Support Center

What is the Status of My Extension

"If you cannot file your tax return by the due date, you must request an extension. This is an extension of time to file, not an extension of time to pay. If you do not file your return by the due date (including extension), you may have to pay a Late Filing penalty."

Reasons to file Form 4868.

1. Filing an extension avoids the 5% per month Late Filing penalty.
2. The Late Payment penalty will not apply during the six months of the 4868 extension period if the unpaid tax is less than ten percent of the total tax liability.
3. Filing an extension online provides you with positive confirmation that your extension was accepted by IRS. You will receive a tracking number known as the IRS DCN that proves you filed.

Due Dates, Interest and Penalties

Due Date for Tax Extension (Form 4868)
Tax extensions are due on April 15 as well. If you attempted to e-file a tax extension on or before April 15 and were rejected by IRS, a grace-period is granted until April 20 in order to correct mistakes.

In addition, IRS will routinely (but is not required to) accept e-filed extensions until April 20 for taxpayers who did not file by April 15.

Due Dates for Taxpayers Living Abroad
If you are a U.S. Citizen or resident and are out of the country on your tax return due date, you have an additional two months to file. You can use Form 4868 through June 15 to obtain an additional four months to file. In this case, you should mark the "out of the country" box near the bottom of your Form 4868 and mail it in (e-filing of Form 4868 after April 20 is not supported by IRS).

If file your Form 4868 by April 15, you will be granted an extension until October 15 without regard to your qualification as "out of the country".

Interest
Filing a tax extension gives you more time to prepare your income tax return, eliminates the 5% per-month Late Filing penalty, and in most cases, the Late Payment penalty (see below) does not apply during the period of your extension. An extension does not eliminate interest on any outstanding tax balance you may owe. The latest IRS interest rate, as of January 1, 2006 is 7% per year.

Example:

Marge Simpson owes the IRS $2,000 for the tax year 2007 and files a tax extension on April 15. She subsequently files her tax return and pays her balance due on October 15. Her interest will be approximately $70.

Penalties
Two penalties exist relating to non-timely filed returns. They are:

1. The Late Filing penalty: This is a 5% per month penalty on the outstanding tax you owed on April 15. Filing a tax extension eliminates this penalty until October 15. The maximum penalty is 25% or the equivalent of 5 months.
2. The Late Payment penalty: This is a 1/2% per month penalty on the outstanding tax you owed on April 15. The maximum penalty is 25%. This penalty does not apply during the six month period of your extension if the unpaid tax is less than 10% of your total tax liability.

#1: Ned Flanders's owes the IRS $5,000 for the tax year 2007 and does not file a tax extension. He subsequently files his tax return and pays his balance due on October 15. His Late Filing Penalty is $5,000 x 5% x 6 months = $1,500. Since Ned's total tax liability for the year is the same as the amount he owed, his Late Payment penalty is $5,000 x 1/2% x 6 months = $150. He is also subject to interest of $175 (see Interest above) for total interest and penalties of $1,825.

#2: Ned Flanders's owes the IRS $400 on a total 2007 tax liability of $5,000 (he paid in $4,600 via W2 withholdings). Ned files a tax extension and subsequently files his tax return and pays his balance due on October 15. His Late Filing Penalty is $0 because he extended his filing deadline with a tax extension. His Late Payment Penalty is $0 because the amount he owed on April 15 was less than 10% of his total tax liability for tax year 2007. Ned will still owe interest of $14.

If your extension has not yet been transmitted, you may unrequest e-file by selecting Step 5 and clicking the "Unrequest e-file" button.

You should not be overly concerned if the current year AGI and tax information that you supplied as estimates for the current year are incorrect. The IRS understands that these are just estimates.

The primary purpose of the form 4868 request for extension is to notify the IRS that you will be filing a tax return, but just do not have all of the information available yet.

"Out of the country" means either:
1. You live outside the United States and Puerto Rico and your main place of work is outside the United States and Puerto Rico, or
2. You are in military or naval service outside the United States and Puerto Rico. If you qualify as being "out of the country", you will still be eligible for the extension even if you are physically present in the United States or Puerto Rico on the regular due date of the return.

Form 1040NR or 1040NR-EZ filers

IRS Mailing Addresses

Error Reject Code 007 - Street Address must not contain characters other than letters (A-Z), numerals (0-9), spaces, hyphen (-) or slash (/). Nor can Street Address begin with a space or have 2 or more spaces together anywhere.

