What’s it like to owe the IRS $17,526? That’s Florida’s average tax debt.

Tax season is upon us. Time to get our personal finances in order. Maybe shore-up the 401(k) if you have some extra money. Definitely use what’s left in a flexible spending account with the “use it or lose it” deadline at the end of the year.

Another good idea: Use the Internal Revenue Service’s withholding calculator to ensure enough was taken out of your paycheck. We are only a couple weeks from the end of the year, so anyone who comes up short might not have time to set aside enough from their next paycheck or two to make up the difference. But it’s better to know now than to get a nasty surprise when you get around to doing your taxes. That way you can start putting aside the extra money in advance of the mid-April tax filing deadline.

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Tax debt is no small thing. Most estimates peg the gap between taxes owed and paid each year at between $500 billion and $600 billion. Put another way, the IRS recorded more than 13 million delinquent accounts at the end of 2018.

“This is a staggering amount,” said Wade Schlosser, CEO of debt management company Solvable, which teamed up recently with LendEDU to take a closer look at tax debt. “Given the rapid expansion of the gig economy, like ride-share drivers, freelancers, or other (contractors), we expect this delinquent number will grow.”

Solvable and LendEDU, which runs a marketplace for student and personal loans, looked at 75,000 pending cases from earlier this year and found that the average tax debtor owed nearly $17,000. The debt can come with serious consequences. The government can garnish wages, seize assets and ban a debtor from international travel.

“Yet the significant amount of tax debt across the U.S. seems to fly under the radar,” the report noted.

Florida placed in the middle of pack among states at $17,526 per debtor, not as low as No. 1 New Mexico at $13,878 but a far cry from bottom ranked Vermont at $28,862.

In most states, people went into tax debt after discovering they owed more than expected or they ended up in a higher tax bracket. Another good reminder to ensure enough is being withheld from your paycheck.

For others, divorce, failing to file a return, and owing penalties related to back taxes played a role. Less often, debtors cited issues with business taxes or self employment. In Florida, about 3 percent of tax debtors got that way because they recently got out of prison, a little less than the national average.

If you end up owing more taxes than you can pay, Solvable and other experts said a common step is to file an extension with the IRS, which will give you until Oct. 15 to file a tax return. The extra time can help you raise enough money to cover the bill, though you could end up paying more for late payment penalties and interest. Not filing, even if you can’t pay the full amount, will only compound the problem.

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The IRS allows some people who owe less than $50,000 to pay in installments, though that option can also can add interest and penalties. Settling for less than you owe is possible if you can prove to the IRS that paying the full amount would cause a financial hardship.

Paying taxes is bad enough. But owing the IRS a tax debt can bring on a lot of heartburn. Better to figure it out now.