your return and wait for the K-1 to arrive.  An extended individual return is due October 15th, and all the K-1s are due September 15th (if they are extended), so you should have a month to take that K-1 and get your return filed.  When you do your individual extension, be sure to make any tax payments that are needed to avoid late payment penalties.  I would leave a cushion since you don’t know what exactly is coming on the K-1.  One tip for publicly-traded K-1s:  They are often available on their website or they may have an estimate of the K-1 income so you can file your extensions.

I suppose a third choice is you can badger the accountant preparing the K-1 to have it ready tomorrow.  Do not choose this option if I am the accountant preparing the K-1, but feel free to badger the other accountants out there.  You might not always get it the next day, but it’s tax season and we are used to it.