How to Get a Tax Extension (Simple Guide)

Written by Ricky Nave in Taxes

If you don’t have all the information you need to file a tax return by the normal April deadline, you can get an extension until October 15 (or the first business day after that if the 15th is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday). This applies only to people, not businesses, but any person can get the extension regardless of situation. All you have to do is request it.

Note: Requesting an extension gives you an extra 6 months of time to file your tax return, but you still must estimate and pay any taxes that will be due with the return by the original April deadline in order to avoid penalties.

There are five ways to get a tax filing extension.

Method #1: IRS Fillable Forms

Create an account for the IRS Free File Fillable Forms system. Then fill out and submit Form 4868 (Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return). Anyone is allowed to do this no matter how much money they make.

Method #2: Guided Tax Prep

This method can only be used by people with an AGI of $73,000 or less.

If you satisfy that condition, then you can use any IRS Free File software provider to submit a tax extension request. These providers include:

  • TaxAct (available for free if you have an AGI of $73,000 or less)
  • FreeTaxUSA (available for free if you have an AGI of $46,000 or less)
  • FileYourTaxes.com (available if you have an AGI between $3,000 and $73,000)
  • 1040Now.net (available if you have an AGI of $65,000 or less)
  • TaxSlayer (available if you have an AGI of $73,000 or less)
  • OLT.com (available if you have an AGI between $11,000 and $73,000)
  • ezTaxReturn.com (available if you have an AGI of $73,000 or less)

Method #3: Make a payment

This method can be used by anyone regardless of income.

Schedule a payment with Direct Pay using the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) or with a credit or debit card. Select the option which indicates that this payment should correspond with an extended tax return filing. This will automatically get you a tax extension, and you won’t have to file any additional forms.

If you’ve never used EFTPS before, make sure to enroll at least 2 weeks before the April deadline because new EFTPS enrollments can take up to five business days to process and payments can take additional time beyond that.

Method #4: Mail a paper copy of Form 4868

Fill out a paper version of Form 4868 and mail it to the IRS. Optionally, you can enclose payment of your estimate of tax due as well. This method can be used by anyone.

Method #5: Hire a tax professional

Hire a tax professional who can submit an electronic copy of Form 4868 via IRS e-file on your behalf.

References

[1] IRS: Extension of time to file your tax return

What happens if I request an extension and then miss the October deadline?

If you request an extension but then don’t file your return by the October deadline, you’ll incur penalties that are retroactive to your original tax due date in April.

Ricky Nave

In college, Ricky studied physics & math, won a prestigious research competition hosted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, started several small businesses including an energy chewing gum business and a computer repair business, and graduated with a thesis in algebraic topology. After graduating, Ricky attended grad school at Duke University in the mathematics PhD program where he worked on quantum algorithms & non-Euclidean geometry models for flexible proteins. He also worked in cybersecurity at Los Alamos during this time before eventually dropping out of grad school to join a startup working on formal semantic modeling for legal documents. Finally, he left that startup to start his own in the finance & crypto space. Now, he helps entrepreneurs pay less capital gains tax.

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