It is an easy to forget some things you have to take care of in during a beautiful summer day. The deadline is coming on if you filed an income tax extension on your taxes earlier this year. If you’re considering filing an income tax extension, you are not alone. The IRS recently estimated that 10.2 million of the 140 million tax filers will file for a personal tax extension this year. Most of 2 million of those income tax extensions will be filed online.

Of course, most people file extensions for their personal tax returns. In a change from previous years, you are now given an automatic 6 month extension. The previous relief was only 3 months. Regardless, this now means that you need to have your tax returns filed by October 15th. While that may seem a long way off, you still need to get hopping on the process. Getting a second extension is much more difficult these days. As with the original filing dates, you can e-file your tax returns. This tends to make life a bit simpler, but keep in mind you need to keep copies of the returns. You should also get verification that the returns were actually sent to the IRS.

Your income tax extension can be filed in less than 10 minutes using an online provider like File Later. The process is completely paper-free, and your extension will be e-filed, meaning you’ll get an email confirming the IRS has approved your extension, and you’ll have 6 more months to finalize your tax return. The form to request a personal tax extension is the 4868, and must have been filed by April 15 in order to qualify. If a tax balance was owed, it must have been paid by April 15 - the tax extension is only an income tax extention of time to file the tax return, not an extension to pay what is owed. If the taxpayer does not know what is owed, an good estimate must be made and paid. Penalties are assessed on amounts due as of April 15, and are not deductible, even for businesses.

And remember, even though you may be interested in the reasons to extend your income tax return, the IRS doesn’t care or ask. As long as your application is filed correctly, your personal tax extension will be granted by the IRS and your new tax deadline will be October 15.