April 15 is not Tax Day for taxpayers abroad and in 11 states
Tuesday, April 02, 2024
Updated Thursday, April 4, 2024
Tax Day is less than two weeks away, but some aren't sweating the April 15 filing deadline.
They have more time to complete their tax paperwork and, in some cases, may any associated payments.
Here's a look at the special situations where taxpayers have more time to file their federal tax returns.
International, including military, taxpayers: When it comes to individual taxes, the tax code doesn't care where you live. If you're a U.S. citizen or resident alien, including those with dual citizenship, you must pay tax to Uncle Sam even if you're living and working abroad.
The same applies to members of the U.S. military who are posted at facilities outside the United States or Puerto Rico.
These internationally based taxpayers, however, get extra time to file their tax returns. Their 1040 forms are not due until mid-June. The official deadline is June 15, but this year it's June 17 since the 15th falls on Saturday, pushing the deadline to the next business day.
This two-month extension from the regular April tax deadline is automatic, so U.S. taxpayers abroad don't have to mess with filing Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, to get the added time.
You do, however, need to attach a statement to your return explaining that you live and conduct business in another country or are posted by the military abroad. That will alert the Internal Revenue Service to apply the June deadline to your return.
And the automatic extension to June 15 (or the 17th this year) does share one thing with the Form 4868 request. Non-payment of any tax you owe will cost you. U.S. taxpayers abroad who owe tax should make that payment by April 15 to avoid interest that will start accruing after that date on the amount you owe the U.S. Treasury.
If you qualify for the automatic two-month extension, but are unable to file your return by the June due date, then you can file Form 4868 to get until Oct. 15 to file. And you'll definitely need to pay any tax due when you submit that request to the IRS, since a late-payment penalty will be added to the interest charges on your unpaid tax balance.
Disaster area delays: Some taxpayers don't have to file by April 15. However, they get added time for awful reasons. They went through major natural disasters.
When the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) deems locations have sustained extraordinary damages from Mother Nature, the IRS follows the disaster declaration by offering tax relief to affected individual and business taxpayers.
That's the case this year for some or all residents in 10 states.
June 17 is the new filing deadline for disaster-stricken taxpayers in eight states. They are in —
- California's San Diego County;
- Washington State's Spokane County;
- Connecticut's New London County, including the Mohegan Tribal Nation and Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation;
- Maine counties of Androscoggin, Franklin, Hancock, Kennebec, Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset, Waldo, and Washington;
- Michigan counties of Eaton, Ingham, Ionia, Kent, Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, and Wayne;
- Providence County in Rhode Island;
- Tennessee counties of Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Gibson, Montgomery, Robertson, Stewart, Sumner, and Weakley; and
- West Virginia counties of Boone, Calhoun, Clay, Harrison, and Kanawha,
Taxpayers in the Wrangell Cooperative Association of Alaska Tribal Nation in Alaska who were affected by severe storms that produced deadly landslides and mudslides have until July 15 to file 2023 returns.
UPDATE, April 4, 2024: On April 4, the IRS revised deadlines for some Maine and Rhode Island taxpayers because of subsequent severe storm systems in those states. In addition to the June 17 deadlines, noted in the links in the bullet list above, other taxpayers in those states now have a July 15 for certain tax filings and payments.
Maine individuals and business taxpayers in the path of severe storms and flooding on Jan. 9 now have the new July 15 deadline. This covers those in Cumberland, Hancock, Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc, Waldo, Washington, and York counties.
Rhode Island taxpayers who get the July 15 deadline are individuals and businesses hit by severe storms and flooding that began on Dec. 17, 2023, and Jan. 9. Taxpayers in Kent, Providence, and Washington counties qualify for this latest round of tax relief.
Residents of the Hawai'ian islands of Maui and Hawai'i who endured the deadly wildfires there now have until Aug. 7 to file their individual and/or business returns.
Holiday-delayed Tax Day: On a happier tax delay note, taxpayers in two New England states have two extra days to file their 2023 tax year returns.
Tax Day is April 17 for residents of Maine who aren't in the previously mentioned disaster areas and Massachusetts. They can thank Patriots' Day, an official state holiday in both jurisdictions that falls each year on the third Monday each April.
This year, that's April 15. And the commemoration of the Revolutionary War battles of Lexington and Concord gives taxpayers in the Pine Tree and Bay States more time to fulfill their annual federal tax filing obligations.
That normally would be April 16, but that's also Emancipation Day in Washington, D.C, celebrating the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia on April 16, 1862. And when that holiday in our national capital coincides with a federal tax deadline, Uncle Sam also acknowledges it and moves any IRS due date to the next business day.
So in April 2024, most Maine and all Massachusetts taxpayers get until April 17 to file and pay their federal taxes.
Regardless of when you must get your Form 1040 to the IRS, make sure meet that deadline. If you can't, then file Form 4868 to move Tax Day one more time to Oct. 15.
You also might find these items of interest:
- How international taxpayers can get IRS help
- Tax filing resources for U.S. service members
- Mark your tax calendar: Key 2024 federal tax dates
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