Can I file another extension after October 15?
Asked about 1,270 times a month across a dozen wordings, and the curve climbs through September to peak in the second week of October. The people asking took the April extension, are not ready, and are looking for the next one the way they found the first.
Every year the same question climbs through September and peaks in the second week of October, worded a dozen different ways. People who took the April extension reach the middle of October, are not ready, and go looking for the next extension the way they found the first one.
The answer is not the one they want, and the more useful part is what happens next.
Asked about 1,270 times a month on Google, across a dozen phrasings.
@Andresplatts·
No, and it is worth being blunt about it: the six-month extension is the maximum the IRS grants. 15 October 2026 is a Thursday and it is the end of the line for an individual return. There is no form to file for a further extension because there is no further extension to ask for.
Two exceptions, both narrow. If you are a US citizen or resident living abroad you may request a discretionary extension to 15 December in writing. And disaster-area or combat-zone relief moves the date on its own, without you asking. Neither is a general-purpose second extension, and neither applies to most people reading this.
One thing worth correcting while we are here: the extension was never an extension to pay. If you owed tax on 15 April, interest has been accruing since then regardless of the extension you filed.
@Andresplatts·
So the real question is what to do on 16 October, and the answer is file anyway, immediately.
The two penalties are very different sizes and people usually fear the wrong one. Failure to file is 5% of the unpaid tax per month, capped at 25%. Failure to pay is 0.5% per month. Not filing costs ten times what not paying costs. So if you cannot pay, file regardless and deal with the balance separately. The IRS has payment plans. It does not have a plan for a return that never arrived.
If you are owed a refund rather than owing tax, there is no failure-to-file penalty at all, because it is calculated on what you owe. You are still leaving your own money with the government, and the claim expires after three years.
@GaboG4·
Adding the one that catches our clients, because it is not on the same date as people assume and the number is not small.
If you are a non-US owner of a single-member US LLC, your filing is Form 5472 attached to a pro-forma 1120, and the penalty is $25,000 per form, per year. That is owed whether or not the company traded, whether or not it made money, and whether or not any tax is due. A dormant LLC with no bank account and no revenue still owes the form. It is the single most expensive piece of paperwork in this whole category and most people who owe it have never heard of it.
Separately, if you have a multi-member LLC, October 15 is not your date at all. Form 1065 on extension was due 15 September, which is today. If that is you, this is the last day rather than a problem four weeks out, and the advice in the reply above applies to you right now.
