Sometimes life gets in the way.
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Last year, on the day before Tax Day, my mom was scheduled to fly into Philadelphia International Airport to stay with me for a while. She didn’t make it. While at the airport in North Carolina, she fell and broke her leg—pretty badly, as it turned out.
The day of her fall was kind of a blur, to be honest. She was initially cleared by Urgent Care, but when she was unable to walk (or move, really), my dad called emergency services. It turned out she required hospitalization, surgery, and months of rehab. Of course, I was trying to sort much of this out via email and phone calls.
In the midst of the chaos, I filed for an extension on my taxes (as I always do) and moved on. As it turned out, I skipped a step, and it caught up with me a few months later.
Even though I’ve been working in tax for years, I learned (or relearned) a few lessons that day. I hope you’ll find them useful, too.
Start Early
Chances are you haven’t yet filed your tax return. As of two weeks ago, only 32,175,000 taxpayers had filed their returns—that’s less than 20% of the 164 million returns the IRS expects to receive by April 15.
But just because you haven’t yet filed doesn’t mean you should delay thinking about it. If you’re working with a preparer, be sure to submit your documents early (many preparers now offer online portals and client organizers so you can scan and upload your documents without leaving the comfort of your home). If you’re preparing your own return, decide in advance how you plan to file, including which software you’ll use (there are some free options, too). Either way, take an inventory of your documents now so you can chase down any loose ends instead of waiting until the last minute.
You should also consider an extension. The best time to do that? Now. About 10 million taxpayers traditionally file extensions, but that number appears to be climbing. Last year, the IRS received 140,633,000 individual tax returns as of April 18, 2025—that’s about 25 million fewer than the 165,824,000 returns it received by year-end. While not all returns were filed on extension, most likely were.
It’s true that some taxpayers who file extensions do so because they waited until the last minute. But taxpayers may have all kinds of reasons for putting off filing a tax return until a few months later—and the best part? The IRS doesn’t care why you want an extension. So long as you follow the rules (more on that in a minute), the extension is automatically granted.
Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For An Extension
Filing for an extension gives you time to confirm you’ve received all your forms. While employers are supposed to provide employees with Forms W-2 and other wage statements by February 2, other forms—such as Forms 1042-S, 1095-C, and some Forms 5498—may not appear until much later.
There may be other reasons a form hasn’t reached your inbox yet—you could be a beneficiary of a trust or estate, or a shareholder or partner in a pass-through entity, which means the associated Schedules K-1 aren’t yet available. (That’s why business owners like me regularly file for an extension.)
You might be funding an IRA—you have until Tax Day to do so—and you need to include that information on your individual tax return.
You may need time to take another look at your tax return. So often, we’re rushing from one task to another—but taking the time to review your return and check for omissions or errors is smart. This is true even if your returns are prepared by a paid professional.
Or maybe your return is simply more complicated this year than in previous years. Not sure if you’ve included all those crypto transactions? Sold your house and aren’t sure about the basis? Forgot you inherited an IRA? So many things can change from year to year. Taking the time to run through the list of what you should have included can help avoid a nasty penalty later.
What if you want to discuss your returns with your tax preparer? Most professionals won’t have time for a lengthy sit-down around Tax Day. Taking time after Tax Day to review returns for completeness and ask questions about any items you don’t understand can pay off down the line.
Or what if you’re just not ready? Maybe your receipts are still in boxes. Maybe you haven’t been well. Maybe your kid is graduating from high school, and you’ve been overwhelmed. Sometimes, life gets in the way. The IRS understands that you may need more time to file. But whatever your reason for not being ready to file, it’s yours. Again, you don’t need to tell anyone—even the IRS—why you’re requesting the extension. It’s a no-questions-asked form, and the extension is granted automatically if you follow the rules.
To file for an extension, you can:
- File for an extension online for free using FreeFile on IRS.gov (you can use FreeFile to e-file an extension for free even if you don’t otherwise qualify to use the software);
- Ask your tax preparer to file an extension for you;
- Make an electronic payment using Direct Pay, debit card, credit card, or digital wallet, and indicate the payment is for an extension;
- File using tax prep software; or
- Complete and mail Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.
The regular “timely filing” rules apply, so be sure to get your extension postmarked or e-file accepted by the end of the day on April 15, 2026. (Be sure to pay attention to the new USPS rules regarding postmarks.)
