APRIL 15 SYNDROME

  1. JOEL SLEMROD1,
  2. CHARLES CHRISTIAN2,
  3. REBECCA LONDON3,
  4. JONATHAN A. PARKER4,†

Article first published online: 28 SEP 2007

DOI: 10.1111/j.1465-7295.1997.tb01958.x

Issue

Economic Inquiry

Economic Inquiry

Volume 35, Issue 4, pages 695–709, October 1997

Additional Information

How to Cite

SLEMROD, J., CHRISTIAN, C., LONDON, R. and PARKER, J. A. (1997), APRIL 15 SYNDROME. Economic Inquiry, 35: 695–709. doi: 10.1111/j.1465-7295.1997.tb01958.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Phone 1–313-936-3914, Fax 1–313-763-4032, E-mail jslemrod@umich.edu

  2. 2

    Arizona State University Tempe, Phone 1–602-965-6632, Fax 1–602-965-8392, E-mail charles.christian@asu.edu

  3. 3

    Berkeley Planning Associates Oakland, Calif., Phone 1–510-465-7884, Fax 1–510-465-7885, E-mail rebecca@bpacal.com

  4. 4

    Society of Scholars Fellow, University of Michigan Business School, Ann Arbor, Phone 1–313-763-2237, Fax 1–313-936-8716, E-mail japarker@umich.edu

  1. †

    *We are grateful to two anonymous referees for helpful comments on an earlier draft.

  1. †

    *We are grateful to two anonymous referees for helpful comments on an earlier draft.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 28 SEP 2007
  2. Article first published online: 28 SEP 2007

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In tax year 1988, delaying filing income tax returns cost the 73.2 million taxpayers claiming refunds nearly one billion dollars of interest. “Impatient” tax filers, who mail in their tax payments before the filing deadline, passed up $46 million in interest.

We develop a model of tax filing based on stochastic opportunity cost, and then investigate whether filing times are consistent with that model. We find some evidence for this because, ceteris paribus, higher refunds are associated with earlier filing and complex returns are associated with later filing, as are higher incomes (as a proxy for higher costs of time).

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