IRS Form 4868 |Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return

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The IRS Form 4868 is titled as the Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Tax Return. You must file this form by the date that your federal income taxes are due, which is April 15 or any given year, for most taxpayers on most years. When you do so, you are granted an automatic extension for six months, with the only penalty being a slight late fee on any amount of taxes that haven’t been paid by the usual due date.

Form 4868 is for all those who file Tax Forms 1040, 1040A, 1040EZ, 1040NR or 1040NR-EZ. In addition to taxpayers whose main source of income comes from W2 wages, Form 1040 is also valid for 1099 contractors, Schedule C Sole Proprietors as well as for single member LLCs.

How to Fill-in

Filling out the form is quite simple. In the first part of form 4868, you must enter your name and address in box 1. Enter your social security number in box 2. If you are married, you must also enter your spouse’s social security number in box 3.

In the second part of the form, you enter your best estimate of the total amount of federal incomes taxes that you expect to owe for the tax year in box 4. You then enter, in box 5, any payments that you have already made. Subtract the contents of box 5 from the amount entered in box 4. This will be the estimated balance you owe; enter that amount in the space provided on Line 6. If you pay cannot that entire amount, enter the amount you can and will pay right now on line 7.

Filling the Form 4868 will generally protect you from any IRS penalties other than interest on the amount that you will ultimately owe minus the amounts that you have already paid by April 15. That late penalty is generally half of one percent per month. So to pay as small an interest penalty as possible, it’s smart policy to pay all you can on that date if you file Form 4868, so as to minimize the penalty.

To finish filling out Form 4868, check box 8 if you are currently out of the country. The IRS is very interested to know if you file Form 1040NR of Form 1040NR-EZ and haven’t received payment of wages that are subject to U.S. income tax withholding. If that is the case, check box 9.

When you do file one of the 1040 forms mentioned earlier, you must enter the amount you of payment you made when you filed your Form 4868. The 4868 will instruct you as to what specific line that is on the various 1040 versions.