Your extension runs out October 15. Let’s finish the return.
Tax extension help for New Hampshire filers: we finish extended and past-deadline returns before the October 15 deadline, missing documents and all.
Chris Brown, Enrolled Agent
You work with me directly, start to finish.
How we finish your return after a tax extension
If you filed a tax extension in April, your federal return is due October 15. We finish extended individual returns: we gather what you have, pull IRS transcripts for anything missing, prepare the return accurately, and file it before the deadline. If you owe, we set up a realistic plan for the balance.
Filing Form 4868 in April was the right move if you were not ready. But the extension does not file the return for you, and the months go quickly. If it has been sitting because you are missing documents, dreading the balance, or just never circled back to it, that is normal, and it is fixable.
Chris Brown, Enrolled Agent
You work with me directly, start to finish.
Whether you searched for a CPA, an accountant, or just tax extension help, what you need now is someone licensed to finish the return and deal with the IRS on your behalf. NH Tax Advisors is led by Chris Brown, who is federally licensed by the IRS to do exactly that, in all fifty states.
Why finishing your extended return now beats waiting for October 15
You filed the extension in April, checked the box, and moved on. The catch is that an extension only moves your filing deadline, not your payment deadline. So if you owed anything in April, that balance never paused. The failure-to-pay penalty and interest have been running quietly since April 15, and October 15 arrives faster than it feels, with no reset after it. That is the return we finish most this time of year. We take stock of what you owe and what is still missing, pull transcripts for anything you cannot find, prepare the return accurately, and file it before October 15 so the failure-to-file penalty never gets its opening.
- Licensed to deal with the IRS on your behalf, in all fifty states
- Missing forms recovered straight from your IRS wage and income transcripts
- The return prepared accurately and checked line by line before it is filed
- A realistic plan for any balance, so filing never waits on paying
- Filed and confirmed accepted before the October 15 deadline
- The failure-to-pay penalty and interest explained in plain dollars, so you know where you stand
“He was professional, cordial, and efficient. I'm extremely glad I found NH Tax Advisors and chose to work with them.”
How we finish an extended return
- Take stock. We look at what you have, what is still missing, and whether there is a balance that has been growing since April.
- Fill the gaps. We pull your IRS transcripts for anything missing and prepare the return accurately, so nothing that lowers your bill gets left out.
- File before October 15. We file, confirm the IRS accepts it, and if you owe, lay out realistic options for the balance.
An extension buys time to file, not time to pay
This is the part that surprises people. The extension protects you from the failure-to-file penalty, the big one at 5% of the unpaid tax a month. It does nothing about the failure-to-pay penalty or the interest, which have been adding up on any unpaid balance since April 15. Here is what that looks like on a real balance.
What a $4,000 April balance costs on extension
Say you owed $4,000 in April, filed Form 4868, and did not pay. Six months later, at the October deadline, here is roughly where the two paths stand.
| Your extended return | The same balance, no extension filed | |
|---|---|---|
| Failure-to-file penalty (5%/mo) | Held off by the extension | Up to 25% of the tax, about $1,000 |
| Failure-to-pay penalty (0.5%/mo) | About $120 after 6 months | About $120 after 6 months |
| Interest | Adds until the balance is paid | Adds until the balance is paid |
The extension saved you up to about $1,000 in failure-to-file penalty, ten times the size of the failure-to-pay penalty. What it did not do is stop the $120 and the interest, and both keep growing until the balance is paid. So paying down whatever you can now is worth it, even before the return is finished.
Let’s finish the return and stop the penalties from growing.
If you are close to October 15 and still missing a form, call us before the deadline. We can often pull it from your IRS transcripts the same day and keep your return on track.
When the holdup is a missing document
The most common reason an extended return stalls is a document that never showed up: a 1099 from a closed account, a brokerage statement, a K-1 from a partnership. One missing form does not have to freeze the whole return.
Rebuilding a return around a document that never came
Say your extended return is stuck on one missing piece: a 1099 from an account you closed mid-year, or a brokerage statement that never arrived. You do not have to wait and gamble on the deadline. As your representative, we can request your IRS wage and income transcript, which shows what was already reported under your Social Security number, rebuild the return from that and your own records, and file it before October 15.
Let’s see what we can pull for you before the deadline.
If the reason you are behind is not one late year but several, that is a bigger fix: see how we handle back taxes and unfiled returns. If your extended return is a straightforward individual return, that is our everyday individual tax preparation work, and if you are self-employed, the extension often hides a balance from self-employment tax you did not plan for. You do not have to be nearby to work with us. We finish extended returns by secure portal, phone, and video for clients in Bedford, Nashua, and across New Hampshire.
A few things people ask before the deadline:
Frequently asked questions
I filed an extension, so I do not still owe from April, right?
An extension is more time to file, not more time to pay. If you owed tax in April and have not paid it, the failure-to-pay penalty and interest have been running since April 15. The one thing the extension does hold off is the failure-to-file penalty, which is ten times larger at 5% of the unpaid tax a month. Filing by October 15 keeps it held off.
I am not ready because I am missing documents. Now what?
That is the usual reason a return stalls on extension. We can pull your IRS wage and income transcripts and recover most of what is missing, so a lost 1099 or a brokerage statement that never arrived does not hold up the return.
Can I get a second extension past October 15?
For most individual filers, no. Form 4868 gives you one six-month extension, and October 15 is the end of it. A few situations, such as living outside the country or serving in a combat zone, can qualify for limited additional time, but the ordinary calendar-year return has no second extension. If October 15 is close and you are not ready, that is the moment to call.
What happens if I miss October 15 too?
Once the extension lapses, the failure-to-file penalty starts at 5% of the unpaid tax a month, up to 25%, on top of the failure-to-pay penalty and interest that were already running. If you are owed a refund there is no penalty, but the return still needs to be filed. Either way, filing is the move, and the sooner the better.
I am getting a refund. Do I still need to file by October 15?
There is no penalty when you are owed a refund, because the penalties are a percentage of unpaid tax and you have none. But the refund is your own money sitting with the IRS, and you generally have three years from the original due date to claim it before it is gone for good. File and get it back.
Does filing on an extension increase my audit risk?
No. An extension is one of the most routine things the IRS handles, and it does not flag your return. What actually draws IRS attention is missing income or errors, so a return prepared carefully in October is in better shape than one rushed to beat April. Filing on extension is treated the same as filing on time.
Want the IRS’s own words on any of this? These are the pages worth knowing.
Where to learn more
- IRS: About Form 4868The application for an automatic extension of time to file a U.S. individual income tax return, and what it does and does not cover.
- IRS: Get an Extension to File Your Tax ReturnHow the extension works, why it moves the filing deadline but not the payment deadline, and the October due date.
- IRS: Failure to Pay PenaltyHow the penalty on an unpaid balance is figured, the one that keeps running on an extended return until the tax is paid.
What clients say
Real reviews from real Southern NH clients
“I truly cannot say enough good things about my experience with Chris & Maria at NH Tax Advisors! I came to them with a rather daunting & messy self-employed tax situation, needing resolution for some previous years' filings.”
“We had an unexpected situation this tax season when our original accountant suddenly became ill and had to retire. My husband and I were scrambling to find someone new, especially so close to the deadline.”
“I had a great experience working with Chris Brown. He was incredibly easy to work with and always very reachable. He would respond within minutes or at most a few hours whenever I had a question.”
Talk to your tax professional today
Call to talk through your tax situation with a licensed tax pro who’ll remember you next year.