Taxpayers who live outside the United States and Puerto Rico may qualify for the extended June 17 deadline.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued a reminder to taxpayers living and working outside the United States that the deadline for filing their 2023 federal income tax return is June 17.
This deadline applies to both U.S. citizens and resident aliens abroad, including taxpayers who hold dual citizenship, the IRS said in a
May 28 announcement.
For most taxpayers, April 15 was the deadline to file federal income tax returns. However, some groups of taxpayers had different deadlines, such as individuals in states affected by natural disasters.
Also subject to a different tax filing deadline are American citizens or resident aliens residing overseas or on duty in the military outside the United States.
Such individuals are allowed an automatic two-month extension to file their tax return and pay any amount due, which in the current tax filing season falls on June 17.
Who Qualifies for the June 17 Deadline?
Taxpayers who live outside the United States and Puerto Rico, and whose main place of business or post of duty is also outside the United States and Puerto Rico, qualify for the extended June 17 deadline.Also eligible are those who are serving in the military outside the United States and Puerto Rico on the regular due date of their tax return (April 15 for most people).
Those who want to take advantage of the automatic two-month extension must attach a statement to their tax return explaining which of the two above conditions applies to their situation.
Tax filing deadlines were also extended to June 17 for taxpayers in certain areas that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) designated as disaster areas.
Taxpayers in dozens of counties and two tribal areas in California, Michigan, Maine, Washington state, Tennessee, and West Virginia are eligible for the extended June 17 deadline,
according to the IRS.
Specifically, the June 17 deadline applies to San Diego County in California; New London County, as well as the tribal nations of Mohegan and Mashantucket in Connecticut; and Eaton, Ingham, Ionia, Kent, Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, and Wayne counties in Michigan, according to the IRS.
The agency said that the same deadline applies to taxpayers in the following counties: Androscoggin, Franklin, Kennebec, Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, and Somerset in Maine; Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Gibson, Montgomery, Robertson, Stewart, Sumner, and Weakley in Tennessee; and Boone, Calhoun, Clay, Harrison, Kanawha, and Roane in West Virginia.
Additional Extensions
In general, even though taxpayers can request an additional extension to file their tax return, they must still pay any taxes owed by the June 17 deadline.However, taxpayers who qualify for the extended June 17 deadline but for some reason are unable to file their tax returns by that date can request an automatic six-month extension. They can do so by filing
Form 4868, an “Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.” In some cases, taxpayers can get an extension greater than six months.
Conditions for extensions longer than six months include meeting either the
bona fide residence test or the
physical presence test in order to qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion or to exclude or deduct the foreign housing costs. Such individuals must file
IRS Form 2350, an “Application for Extension of Time to File U.S. Income Tax Return.”
Members of the military stationed abroad or in a combat zone during tax filing season may qualify for an
additional extension of at least 180 days to file their tax returns and pay any taxes owed.
Taxpayers living and working abroad, whose incomes are paid in a foreign currency or whose deductible expenses are in a foreign currency, must report this information in U.S. dollars when they file tax returns in the United States. Any tax payments must also be made in U.S. dollars.
In cases where taxpayers relinquished their U.S. citizenship or ceased to be lawful permanent residents of the United States in 2023, they must file a dual-status tax return and attach
Form 8854, an “Initial and Annual Expatriation Statement.”
Other Developments
Last year, the IRS
raked in a record $4.9 trillion in taxes from Americans, amid a tax enforcement crackdown. This year,
that amount dipped to $4.7 trillion.
The eye-catching tax intake was made possible in part due to a significant funding boost of $78 billion, which the IRS used to hire more enforcers and deploy advanced technologies like artificial intelligence to boost compliance and bring in more tax dollars.
The IRS got roughly $79.4 billion in supplemental funding when President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 into law, though Congress later clawed back around $1.4 billion.
The IRS expanded its workforce by around 5 percent last year, adding roughly 5,800 new employees.
