What happens if you filed your tax return on time (by April 18 this year) but did not include your tax payment?

If you realize the mistake, send in your payment to lessen penalties and interest. Otherwise, expect a letter from the IRS, and be sure to read it carefully and immediately -- and, of course, review it with your accountant right away, as each tax situation is unique to the individual. The letter will ask you to send in a check for the taxes owed plus penalties and interest for failure to pay taxes. (Because you filed your return, you won't be charged penalties for failure to file.)

Expect to receive the letter, called an initial tax assessment notice (CP14), in early-to-mid-June if you filed on time. "By law (Section 6303 of the Internal Revenue Code), [the IRS] must notify you of a tax assessment within 60 days," an IRS spokesperson told me. Read more about CP14 at tinyurl.com/3ezx6cj4.

The penalty for failure to pay is 0.5% of the unpaid taxes for each month or part of a month that the tax remains unpaid. The penalty "won't exceed 25% of your unpaid taxes," quoting the IRS Failure to Pay Penalty webpage (tinyurl.com/mtbec4c2).

Interest will also be assessed. The current quarterly interest rate (April through June) for underpayment of taxes is 7% (tinyurl.com/mr49bmj4), and the rate is compounded daily. Importantly, if you receive a notice, "you will not be charged interest on the amount shown if you pay the amount owed in full on or before the 'pay by' date," according to the IRS Interest webpage (tinyurl.com/m58hbew4).

It is possible to have penalties waived in certain cases. "The IRS may abate your penalties for filing and paying late if you can show reasonable cause and that the failure wasn't due to willful neglect," quoting IRS Tax Topic 653 (tinyurl.com/mwzmpm3t). "If you're billed for penalty charges and you have reasonable cause for abatement of the penalty, send your explanation along with the bill ... or call [the IRS] at 800-829-1040 for assistance."

While the IRS webpage Penalty Relief (tinyurl.com/yuac7874) mentions using Form 843 (Claim for Refund and Request for Abatement) if your relief request is not approved over the phone, the IRS spokesperson explained that most often, Form 843 is not needed, adding, "This is especially true if you have a notice or bill in hand -- just respond to that notice in writing."

The Penalty Relief for Reasonable Cause page at tinyurl.com/2p9d2558 has what might (and might not) qualify as a valid reason for failing to file or pay a tax on time. It also details what supporting documentation should be included.

The IRS abated nearly $50.9 billion in civil penalties during fiscal year 2022, with $36.7 billion of the abatement related to individual and estate and trust income tax returns (tinyurl.com/mr3r5sby).

For more information about notices, read "Understanding Your IRS Notice or Letter" at tinyurl.com/2d99nm3y.

By the way, the IRS considers a mailed payment to be made on time if "the envelope is properly addressed, has enough postage, is postmarked, and is deposited in the mail by the due date" (tinyurl.com/29b44u2z). If you file late and pay late, "you don't get credit for any possible mailing delays. Your return is treated as filed and paid on the day we get it," according to the IRS spokesperson.

And, let me add two pieces of advice for the future. Consider creating an IRS online account at tinyurl.com/2pwrtepw to make and check on payments. And, it doesn't hurt to check your bank account two weeks after making a tax payment to confirm the payment cleared. You can also call the IRS at 800-829-1040 to see if "the payment has been credited to your tax account" (tinyurl.com/4v4tf5hj).

DISTRIBUTED BY ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

What do you think makes a "great investor"? Is it simply the person who achieves the best returns, or has the ability to "sniff out" an opportunity? What about intellect? Are great investors just smarter than everyone else? Or is there something else that separates the good from the not-so-good investors?

Think Warren Buffett. He believes that "Temperament is more important than IQ. You need reasonable intelligence, but you absolutely have to have the right temperament. Otherwise, something will snap you" (tinyurl.com/y2uadrvh).

It's hard to disagree. Being effective as an investor is more about sensibility and less about IQ or guts or the drive to win.

Investing is not a contest. It is not a sport.

Further, investing is not as easy as it might seem. There is a lot to learn, and the learning never stops. Markets change, goals change -- in fact, even the unanticipated (think COVID-19) can affect an investment program.

What else? Understanding that every decision will not be the right decision. Accepting that the goal is to put money to work, not to strive for home runs. Recognizing that investing is not a competition. Understanding what investors do and don't control. Plus, having the nerve to recognize and weather inevitable storms.

I also agree with Wall Street columnist Jason Zweig's seven "virtues": curiosity, skepticism, independence, humility, discipline, patience and courage. (tinyurl.com/3p2mmx8w). Let's focus on just four.

CURIOSITY: "Ordinary investors are afraid of what they don't know, as if they are navigating the world with those antique maps that labeled uncharted waters with the warning 'here be dragons.' Great investors are afraid of what they do know, because they realize it might be biased, incomplete or wrong. So they never deviate from their lifelong, relentless quest to learn more."

In my view, curiosity drives learning. Resources abound, including those provided by regulators. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which oversees U.S. broker-dealers, provides important, understandable information on the topics of personal finance and investing in its For Investors section (tinyurl.com/yc7hhwy3).

SKEPTICISM: "Numbing investors with numbers is a standard marketing tactic in the financial industry. That's why skepticism is one of the seven virtues of great investors."

