It is the time of the year when you need to file your taxes. Filing taxes is not a very tedious process as most of you feel. It will not take much time if you have all the required documents in place. However, if you do not have all the documents in place or you are waiting to gather some of it, then you can file for a tax extension with the IRS.
What is tax extension?
The IRS (Internal Revenue Services) is liberal to provide an additional six months to gather all your required financial information. This additional time that is granted to make sure that you can file your taxes is called as tax extension.
Tax extension does not mean that you can delay paying your taxes to the government kitty. It only means that you need more time to gather your information and that is granted by the IRS through the process called as tax extension.
What is ‘IRS form 4868′?
You can file for a tax extension using Form 4868. This is an automatic tax extension form. Meaning that if you fill in the details correctly in this form and submit it with the IRS, you will be automatically granted an additional six months to file your taxes. But you need to remember that, you need to file for a tax extension also before the tax day. Else, the IRS will put your name on the tax defaulters list and all penalties for late tax filing needs to be incurred by you.
Remember that this form 4868 is only to file for a tax extension for your personal finances. If you are running a business and you want to file for an extension for the taxes pertaining to the same, you cannot use form 4868.
How to fill in ‘IRS form 4868′?
Filling of the form 4868 is very easy. All you need to provide is your name, address, Social security number and job details.
You can fill this form and submit it with the IRS manually or you could choose to do it online. The benefit of filling this form online is it allows paying your taxes online too.
Things to remember
• You can file for a tax extension when you need more time to gather all required information. But filing for your tax extension takes almost the same time as filing for your actual taxes. So, do not use reasons such as procrastination to file for a tax extension.
• You need to provide correct details to the IRS in the Form 4868 while filling the same. If the IRS detects that there is a mismatch in the information that you have provided, the IRS holds all rights to reject your plea for a tax extension.
• The IRS can also reject your tax extension request if you owe a huge amount of money to the government from your previous tax years. Make sure that you pay back all your taxes from the previous years before you apply for a tax extension for the current fiscal year.
This Article was written by Lamar Rummans. Visit our site at www.deathbytaxes and deathbytaxes/irs for more details.