US Tax Extension Filing (Form 4868)
We file your extension free — federal, state and business. Six more months to file, submitted on time, with an honest estimate of what you should pay alongside it.
What this service covers
We file extensions free of charge, so take the rest of this page as explanation rather than a sales pitch. An extension is a deadline management tool, not a concession, and it is worth understanding because the cost of getting it wrong is asymmetric. Filing Form 4868 by April 15 moves your filing deadline to October 15 automatically — no reason required, no approval issued, no effect on how your return is treated. What it does not move is the payment deadline: tax owed is still due in April, and interest runs from the day after. The mistake that actually costs money is the opposite one, though. Because the failure-to-file penalty is charged at ten times the monthly rate of the failure-to-pay penalty, someone who cannot pay and therefore does not file has chosen the more expensive of the two problems. EvoTax files the extension, estimates what you should pay alongside it so the interest clock is as short as possible, handles the state extension where your state needs its own, and then files the return itself before October. If your Indian tax documents will not exist by April — which, given India's financial year, is usually the case — this is the mechanism that lets you file once and correctly rather than twice.
What an extension moves, and what it does not
Form 4868 is a request for more time to file, and it is granted automatically. You do not explain why, the IRS does not write back, and there is no discretion involved — if it is submitted by the deadline, you have until October 15. Assume it was granted unless you hear otherwise.
The distinction that matters is between filing and paying, because they are separate obligations with separate deadlines and separate penalties.
| Obligation | Moved by an extension? |
|---|---|
| Filing the return | Yes — April 15 to October 15 |
| Paying tax owed | No — still due in April, interest runs from the day after |
| Failure-to-file penalty | Yes — removed entirely for the extended period |
| Failure-to-pay penalty | No — continues to accrue on any unpaid balance |
| State return | Sometimes — depends entirely on the state |
| IRA contribution for the year | No — stays at the original April date |
So the correct way to use an extension when you owe money is to file it and pay your best estimate at the same time. That combination removes the larger penalty and minimises the smaller one. Filing the extension and paying nothing is still far better than filing neither.
Why extending is usually the cheaper decision
There are two arguments for extending and one common objection, and the objection is unfounded.
The first argument is arithmetic. The failure-to-file penalty accrues at ten times the monthly rate of the failure-to-pay penalty. An extension eliminates the former for six months and does nothing about the latter, which means that for anyone who cannot pay in April, extending is strictly better than not filing. The worst available outcome is doing nothing, and it is the one people reach by accident when they assume there is no point filing without the money.
The second is accuracy. A return assembled under deadline pressure from documents that have not all arrived is a return likely to need amending, and an amended return costs more than an extension — in fees, in processing time, and in the possibility of a notice arriving in between. Where information is genuinely outstanding, filing later and once is cheaper than filing twice.
The objection is that extending draws attention. It does not. An extension is a routine administrative request made by millions of filers annually, it is granted automatically without review, and nothing about it changes how a return is treated when it arrives. There is no version of this where filing on time with missing information is the safer choice.
Where an extension does not help is a balance you cannot pay at all. That is a collection question rather than a filing one, and it has its own routes — instalment agreements and penalty abatement among them. File the extension, then deal with the balance deliberately.
Why Indian income makes an extension almost unavoidable
This is the reason most of our clients extend, and it is structural rather than a matter of organisation: the two countries' tax years do not line up, and the Indian paperwork simply does not exist when the US deadline falls.
India's financial year ends on 31 March. Form 16 — the salary and TDS certificate an Indian employer issues — is not due until well after that, typically by the middle of June. The Annual Information Statement and Form 26AS, which are what you check Indian interest, dividend and TDS figures against, continue to settle for weeks beyond that as third parties file their own returns. For NRO interest, Indian mutual fund transactions or rent, the final numbers frequently are not available until summer.
That matters specifically because of the foreign tax credit. Claiming credit on Form 1116 for Indian tax paid requires knowing what was paid, and a figure you cannot evidence is a figure that gets removed if the return is examined. Guessing in April and amending in July means preparing the same return twice and paying for it twice.
