Filing a Tax Extension in New York: More Time to File, Not More Time to Pay

An extension does not mean you are in trouble. It means you are not ready, and you know it. More than 19 million taxpayers file extensions every year, and the IRS treats them as routine. What trips people up is not the extension itself — it is misunderstanding what it covers and what it does not.

The Deadline That Does Not Move

Filing an extension moves your return deadline from April 15 to October 15. It does not move your payment deadline. If you owe federal taxes, that money is still due April 15. The extension changes nothing about that.

If you do not pay by April 15 and owe, the IRS will assess a failure-to-pay penalty of 0.5% per month on the unpaid balance, up to a maximum of 25%, plus interest that accrues separately. The penalty accumulates each month it remains unresolved. Paying what you can by the original deadline reduces additional penalties and interest, even if your return is not ready.

If you are due a refund and have no balance due, there is generally no late-filing penalty. The main consequence of waiting is that your refund arrives later.

The Federal Extension: Form 4868

The federal extension form is IRS Form 4868. File it by April 15, 2026, and your 2025 return deadline moves to October 15, 2026. The IRS grants the extension automatically — no explanation or approval required. As long as you file on time, you get the six months.

When filing Form 4868, you will need to provide:

• Your name, address, and Social Security number

• An estimate of your total 2025 tax liability

• The total payments you have already made, including withholding and any estimated tax payments

• Any balance due, which you should pay at the same time

Form 4868 can be filed electronically through tax software, through a tax professional, or by mail. If you file electronically and pay through IRS Direct Pay in the same transaction, you can designate that payment as part of an extension request. When filed electronically and on time, the extension is automatic, and you will receive confirmation of submission.

New York State Requires a Separate Extension: Form IT-370

This is the part that catches New York taxpayers off guard. Filing a federal extension does not extend your New York State deadline. New York requires its own form — Form IT-370, Application for Automatic Six-Month Extension of Time to File — and it must be filed separately.

Like the federal extension, Form IT-370 must be filed by April 15, 2026, and extends the New York filing deadline to October 15, 2026. It does not extend the time to pay. Any New York State income tax owed is still due April 15.

The New York Department of Taxation and Finance allows you to file Form IT-370 directly through its online portal at tax.ny.gov, where you can submit the extension request and make any required payment in the same transaction. That is generally faster and cleaner than mailing a paper form. Whether a filing is required in your specific situation depends on your New York tax liability, so if you are unsure, confirm before assuming nothing needs to be filed.

Do not submit a copy of your federal Form 4868 to New York. The state will not accept it in place of Form IT-370, and your state deadline will not be extended.

What Happens If You Miss the Extension Deadline?

Extensions must be filed by April 15. You cannot request one after the deadline has passed. If you miss it and you owe taxes, the IRS can assess a failure-to-file penalty of 5% per month on the unpaid balance, up to 25%. That is ten times the failure-to-pay rate. Filing the extension on time eliminates the failure-to-file penalty entirely, which is the main reason to file even when you cannot pay.

If you miss the deadline and you owe, file your return as soon as possible. Every month you wait, you add to what you owe.

Sometimes the Return Is Complicated, Not Just Incomplete

Some people extend because they are waiting for a document. Others extend because something real changed in their financial life in 2025, and the return they are looking at is genuinely more complex than anything they have filed before. Both are legitimate reasons. The second category is the one people sometimes feel they should push through, but often shouldn't.

A parent died and left an estate that included a brokerage account, an IRA, or real estate. That alone creates multiple tax questions: how distributions are treated, how basis is calculated on inherited assets, and whether income was reported under the decedent's Social Security number or the estate's. That is not a return to rush.

You retired in 2025. There is W-2 income for part of the year, a pension or Social Security payment starting partway through, and maybe a lump-sum retirement distribution on top. First-year retirement returns are frequently messier than people expect. The withholding picture looks nothing like prior years, and working through the numbers accurately takes time.

You sold a business, or a piece of it, in 2025. The closing happened, the money changed hands, but the tax picture is still being worked out. Asset sales involve allocating the purchase price among components, some of which are taxed as capital gains and others as ordinary income. Depreciation recapture creates a separate calculation on top of that. Getting it all right takes time, and getting it wrong costs more than the extension ever would.

If your 2025 looked meaningfully different from your 2024, that alone is a reason to take the time rather than file something you are not confident in.

Before the Deadline, Not After

If April 15 is close and your return is not ready, three things still need to happen before that date: estimate what you owe, pay as much as you can for both federal and New York State, and file both extensions. Miss one of those steps, and you may face penalties and interest that could have been avoided. If you are not sure where to start or what you owe, contact Gregg Jaffe Tax Services before the deadline — not after.

Gregg Jaffe Tax Services works with individuals, families, and business owners across Plainview and Long Island every tax season. Extensions are a routine part of that work every April, and there is no reason to handle them alone.

Phone: 516-770-5305

Email: GJaffetax@yahoo.com

Contact online: greggjaffetax.com/contact