April 15, the day by which you need to file your federal income tax return, is fast approaching. (State tax returns are due then as well, except for a few states that file later or don’t have income taxes at all.) But if your taxes aren’t ready by the end of that day, you have an option: Get an extension. That gives you until October 15 to file.
Just know that you also must file your extension by midnight on April 15. If you don’t, you’ve got trouble.
The reasons to file an extension are myriad. Maybe you don’t have all your forms. Maybe taxes and life are just plain complicated. Maybe you just don’t have the money to pay your taxes right now. It could be any or all of the above.
Luckily, filing an extension is easy. And if you do it, you get that extra six months to get yourself together and file (with some caveats).
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How to File for an Extension With Tax Software
If you’re already using tax software, filing an extension is easy.
For example, in Intuit TurboTax on the desktop, you’ll see an option to File an Extension in the left-hand navigation menu. Just like it gathers information and walks you through the filing process, the software can collect and prepare the info you need to file an extension. Some of the information might come from estimating your 2025 tax liability; for that, Intuit provides a Tax Calculator.
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Other tax filing services also have options for filing an extension. For example, with H&R Block, you should see the Extension tab even if you’ve started filling out your return. FreeTaxUSA lets you jump directly to free extension filing (but you still need to set up an account).
The IRS lists all the tax software partners it works with—like FreeTaxUSA, TaxAct, TaxSlayer, and others—to offer extensions. The IRS itself offers the Free File program for qualified users; even if you don’t qualify, Free File Fillable Forms (including an extension form) are still available online. You have to set up an account to use those.
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If you don’t like desktop software or websites, the IRS now offers IRS2Go, a mobile app available for Android, FireOS, and iOS. It’s useful for monitoring the status of your refund. If you want to use IRS2Go to file an extension, it just navigates to the IRS website and shows you the FreeFile site on a smaller screen. However, it offers a convenient way to make payments to the IRS, which you might need to do even with an extension (see below). Many top tax services also offer top-notch mobile apps.
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How to File for a Tax Extension Via Mail
You can file a tax extension manually. After all, tax software is technically filling in a form, in this case, IRS Form 4868, aka “Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File US Individual Income Tax Return.” Download it as a PDF from the IRS website. Then, you can print it, fill in the few boxes on the front, stick it in an envelope, and mail it before midnight on April 15. (Make sure it gets a postmark for April 15. Some US Postal Service offices stay open until midnight that day, but not as many as in the past. Use the USPS.com Locations tool to find the office nearest to you that will remain open.)
Pay the extra fee for certified or registered mail. If it gets lost, you won’t have any other proof that you filed on time. Filing electronically is smarter; you get instant confirmation.
Exceptions and Penalties for Tax Extensions
Do you know who doesn’t need to file for an extension? People owed a refund by the government. That said, don’t forget to file eventually, or you may forfeit that money (you have three years).
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You can get a couple of extra months to file if you live overseas for work or military service—in which case, you have until June. If you’re in a combat zone, you don’t have to file until you return home, from which point you get 180 days.
Is there a penalty for filing an extension? Not per se, but the one thing it doesn’t excuse you from is paying your taxes on time. That’s right, even though you’re applying to delay filing taxes, the IRS still expects you to pay up to 90% of what you owe on time. The late-fee penalties for not doing so can pile up: It’s 0.5% of any unpaid taxes owed for each month you don’t file a return, up to 25% of the total owed. So, it doesn’t always pay to delay until October—you might just be waiting to pay six months of late penalties on top of what you owe.
The penalty for failing to file at all is worse: a full 5% (not 0.5%) of your unpaid taxes per month, up to the same max of 25%. An extension can help you a lot, even if you don’t have the money to pay right now. But you can get a failure-to-file penalty again on October 15 if you don’t file after the extension.
If you estimate what you owe, you can pay it the same day you file the extension via IRS Direct Pay. The tax software above will also help you pay the estimate, of course. Penalties and interest only stop once you fully pay the balance—as stated on correctly filed tax returns—you owe to the IRS.
Remember, you have the right to appeal to the IRS before you pay a single dime. It’s all part of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.
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About Our Expert
Eric Griffith
Senior Editor, Features
Experience
I’ve been writing about computers, the internet, and technology professionally since 1992, more than half of that time with PCMag. I arrived at the end of the print era of PC Magazine as a senior writer. I served for a time as managing editor of business coverage before settling back into the features team for the last decade and a half. I write features on all tech topics, plus I handle several special projects, including the Readers’ Choice and Business Choice surveys and yearly coverage of the Best ISPs and Best Gaming ISPs, Best Products of the Year, and Best Brands (plus the Best Brands for Tech Support, Longevity, and Reliability).
I started in tech publishing right out of college, writing and editing stories about hardware and development tools. I migrated to software and hardware coverage for families, and I spent several years exclusively writing about the then-burgeoning technology called Wi-Fi. I was on the founding staff of several magazines, including Windows Sources, FamilyPC, and Access Internet Magazine. All of which are now defunct, and it’s not my fault. I have freelanced for publications as diverse as Sony Style, Playboy.com, and Flux. I got my degree at Ithaca College in, of all things, television/radio. But I minored in writing so I’d have a future.
In my long-lost free time, I wrote some novels, a couple of which are not just on my hard drive: BETA TEST (“an unusually lighthearted apocalyptic tale,” according to Publishers’ Weekly) and a YA book called KALI: THE GHOSTING OF SEPULCHER BAY. Go get them on Kindle.
I work from my home in Ithaca, NY, and did it long before pandemics made it cool.
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