Is there a penalty/interest for filing after October 15 if a refund is owed to me?

[calaguna]

I have overpaid my 2024 quarterly Estimated Taxes and will be due a refund or credit for 2025 taxes.  Is there any penalty or interest due if I am unable to complete the return by October 15, 2025? For example: if I don't file the return until November 1, 2025 and the return shows I am owed a refund, is there any late filing penalty or interest assessed? Is this true at the state level too (California)?

[xmasbaby0]

There is no penalty if you are getting refund; if you are getting a refund you have three years to file and still receive the refund without penalty.   But e-filing will close permanently for 2024 returns after October 15, so if you miss that deadline, you will need to file by mail.

[AmeliesUncle]

While there would not be a penalty or interest if all of the tax was paid by April 15th, that doesn't necessarily mean filing late won't be problematic.  For example, some elections on the tax return are required to be on a timely filed tax return.  If your tax return has any of those elections, filing late would mean you can't make those elections.

[calaguna]

Thank you very much for the reply.  Could you give me some examples of elections that would have to be made by October 15, 2025 and not thereafter?  Thank you. 

[AmeliesUncle]

There are many, but most are business-oriented.  

Some late elections qualify for an extra six months under a special procedure, but I don't recall which ones qualify for that and which ones don't.

I just posted about one:  The Safe Harbor For Small Taxpayers, in regards to depreciation vs deduction.  Another common one is electing to use the Standard Mileage Rate in the first year.  But as I said, there are many of them, and some may qualify for an extra six months under a special procedure.