- Salary and TDS on Form 16, issued after the Indian year closes.
- NRO and savings interest, and the TDS deducted from it.
- Indian mutual fund and share transactions, which also carry PFIC consequences.
- Rent received on Indian property, and the tax withheld on it.
- Capital gains on an Indian property sale, where the TDS and the final liability often differ.
The sequence we use is straightforward: file Form 4868 in April with a payment based on the best estimate available, collect the Indian documents as they are issued through June and July, then file a complete and properly credited return well before October. One return, correctly evidenced, and no amendment.
If you are already past a deadline with Indian accounts that were never reported, that is a different conversation and a more specialised one — see the streamlined filing guide linked below rather than treating it as an extension question.
If you live outside the US
US citizens and green card holders living abroad get an automatic two-month extension to June 15 without filing anything at all. It is granted by virtue of being outside the country on the regular due date, and you note that you are relying on it when the return is filed.
Two points people get wrong about it. It is automatic for filing but not for paying — interest still runs from April on anything owed, so the extra two months are not free if there is a balance. And it stacks: filing Form 4868 on top takes you to October 15, which is the same end date as everyone else but reached by a different route.
Beyond that, a further discretionary extension to December 15 can be requested in writing where circumstances genuinely warrant it. It is granted at the IRS's discretion rather than automatically, so it is not something to plan around, but it exists and is occasionally the right answer for someone waiting on a foreign tax assessment that has not been issued.
State returns, and the deadlines an extension leaves alone
Your state return is a separate filing with its own rules, and the federal extension does not automatically carry across. Broadly, states fall into three groups: those that accept the federal extension with nothing further required, those that want their own extension form filed, and a small number working to a different date entirely. It has to be checked per state, and if you have a filing obligation in more than one — which a mid-year move or remote work across state lines will do — it has to be checked for each.
Two federal deadlines an extension does not touch are worth knowing because both catch people who assume October 15 applies to everything.
- Traditional and Roth IRA contributions for the year stay at the original April date, regardless of any extension. Employer contributions to a SEP-IRA or a solo 401(k) are the exception and can use the extended date.
- FBAR has its own calendar. It is due in April and carries an automatic extension to October 15 that requires no request — so it lines up with an extended return, but by its own mechanism rather than because of Form 4868.
The practical consequence of the IRA point is that if you were planning to fund an IRA out of a refund, an extension does not buy you time to do it. That decision has to be made in April even when the return is not filed until October.
Where this comes from
- IRS — About Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File
- IRS — Extension of time to file your tax return, including how the automatic grant works
- IRS — US citizens and resident aliens abroad: the automatic two-month extension to June 15
- IRS — Foreign Tax Credit: what must be substantiated to claim credit for foreign tax paid
- IRS — Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), including its own extended due date
Benefits & What You Get
Free, with no obligation attached
We file the extension at no charge, whether or not you then engage us for the return. It is a deadline, not a negotiation.
Filed before the deadline, not on it
We submit the extension with time in hand, so a portal outage or a payment failure on April 15 is not your problem.
A balance estimate, not a guess
We estimate what you owe and pay it with the request, which is what keeps the interest and the failure-to-pay penalty small.
State extensions handled too
We identify whether each state you file in accepts the federal extension or needs its own, and file accordingly.
Built for Indian documentation
We plan the timetable around when Form 16, the AIS and TDS certificates actually arrive, rather than around April.
The return filed, not just the extension
An extension is the start of the engagement. We file the return itself well before October rather than handing it back to you.
How It Works
Estimate the position
We review what is known — withholding, income to date, prior year — and work out whether you are likely to owe.
File Form 4868
We submit the federal extension electronically and arrange payment of the estimate alongside it.
Cover the states
We file any state extension that is not satisfied by the federal one.
File the return
As documents arrive we prepare and file the return, with foreign tax credit properly evidenced, before October 15.
