Income taxes in October?

April 3, 2023 2:20 PM

Apparently people in California who live in one of a list of affected counties (most of them) don't have to file a federal income tax return until October because of the stormy winter. Forgive me for asking such a ridiculous, easily googleable question (I have!), but that seems too good to be true. Is there something I'm not understanding, or as a resident of one of the affected counties, my deadline has actually been pushed back six months?
posted by BuddhaInABucket to Work & Money (4 answers total)

FTB.ca.gov
posted by Ideefixe at 2:25 PM on April 3, 2023

IRS: May 15 tax deadline extended to Oct. 16 for disaster area taxpayers in California, Alabama and Georgia
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 2:29 PM on April 3, 2023

Best answer: Anyone can file a 4868 to extend their filing deadline to October 15th, but the key here seems to be 1) it's automatic for the affected groups and 2) it also delays the payment deadline until October.

A normal 4868 filer still needs to pay their (estimated) taxes by the April deadline.
posted by JoeZydeco at 2:40 PM on April 3, 2023 [4 favorites]

I live in a listed county but was not directly impacted by the flooding. I asked my accountant. She confirmed that, yes, everyone in the county is eligible for an automatic extension for both filing and (most unusual) for paying. However, she predicts that there is a high likelihood that IRS computers will mess up and automatically send out various notices and even penalties for late filing that will be a headache to deal with and strongly suggested that we file and pay on time. (What she actually said was, "You can wait to file if you want but I won't help you deal with any IRS notices that come your way.")
posted by metahawk at 10:33 PM on April 3, 2023 [2 favorites]