How Does Filing an Extension Affect My Taxes?
Filing on time (typically, April 15th each year) is the goal. But life happens, tax forms don’t arrive on time, and for some people it's just overwhelming. That means meeting the tax deadline doesn’t happen either. For Individual Income tax returns, you can file Form 4868 and get an additional 6 months to meet your tax filing deadline. It’s important to know that a tax extension is additional time to file, not to pay if you owe.
That brings us to penalties and interest. If you’re receiving a refund, you likely won’t have any underpayment penalties. But if you owe, those pesky penalties and interest will add up with each month that passes. Pay as much as you can with your extension to reduce the impact. And, if the only reason you want to extend is because you can’t pay what you owe, there are options in this article “Help! I Can't Pay My Balance Due”
Here are some of our more popular links for extenders:
- Guide to IRS Tax Penalties - How penalties and interest work and affect you.
- Extension Filers: It’s Time to Finish & File! How extensions can impact tax returns (including penalties/penalty relief).
- Where do I enter my estimated tax payments? Make sure to get credit for what you’ve paid in - to eliminate or minimize penalties and interest.
- How to Pay Taxes: 10 Ways to Pay Your Tax Bill (including payment plans)
- IRS Transcripts Get missing W-2s, 1099s, or copies of prior year tax returns.
- How do I clear and start over? - Frustrated? Sometimes it’s easier to simply start from scratch!
- My Taxes Have Been Filed - Now What? Important next steps after filing.
If you need tax advice or have questions that aren't answered in the links above, please ask in our Taxes forum that best fits your needs!
