The week's best financial advice

Here are three of the week's top pieces of financial advice, gathered from around the web:

Fear not, tax procrastinators

"If you've waited to file your taxes, you're not alone," said Jeff Reeves at USA Today. About 20 percent of taxpayers wait until the last week before the deadline to file their returns. But procrastinators need not worry. All taxpayers can get an extra six months to file by asking for an extension using Form 4868. You can even file for an extension online using the IRS's Free File software. "Just keep in mind that an extension to file your taxes doesn't absolve you" from sending in owed taxes by April 18. The extension only "applies to your paperwork, not your payment." Taxpayers must estimate their final bill and send money, or face a failure-to-pay penalty. That's generally 0.5 percent of the total tax bill for each month it goes unpaid.

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Passing on a home

"It's not that easy anymore" to give your home to a son or daughter tax free, said Bill Bischoff at Market Watch. But it's possible, and "you've got to plan ahead." If you plan to live in the home until you die and the value of your estate is below the $5.45 million estate-tax exemption, your best strategy is to simply stay put. Your home's tax basis is stepped up to fair market value as of your date of death, allowing your heirs to escape capital gains tax on its appreciation. If you want to give it as an outright gift before that, things get more complicated. You can offset the amount of the gift by using your $14,000 annual gift-tax exclusion. "If you and your spouse each make a gift to both your child and his [or her] spouse, you can offset $56,000 of the home's value."

Help the IRS, win money

"Have a good idea for making interactions with the IRS less grim?" asked Richard Rubin at The Wall Street Journal. If so, the Internal Revenue Service wants to hear from you. The agency is holding a contest for the best ideas on how to build "the taxpayer experience of the future." Participants will be asked to map out what a new and improved IRS website should look like. Putting more interactive taxpayer services online could relieve the budget-constrained agency's telephone help lines and walk-in assistance centers. So far, the agency has struggled in its own efforts to do this, thanks to aging computer systems. The contest begins April 17, with judging in May and June. The grand prize is $10,000, with $2,000 prizes in categories like "best taxpayer usefulness" and "best financial capability."