A tax deadline is fast approaching for people who filed for extensions earlier this year. Oct. 15 is the last day to submit returns for those who received an automatic extension of the filing date back in April.

Nationally, more than 10.2 million taxpayers requested an automatic six-month extension. The IRS is urging taxpayers with incomes of $52,000 or less to use its Free File system found on a link on the IRS.gov Web site.

Small-business owners who are still scurrying around trying to get their returns together need to do two things: Slow down, and get the job done right. And start thinking about finding a better way to keep track of company finances going forward.

When a small-business owner is still struggling to get a tax return together at this late date, usually "it's a sign of improper recordkeeping," said Mark Toolan, a certified public accountant in Exton, Pa.

That's going to make it hard to finish a return now. But if it's tempting to just let the deadline pass and file late, tax professionals will tell you that's a bad idea.

"All kinds of nasty things happen," including steep late-filing penalties when you don't meet the deadline, said Walter Goldberg, executive director of the national tax office for the accounting firm Grant Thornton LLP in Washington, D.C.

So, do the best you can to put together as complete a return as possible, and critically, give the IRS as good an estimate as you can of what you owe.

"The IRS will generally accept a return that you have estimated as long as it is reasonable and made in good faith," said Mel Schwarz, a partner at Grant Thornton.

If you don't have all your information together, you can always file an amended return later. As Goldberg noted, "that's better than not filing."

Another, sometimes related, reason why owners procrastinate is they don't have the money to pay the government. That's another bad reason not to file.

"There are payment alternatives that taxpayers can work out with the (Internal Revenue) Service after the fact," Goldberg said.

Late-payment penalties are much less onerous than late-filing penalties.