Pricing
Filed for you, with an estimate of what to pay
Where your state requires its own form
Partnership, S-Corp or C-Corp
Standard pricing — no extension surcharge
Final pricing depends on the complexity of your case. Contact us for an exact quote.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the extension filing really free?
Yes, and it is worth being straightforward about why. Filing Form 4868 is a small piece of work, the deadline is absolute, and someone who misses it because they were weighing up a fee has been badly served. We file it at no charge — federal, state and business extensions alike — and there is no obligation to engage us for the return afterwards. The commercial logic is not hidden: most people who need an extension also need a return prepared, and we would rather be the firm that already has your file open in October. If you take the free extension and file the return elsewhere, that is a perfectly acceptable outcome.
How long does a tax extension last?
Six months. Filing Form 4868 by the April deadline moves your filing date to October 15. It is automatic — you do not give a reason, and the IRS does not send an approval, so you should assume it was granted unless you are told otherwise. There is no further extension available beyond October for most filers; the one exception is a discretionary extension to December 15 that taxpayers living abroad can request in writing.
Does an extension give me more time to pay?
No, and this is the single most misunderstood point about extensions. Tax owed is still due on the April deadline. Interest begins accruing the day after, and the failure-to-pay penalty applies to anything outstanding. What the extension removes is the failure-to-file penalty, which is charged at ten times the monthly rate of the failure-to-pay penalty — so extending is still clearly worth doing, it just does not solve a cash problem. The right approach is to file the extension and pay your best estimate at the same time.
Should I file an extension if I cannot pay what I owe?
Yes, definitely. This is where people lose the most money, by reasoning that there is no point filing without the payment. Not filing attracts the failure-to-file penalty on top of the failure-to-pay penalty, which makes doing nothing the most expensive option available. File the extension, pay whatever you can, and then address the balance properly — instalment agreements and penalty abatement both exist and are far easier to pursue from a position of having filed.
Does filing an extension increase my chance of being audited?
No. An extension is a routine administrative request granted automatically, without any review of your circumstances, to millions of filers every year. Nothing about it changes how your return is treated when it arrives. Filing an accurate return in October is a considerably better position than filing a rushed and incomplete one in April.
I live outside the US. Do I still need Form 4868?
Not for the first two months. US citizens and green card holders abroad on the regular due date get an automatic extension to June 15 with no form required. If you need longer than that, you file Form 4868 on top and it takes you to October 15. Note the two-month extension applies to filing rather than paying — interest still runs from April on any balance — and that a further discretionary extension to December 15 can be requested in writing where circumstances justify it.
My Form 16 and Indian tax documents will not arrive before April. What should I do?
Extend, and this is the most common reason our clients do. India's financial year ends on 31 March, Form 16 is typically not issued until around mid-June, and the AIS and Form 26AS continue settling after that — so the Indian tax figures you need in order to claim foreign tax credit on Form 1116 genuinely do not exist by the US April deadline. Filing an estimate in April and amending in July means preparing and paying for the same return twice. We file the extension with a payment estimate, collect the Indian documents as they are issued, and file one complete return with the credit properly evidenced before October.
Does the federal extension cover my state return too?
Sometimes, and it has to be checked rather than assumed. Some states accept the federal extension with nothing further required, others want their own extension form, and a few work to a different deadline entirely. If you have a filing obligation in more than one state — which a mid-year move or working remotely across state lines will create — each one needs checking separately. We handle whichever applies to you.
Does an extension also extend my IRA contribution deadline?
No, and this catches people who plan to fund an IRA out of a refund. Traditional and Roth IRA contributions for a tax year stay due on the original April deadline regardless of any extension, so that decision has to be made in April even if the return is not filed until October. Employer contributions to a SEP-IRA or a solo 401(k) are the exception and can use the extended date. FBAR is a separate case again: it has its own automatic extension to October 15 that requires no request at all.
You May Also Need
Background reading and tools
The guides cover the federal treatment in detail. The calculators let you check a number before you commit to anything.
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