On March 17, 2021, IRS announced that the federal income tax filing due date for individuals for the 2020 tax year will be automatically extended from April 15, 2021 to May 17, 2021. That means you do not have to file Form 4868 for the tax return extension unless you plan to file after May 17. For any return or payment postponed by this announcement, no penalty and interest to file a federal income tax return and its payment will be accrued between April 15 and May 17, 2021*.
* Postponement applies only to individual taxpayers (Form 1040); estimated income tax payments are due April 15, 2021 for 2021 tax years.
Taxpayers should double-check to ensure they have all their documents before filing a tax return. If taxpayers find errors or missing documents such as a W-2 or Form 1099, they should contact the employers and payers or other issuers to request the missing documents or to reissue corrected forms. If taxpayers do not receive missing or corrected documents in time to their returns, they may need to estimate the payments made to them. Estimated amounts can be reported on Form 3852 on their federal tax return. If they receive the missing or corrected Form W-2 or Form 1099-R after filing their return and the information differs from their estimate, they must file Form 1040-X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.
Most taxpayers should have received income documents near the end of January, including:
- Forms W-2, Wage and Tax Statement
- Form 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Income
- Form 1099-INT, Interest Income
- Form 1099-NEC, Nonemployee Compensation
- Form 1099-G, Certain Government Payments; like unemployment compensation or state tax refund