Tax Guru-Ker$tetter Letter

Thursday, August 04, 2005

IRS Extensions

When I first started in the tax prep business 30+ years ago, the first extension (Form 4868) we filed on April 15 was only for two months, until June 15. Some years back, that was changed to the four months that we now obtain from the 4868. According to this IRS announcement, the 2005 4868 will be for six months. This will save us a ton of time filing the 2688s that are due in by August 15.

New Form 4868 Planned to Provide a 6-Month Extension Period

A draft of the revised IRS Form 4868 is now available on IRS.gov. This revision will give taxpayers a 6-month extension without the need to file an intervening form. For Tax Year 2004, a taxpayer filing a Form 4868 had until Aug. 15 to file the return. The taxpayer needed to file Form 2688 to get an additional 2 months and had to supply a reason for needing the additional time. Provided the necessary regulations are approved taxpayers will be able to use the revised form for Tax Year 2005. It is estimated that this change may save 9 million hours.

- posted by Kerry M. Kerstetter, MBA~CPA~ATP~ATA @ 8/04/2005 03:04:00 PM Send this post: