October Tax Deadline Is Here For Millions Who Filed For An Extension. What Happens If You Miss It?

Susan Tompor, USA TODAY   Mon, October 17, 2022

Kicking the can down the road by requesting a six-month extension for filing your taxes – as a staggering nearly 19 million taxpayers did this year – means plenty of people are looking at an Oct. 17 deadline for filing their federal income tax returns.

"Yes, we are busy. It's not as bad as the first round of the busy season, but we're still pretty busy getting the individual returns prepared," said Robyn Fuller, a certified public accountant and founding partner for J&F Advisors, a small accounting firm in Detroit.

Those filing in the next few weeks will want to make sure to have all their paperwork in hand, especially for any payments they received in 2021 for the advance child tax credit. These advance payments aren't taxable, but they are an important part of calculating your tax refund when you file a 2021 return.

You also want to know the exact amount you received for stimulus payments in 2021.

"If those amounts don't align with what the IRS has in their records, that can delay in processing their return," Fuller said.

If you're filing a return now, it's best to file electronically, instead of by paper. While the tax season went somewhat smoothly for many, some who filed paper returns by the April deadline continued to wait for tax refunds in late September. Others saw their money only recently.

As of late June, the IRS finally completed processing all of the originally filed Form 1040 paper returns without errors that it received in 2021. It's a first-in, first-out process. Once the returns received in 2021 were processed, the IRS could move on to the paper returns received this year.

The accumulation of paper returns has been a troublesome development since the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns shook up the system.

Why Did So Many People Request A 2022 Tax Filing Extension?

Every year, a group of people just naturally drag their feet past April and file Form 4868 to request the automatic six-month extension. By filing that form, you get more time to file a completed tax return, not more time to pay your tax bill. You want to pay any amount due – or pay as much as you can – by the April deadline to avoid interest and penalties on what is owed.

This year, the numbers filing for extensions exploded to record levels as some taxpayers hoped the IRS would extend the deadline. Others worried that some last-minute tax changes could be around the corner from Congress. And many weren't sure how to calculate the child tax credit or the recovery rebate credit.

How to request a tax extension

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