New Bipartisan Bill Could Help Tax Extension Filers

A Democrat and a Republican in the U.S. House are trying to help people who file their federal income taxes late.

Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., and Rep. Mike Carey, R-Ohio., have worked together to introduce H.R. 3566, the Simplified Automatic Filing Extensions Act of 2023 bill.

The bill would change the rules individuals use when sending the IRS estimated tax payments along with requests for filing deadline extensions. Instead of having to use an IRS tool to come up with a “properly estimated” tax liability figure, a filer could simply send in a payment for 125% of the amount owed the previous year.

The bill has the support of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants.

What It Means

For financial professionals working with disorganized clients, or clients with complicated finances, the bill could make it easier to keep them from panicking as April 15 approaches.

For agents and advisors with a general interest in Congress, the bill could lead to rumination about what kinds of provisions could eventually show up at the end of a debt limit increase bill.

Automatic Extensions

Individuals and couples can use Form 4868 to apply for automatic extensions of the individual tax return filing time.

Published details on Form 4868 filing volume are scarce. In 2008, for example, when the IRS revised regulations related to Form 4868, it indicated that it did not believe it had to put the revisions through a federal Paperwork Reduction Act review and did not provide filing or processing statistics.