Assuming you’re on time, you’ll have six more months to file your return with the IRS and avoid the late-filing penalty. This year, with an extension, you’ll have until October 15, 2026, to file a return on time.
Some taxpayers receive an automatic extension of time to file without having to request one. Those include:
- If you’re a U.S. citizen or resident living outside the U.S. or Puerto Rico, and your main place of business or post of duty is outside the U.S. or Puerto Rico, or if you are active-duty military and live outside the U.S., you qualify for a two-month extension without filing Form 4868. That moves your due date to June 15 to file and pay. However, interest is still due on any tax payment made after April 15.
- Members of the military and others serving in combat zones or hazardous-duty areas generally have until at least 180 days after they leave the zone to file returns and pay any taxes due.
- Taxpayers affected by natural disasters may have extra time. For more details or to see if you’re eligible, check the disaster page on the IRS website.
If you fall into one of those categories and need more time, you can file Form 4868 by the due date. However, that does not give you an additional six months on top of the extension you got automatically. Your due date after filing Form 4868 remains October 15, 2026 (six months from April 15, 2026).
Plan For The Unexpected
It can be tempting to wait until the last minute (again, guilty), but I encourage you to plan ahead—you never know what might happen.
Last year, my mom was hospitalized. But a few years earlier? I got into a car accident on Tax Day and ended up with a concussion (I was lucky, since studies show that fatal car accidents increase by about 6% on Tax Day).
Disasters and bad weather can also make filing difficult. While taxpayers affected by natural disasters may have extra time when there’s a federally declared disaster—meaning the President issues a declaration under the Stafford Act through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)—the same isn’t true for other disasters even if they’re significant. If a governor declares a state emergency but there’s no federal disaster declaration, there’s no automatic federal relief.
Sometimes, the unexpected issues are on the IRS’s side. In 2018, the IRS experienced technical issues that disrupted key online systems, including e-filing and direct payments. As a result, the IRS extended the filing and payment deadline by one day so returns and payments would still be treated as timely. And, of course, the IRS pushed back the due date in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The IRS may give you a breather when the unexpected happens, but not always. Don’t leave it to chance.
Don’t Forget to Pay
This is where I went wrong last year. It’s important to remember that an extension is for filing, not for paying. The due date for paying your taxes remains April 15 even if you’re on an extension. So, if you expect to owe at tax time and you’re filing for an extension, you should include a payment with your extension request to avoid interest and penalties later.
I filed for my extension on time, but I usually also make a payment. This time, I didn’t. I had so much going on that I simply forgot. When it was time to file my return a few months later, I was surprised to see a balance pop up—with a penalty and interest.
The late payment penalty is 0.5% of the tax owed after the due date, up to 25% of the taxes owed. The IRS will also charge you interest—those underpayment interest rates currently sit at 7%.
Make A Mistake? You Can Fix It.
Fortunately, the payment mistake was fixable. I paid the balance, including interest and penalty, and moved on.
But what if those penalties had been significant? If the facts support it, the IRS may abate penalties for reasonable cause. If it’s your first mistake, you may qualify for First Time Abatement (FTA), an IRS administrative waiver of penalties for taxpayers with a clean recent compliance history. FTA applies to failure-to-file, failure-to-pay, and failure-to-deposit penalties.
If you realize you made a filing mistake, that’s also fixable. If you catch it before the due date (including a timely filed extension), you can file a superseding return, which replaces the return you filed earlier in the tax season.
If the due date has passed, you’ll file an amended return (Form 1040X). That’s another reason to consider an extension—while taxpayers can now file amended returns electronically, processing is still manual, resulting in lengthy delays. Filing for an extension and submitting a complete, accurate tax return later is often more efficient than filing with a plan to amend your return later—especially with a skinnier IRS.
Complete, Correct Returns Are Better
Filing for an extension can help ensure a complete, correct return. Still, some taxpayers resist, insisting that filing for an extension will flag a return for audit. Not only do the statistics not bear this out, but it doesn’t make sense: It’s better to file a complete, correct return on extension than a rushed, flawed return by Tax Day.
And while it’s always a relief to have your tax return done by Tax Day, it’s not the end of the world if that doesn’t happen. So go ahead and file for an extension. You don’t have to explain. We get it.
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