Individuals: April 15
Individuals file by April 15, and the date moves to the next business day when it falls on a weekend or a holiday. Partnerships and S corporations file a month earlier, on March 15.
Key takeaways
An extension moves the filing date
File Form 4868 and you have until October 15 to file, with the payment date unchanged. If you live outside the United States you get an automatic extension to June 15 that covers payment too, though the IRS charges interest from April 15 either way.
Filing late costs more than paying late
The IRS charges a larger penalty for filing late than for paying late, so file on time even when you cannot pay in full.
The federal filing deadlines that actually apply to you
Only one of these is the last day to pay.
- 15 MarchPartnership and S corporation returns
- 15 AprilIndividual returns, and the last day to pay
- 15 JuneAutomatic extension if you live abroad
- 15 OctoberExtended individual deadline, filing only
A deadline falling on a weekend or holiday moves to the next business day. Disaster relief can move all of them.
Only 15 April is a payment deadline. The others move filing alone.
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What this covers
April 15 is the date most people are looking for.
Which deadline applies to you depends on what you file and where you live, and an extension moves less than it sounds like it should.
01Individual deadlines
When individuals have to file
April 15.You file the return and pay any balance. Where April 15 falls on a Saturday, a Sunday or a holiday, you get until the next business day, which is why the date varies from year to year.
Form 4868 takes you to October 15.You give no reason and the IRS approves nothing: file it on time and correctly and you have the extension. It extends the time to file, and you still pay by April 15.
Living abroad gives you 15 June automatically.You file no form, though you attach a statement to your return saying that you qualify. The IRS charges interest on unpaid tax from April 15 whichever date you use.
02The fine print
What an extension to file does not change
An extension to file is not an extension to pay.
If you owe and have not paid by the April deadline, the IRS charges interest from that date and can add a late payment penalty, even while your return is not yet late.
Estimate what you owe and pay it with the extension. Overpay and you get the difference back. Pay nothing and the IRS charges interest and penalties on the whole balance.
03Dates that don't move
Dates tied to April 15 that an extension does not move
Filing Form 4868 moves your return date and leaves several other April 15 dates where they are. Two of them cost money if you miss them.
| Item | What the extension does |
|---|---|
| IRA contributions | You have until April 15 to put money into a traditional or Roth IRA for the previous year, and an extension does not buy you longer. |
| SEP IRA and solo 401(k) contributions | These follow your return, so an extension does give you until October 15. Self employed clients who extend get six more months to decide how much to put in. |
| Quarterly estimates | The four payment dates run on their own schedule. An extension moves none of them. |
| FBAR | If you held foreign accounts over the reporting threshold, FinCEN Form 114 is due April 15 with an automatic extension to October 15. You request nothing and file no form to get it, and it happens whether or not you extend your return. |
The SEP point is the one worth acting on. Extending gives you the numbers and the time to size the contribution against a year you have already finished.
04If you miss it
Late filing penalty and late payment penalty
Failure to file
The larger of the two by a wide margin, charged monthly on the unpaid balance up to a cap.
Failure to pay
Much smaller, also monthly.
If you cannot pay, file anyway. You pay a fraction as much by filing on time and paying late as you do by not filing at all.
If the IRS owes you a refund, it generally charges no penalty for filing late. You do lose the refund itself if you leave it long enough, and our page on amended returns covers how long you have.
05Beyond April 15
Other federal filing deadlines
March 15
Partnerships and S corporations file, and Form 7004 gives them six more months, to September 15. Like Form 4868, it moves the filing date and not the payment date.
Quarterly estimates
Four payments through the year for anyone whose income is not fully covered by withholding.
Disaster relief
The IRS postpones deadlines for taxpayers in declared disaster areas, sometimes by months, and applies the postponement to your account automatically from the address it holds for you.
State deadlines
Usually the same date. Some states grant you an extension when you file the federal one, and others want a separate form, so check the state before you assume.
06Catching up
If you have already missed the deadline
File the return now. Every month you wait adds to the failure to file penalty, and filing stops that penalty growing even when you cannot pay the balance.
Pay what you can with the return.
The IRS applies partial payments against the balance and charges interest and penalties on what is left, so a part payment costs less than none.Ask about a payment plan.
The IRS offers installment agreements to taxpayers who cannot pay in full, and applying keeps you out of collection while it considers the request.Ask about penalty relief.
The IRS waives penalties for some taxpayers with a clean recent filing history, and separately where a taxpayer shows reasonable cause. A CPA asks for it in the right form and for the right year.Do not stop filing.
A missed year that turns into three is a different problem, and it costs more to fix than the original balance.
If the IRS has already sent you a notice, bring it to the conversation. The notice sets what you can ask for and by when.
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From the record
On planning ahead of the deadline, and on a process that works
"We’re going to as tax professionals be too busy in February or March, we’re going to be filing people’s taxes. So if you want to start planning you want to meet your adviser far ahead of time, especially if you know something big is happening that year."
George Dimov, CPA
Founder, Dimov Tax
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Google review
Get it filed on time
Whether you are ready or need an extension, tell us where you are and we will make sure the right thing is filed before the date.
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Reviewed by George Dimov, CPA, New York, NY. Serving clients in all 50 states, 15+ years advising New York businesses and individuals. President of George Dimov, CPA, a New York City firm serving clients across the five boroughs and nationwide.