When a significant natural disaster hits – such as a hurricane, earthquake, tornado, flood, wildfire, blizzard, or the like – the IRS will extend upcoming federal tax deadlines for affected taxpayers if a federal disaster is declared. The extended due dates apply to most federal tax returns and payments, including those for income taxes (including estimated tax payments), payroll taxes, and excise taxes. If you’re impacted by a natural disaster, check our IRS Disaster Relief page to see if you qualify for an automatic tax filing or payment extension.
Video transcript:
Hello, I'm Victoria from TurboTax, with important news about filing your tax return after the April deadline.
Most taxpayers are aware of the April deadline to file their tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service. If you miss the deadline, you still must file your return, but it may end up costing you more because of late-filing interest and penalty charges.
If you are due a refund, the IRS will not penalize you for filing your tax return late.
But keep in mind that you usually cannot collect a refund if you file the return more than three years after the original filing deadline.
But for taxpayers who still owe tax on the April deadline, the consequences of filing late are a bit more severe.
Beginning with the first day your tax return is late, the IRS will increase the amount you owe with interest charges until you pay your tax debt in full.
In addition to interest, the IRS will charge you a monthly failure-to-file penalty that increases the tax you owe by 5 percent each month. The penalty continues to accrue for the shorter of five months or the date you eventually file the return but won’t exceed a maximum of 25 percent of your unpaid taxes. If your return is more than 60 days late, the minimum penalty for returns due in 2024 is the lesser of $485 or 100 percent of the underpayment.
There is also a failure-to-pay penalty, which increases your outstanding tax bill by .5 percent each month (1 percent per month if you don’t pay any tax due within 10 days after getting a levy notice from the IRS). However, the penalty won’t exceed 25 percent of your unpaid taxes.
If you are subject to both penalties at the same time, the maximum penalty that you’ll pay for both is 5 percent.
The best way to avoid paying a failure-to-file penalty is to file on time or to file an application for an automatic extension of time on Form 4868 by the original April filing deadline.
When you obtain the extension, you have an additional six months to file your tax return, which means your tax return isn't late.
But keep in mind, an extension only gives you more time to file, not more time to pay.
If you owe taxes, you must send your payment by the April filing deadline, or risk accruing failure-to-pay penalties.
However, as long as you pay any tax due when you file your extended return, the IRS will waive any failure-to-pay penalties if the difference between the tax you owe on your return and any taxes paid by the April deadline is not more than 10 percent of your total tax bill for the year.
TurboTax can help you quickly file your taxes and save even more time with e-file. But if you still need extra time, check out TurboTax Easy Extension to file an extension for free.
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