Solution: Ensure that the street address meets the criteria above.

Error reject code 010 - An entry that you made contained an extraneous character that was not allowed by the e-filing system for the kind of data being entered, such as a comma in a numeric field ("5,000").

Solution: Note the "Sequence Description" on the "Status" page and re-enter this entry with only alpha letters (A-Z), numerals (0-9) and spaces (for dollar amounts, numerals only).

Error reject code 020 - Neither Primary Taxpayer's First or Last Name nor Spouse's First or Last Name can have characters other than alpha letters (A-Z), spaces, or hyphen (-). Nor can they begin with a space or have 2 or more spaces together anywhere.

Solution: Ensure that both the Primary Taxpayer and Spouse names meet the above conditions.

Error reject code 315 - Primary Taxpayer's SSN and Primary Taxpayer's Last Name must match data from the IRS Master File.

Solution: Verify that the SSN and name provided for the Primary Taxpayer matches the SSN and name shown on that person's most recent Social Security card. If the information matches, please contact the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213 to get the Last Name that is currently on file for the Primary Taxpayer; you may also need to contact IRS at 1-800-829-1040.

Error reject code 316 - Spouse's SSN and Spouse's Last Name must match data from the IRS Master File.

Solution: Verify that the SSN and name provided for the Spouse matches the SSN name shown on that person's most recent Social Security card.

Also, if your spouse does not have an SSN or is waiting on an ITIN, you should omit your spouse's information from your tax extension.

If all else fails, please contact the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213 to get the Last Name that is currently on file for the spouse; you may also want to contact IRS at 1-800-829-1040.

Error reject code 679 - When a Self-Select PIN is present, Primary Prior Year Adjusted Gross Income (SEQ 020) does not match Primary Prior Year Adjusted Gross Income on the IRS Master File.

Solution: Enter AGI from your 2006 tax return as follows:

• Form 1040 - Line 37
• Form 1040A - Line 21
• Form 1040EZ - 4

The AGI is required by IRS because you elected to make a payment via direct debit from your checking or savings in Step 2 with IRS Form Payment. If you cannot find your tax return from last year to locate your AGI, you should print and mail your extension with a check.

Error reject code 680 - When a Self-Select PIN is present, Spouse Prior Year Adjusted Gross Income (SEQ 050) does not match the Spouse Prior Year Adjusted Gross Income on the IRS Master File.

You have three options:

Billing Issues

If you do not have a credit card or checking/savings account, you may use one of a friend or relative, with their permission. Please alert them of a charge from "Texextension.com" on your behalf.

I am attempting to pay for your service with a credit card but the transaction is declined Often, the fastest solution is to use a different credit card. If this is not possible, here are some tips on solving credit card declined issues:

First, verify that your card is a credit card by looking for a Mastercard, Visa, American Express, or Discover logo on its face. We do not accept debit cards due to PIN privacy concerns.

If your card is indeed a credit card, you may wish to ask your bank if they allow Internet transactions and if the account is in good standing. Some banks place temporary holds on credit cards, even if the balance is below the credit limit. This can happen, for example, if your statements have been returned to them as undeliverable or if the pattern of charges seems unusual.

Please contact your bank's Customer Service department at the number shown on the back of your card. They will have a record of declined transactions and can often remove a hold on your card in just a few minutes.

I have decided not to use your service to file my extension and I would like a refund. If you have not paid for our service, you can delete your extension by clicking "Delete Extension" at the top left corner of the application home page.

If you have paid but not printed or e-filed, you may request a refund from Customer Service (see "Submit Support Request" at the bottom of this page.

I have have used your service but have been rejected by IRS and would like a refund. If you have paid and either printed or e-filed, then according to our Standard Usage Agreement, which users must agree to during account creation, we have delivered the service you contracted for and no refunds are given.

It is your responsibility to correct IRS rejects during e-file, such as name/SSN or AGI mismatches. Only you and IRS have these data - we have no means of correcting these errors for you.

From the Standard Usage Agreement:

I understand that I may use the system at no cost but if I choose to print OR e-file, I will be asked to pay a fee. Once I print or e-file, I understand that this fee is non-refundable.

Browser Issues

Security Issues

If you requested an online extension prior to April 15, the IRS grants a grace-period until April 20 in order to resolve outstanding issues.