The age-old proverb “Time and tide wait for no man” may be true, but the IRS will wait for your income tax return.  All you have to do is ask for more time to file.  Individual income tax returns for 2012 are due on April 15, 2013.  If you have not quite gotten all of your information together and cannot file a complete and accurate income tax return by the due date – just ask for more time!

IRS Form 4868 – Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return can be used by anyone who wants (or needs) more time to prepare their tax return for last year.  By filing Form 4868 with the IRS on or before April 15, 2013 you will buy yourself an extra six months of time to complete your 2012 taxes.   The extended due date for 2012 individual income tax returns is October 15, 2013.   There is no extension available past October 15, 2013.

The best part about the Application for an extension of time is that it is granted automatically!  There is no worrying that the IRS will reject your request for additional time to file (see the caution below).  Filing Form 4868 is easy too.  If you are using a tax professional they will file the extension request for you using their tax preparation software.   If you are more of a do-it-yourself kind of person there are three other ways to get your extension filed.  You can file using the IRS e-file system available on www.irs.gov or by using EFTPS (Electronic Federal Tax Payment System) or by filing a paper Form 4868.

CAUTION!  The Application for Automatic Extension is just for time to file your tax return.  It is NOT an extension of time to pay any tax you may owe.  The IRS still expects you to pay any tax due by April 15th.  That may be difficult to do if you don’t know how much you owe yet.   The instructions for Form 4868 tell you to estimate your total tax liability and subtract the amount that you have already paid.   In fact, the instructions let you know that to qualify for the extension of time to file you must properly estimate your tax liability.   If the IRS finds that your estimate was not reasonable they can make your extension null and void. 

If you cannot pay the all of tax that you believe you owe, that will not invalidate your extension request.  Pay as much as you can and file the extension anyway.  There are penalties for not paying your tax on time, but they are generally much less than the penalties for not filing your taxes on time.

Need help in filing an accurate Form 4868?  Contact one of the tax professionals at Seid & Company, CPAs.