Going to Miss the Tax Filing Deadline? Here's What You Need to Do

If you're going to miss the deadline for filing your taxes, you have options -- but they're limited. You can electronically file Tax Form 4868 today to request an automatic filing extension -- that will give you six more months to prepare and file your return without any late-filing penalties. And those are penalties you'll want to avoid -- with the federal penalty for failure to file starting at 5% a month and topping out at 25% of taxes owed, and state penalties can be worse. However, that extension doesn't change the date your tax payment is due. You're still going to want to send something in by April 15, otherwise you're subject to a 0.5% to 1% monthly federal penalty for late payment, which also caps out at 25% of your unpaid taxes.

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