Form 4868. Application For Automatic Extension Of Time To File U.S. Individual: Fill & Download for Free

If you anticipate that you will not be able to file your return by its due date, you need to file Form 4868 to request an extension. You do not need an ITIN to file Form 4868, and you can include a payment with Form 4868. If you do not have your ITIN in time to file your return on time, your only option is to file Form 4868, along with a payment of your estimated tax liability. All of the other available methods for making a prepayment of tax liability require an SSN or ITIN.Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax ReturnDo not use Form 1040-V. Form 1040-V is only used when you submit a payment by check either at the same time you file an individual return or after you have filed an individual return. If you send the IRS a check along with a Form 1040-V without a return having been filed, your check will get thrown into a pile of “weird stuff that we have to figure out what to do with” and will get processed days or even weeks later, and you may be liable for penalties and interest if the delay in processing results in your account being credited after the date on which payment was required. Furthermore, you need an SSN or ITIN to file Form 1040-V.

I am receiving an A2A to this question on March 4, 2017, and as of this date, it is too late to request an extension for a 2015 tax return. An individual 2015 tax return would have been due April 15, 2016. If you had requested an extension by filing Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return before April 15, 2016, then you would have had until October 15, 2016 to file your 2015 tax return. Given that both of those dates are long past, your only option now is to file the late return as soon as possible.

You need to meet the 330 days in a foreign country or countries prior to filing your tax return, but you do not have to meet the 330 days by the end of the tax year or by the due date of the return.If you are close to meeting the 330 days, then you could request an extension of time to file Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return and wait to file your return after you have met the 330 days. If a normal extension will not allow you enough time to meet the 330 days, you may qualify to file Form 2350, Application for Extension of Time To File U.S. Income Tax Return which allows you to extend the time to file because you expect to file Form 2555, Foreign Earned Income.Since a lot of US citizens living abroad miss this, I will just note here that the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion does not exclude your earned income from self employment tax and it does not exclude non-earned income from US income tax.