No matter what your motive is behind filing an extension to file your taxes, as long as you fill-out the form (Form 4868 for individuals, Tax Form 7004 for businesses) correctly, you are automatically granted with an extension time of 6 months for your request. Remember that the IRS doesn’t care (and doesn’t ask) why you’re filing for a tax extension. But before getting into the actual filing of extension tax in order to acquire more time to file your taxes, here are some important points to take note of.
1. Do Not File Extension, If You Can’t Pay.
In case you have completed your return but unable to pay in full to the IRS, you should file your return first hand and then later apply for an Online Payment Agreement (OPA) based on the bill or notice sent by the IRS for the balance due.
2. Supplementary Span in Hand
The comfort of extension is applicable only for filing and so, you cannot extend time to pay your taxes. You will owe interest on any amount not paid by the deadline, plus you may owe penalties.
3. Extension Forms
You can submit your request for extension via Form 4868 (Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return), Form 7004 (Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File Certain Business Income Tax, Information, and Other Returns) or Form 8868 (Application for Extension of Time to File an Exempt Organization Return).
4. Extension via E-file
If you would like to relax your tax related filing tension during extension, you have a great chance with e-filing the same. Extension Tax does it for you and checks your form for mistakes to ensure smooth submissions. Notifications for you will also be on time once the IRS approves your extension, which again is matter of minutes with internet filing. Note that it is always good to be aware of internet scams and taking care of your personal information.
5. Electronic Funds Withdrawal
If you ask for an online extension, you can also choose to pay any expected balance due by authorizing an electronic funds withdrawal from a checking or savings account. You will need the appropriate bank routing and account numbers.
6. Form Availability
The IRS website has downloadable forms for filing extensions. Well, you can even order for one at 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676). But downloading forms from the website, taking print out of it, understanding the nuances of tax in it, filling the details all by yourself, going in person to file it or sending it to the IRS via courier, dealing with errors and rejections due to silly or major mistakes, filing it again with uncertainty is all just like reading this very line that you have just read. Too lengthy and complex. Also, Telephone requests normally take 7 – 15 days to process and ship. It is immediately available full time and also for easy filing on extensiontax.com.
So, it is always a wiser idea to opt for e-filing your extension tax forms in comparison to paper filing any form that too through extensiontax.com. It’s because filing an extension on extensiontax.com doesn’t make you wait one extra moment in just the minutes of time it consumes to prepare and process your extension request.