Agreed. As I noted in my latest book, "The Discerning Investor," "Had I not started my Wall Street career as a lawyer preparing proxy statements, working on prospectus disclosures, and participating in industry committees, I doubt I would have developed the lawyerly traits -- skepticism being most important -- needed to manage retirement portfolios within a framework packed with uncertainties, both in the client's life and in the markets."

DISCIPLINE: Discipline is described as "not making it up as you go along, never flying by the seat of your pants. It means using rules, checklists, procedures and policies to make decisions" (tinyurl.com/4yb9sf4h).

Zweig offers the following example: "The late global investor Sir John Templeton relocated from New York to the Bahamas where, he told me decades ago, The Wall Street Journal arrived days late. By reading the news a week later, Templeton told me, he could put it in perspective and prevent himself from over-reacting."

PATIENCE: Patience "is often measured not in months or years but in decades."

Again, I have to agree. If you are on a path to creating wealth, the most important tool is time. Patience is absolutely necessary to maximize compounding by earning interest on interest. Time is the key contributor, assuming the chosen investment has potential for appreciation.

If you think you know everything you need to know, remember Zweig's key point on curiosity: Great investors keep learning. That's why investors like Buffett and Charlie Munger are still very much involved, even though they are both in their 90s.

If you think you can avoid due diligence, you might wind up with investments that may not be in your best interest.

If you think you don't need rules, you'll be flying by the seat of your pants.

If you don't think you need to start investing early, you'll never take full advantage of the math of compounding.

How would you define your temperament when it comes to investing? It's a question worth exploring.

DISTRIBUTED BY ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

If your employer does not offer a 401(k) or other retirement plan for employees, you are not alone.

For example, in Connecticut, my home state, more than 600,000 private-sector employees do not have access to an employee-sponsored retirement savings plan.

On a nationwide basis, 57 million Americans (nearly half of the private sector workforce aged 18 to 64) work for companies that do not provide retirement plans, according to a 2022 AARP Public Policy Institute fact sheet (tinyurl.com/2s3sr7xb). If you focus on smaller companies (fewer than 10 employees), about 78% lack access to a retirement plan.

Sixteen states want this to change. California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia and Washington have enacted programs for private-sector workers, with nine of these states having active programs, according to Georgetown University's Center for Retirement Initiatives (tinyurl.com/474jt7f3).

In California, which had a full statewide launch of its program in July 2019, there were more than 420,000 funded accounts in the CalSavers Retirement Savings Program at the end of April 2023 (tinyurl.com/y4dpjrds). In Illinois, the Secure Choice program, which launched in 2018, had more than 122,000 funded accounts as of April 30, 2023 (tinyurl.com/m8ta7vme).

Keep in mind that each state has different rules.

Connecticut employers with more than five employees (who make $5,000 a year or more in taxable wages) are required to provide a retirement plan, either directly on their own or through MyCTSavings, a program run by the Connecticut Office of the State Comptroller (tinyurl.com/2p8nwyb3). Employers have until Aug. 31, 2023, to set up the plan. The Connecticut state legislature is currently considering implementing penalties for noncompliance, according to Madi Csejka, spokesperson for the Connecticut Office of the State Comptroller.

Once employees are enrolled in the plan, MyCTSavings automatically deducts 3% of gross pay and deposits those funds into a Roth IRA account in the employee's name (tinyurl.com/2knrs6r7). Employees contribute post-tax dollars instead of pre-tax dollars (401(k)s are typically pre-tax contributions).

One complication is that an employee will need to review the Roth IRA contributions he makes on his own to compare with the MyCTSavings payroll deductions. Why? To make sure he doesn't overfund his Roth IRA for the year. The Roth IRA contributions he makes on his own together with the MyCTSavings payroll deductions cannot exceed the IRS annual maximum, which for 2023 cannot be more than $6,500, or $7,500 if you are age 50 or older.

Likewise, Roth IRAs are not available to you if your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is above certain limits (see tinyurl.com/2eje9w4f). For example, if you are single and your MAGI is less than $138,000, you can contribute up to the limit. However, if your MAGI is equal to or greater than $153,000, you cannot contribute anything.

The participation in MyCTSavings is voluntary for employees but mandatory for employers. However, there is no requirement (or mechanism) for an employer to make an employer contribution.

You, the employee, can opt out at any time.

MyCTSavings has a standard investment option, where your contributions go into a cash preservation fund for the first 60 days after the initial contribution, and then a target retirement date option for any existing savings and any future contributions. Other options can be viewed at tinyurl.com/mrds8hhu.

Plan participants pay for administrative and operating expenses through a $26 yearly account fee, which is billed at $6.50 quarterly, along with a yearly asset-based fee of approximately $0.26 for every $100 in their account (tinyurl.com/t7d4ka32).

If you are a Connecticut employer who hasn't set up a MyCTSavings Employer Account, the quickest way to get going is to use this resource: tinyurl.com/abybw8vx.

The phone number for additional help is 1-833-811-7435, and the email is clientservices@myctsavings.com.

If you are one of the millions of Americans whose employer does not offer a retirement plan, you may have another option -- provided your state has created one. Be sure to check the National Association of State Treasurers' map of participating states (tinyurl.com/ywj42a5f).

DISTRIBUTED BY ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION