Artículo Married taxpayers.. Married taxpayers.

id="en_US_2025_publink1000170533"> Married taxpayers. If you file a joint return, only one spouse has to qualify for this automatic extension. If you and your spouse file separate returns, the automatic extension applies only to the spouse who qualifies. How to get the extension. To use this automatic extension, you must attach a statement to your return explaining what situation qualified you for the extension. (See the situations listed under (2), earlier.) Extensions beyond 2 months. If you can’t file your return within the automatic 2-month extension period, you may be able to get an additional 4-month extension, for a total of 6 months. File Form 4868 and check the box on line 8. No further extension. An extension of more than 6 months will generally not be granted. However, if you are outside the United States and meet certain tests, you may be granted a longer extension. For more information, see Filing and Payment Due Dates in Pub. 54. Individuals Serving in Combat Zone The deadline for filing your tax return, paying any tax you may owe, and filing a claim for refund is automatically extended if you serve in a combat zone. This applies to members of the Armed Forces, as well as merchant marines serving aboard vessels under the operational control of the Department of Defense, Red Cross personnel, accredited correspondents, and civilians under the direction of the Armed Forces in support of the Armed Forces. Combat zone. A combat zone is any area the President of the United States designates by executive order as an area in which the U.S. Armed Forces are engaging or have engaged in combat. An area usually becomes a combat zone and ceases to be a combat zone on the dates the President designates by executive order. For purposes of the automatic extension, the term “combat zone” includes the following areas. The Arabian peninsula area, effective January 17, 1991. The Kosovo area, effective March 24, 1999. The Afghanistan area, effective September 19, 2001. See Pub. 3 for more detailed information on the locations comprising each combat zone. Pub. 3 also has information about other tax benefits available to military personnel serving in a combat zone. Extension period. The deadline for filing your return, paying any tax due, filing a claim for refund, and taking other actions with the IRS is extended in two steps. First, your deadline is extended for 180 days after the later of: The last day you are in a combat zone or the last day the area qualifies as a combat zone, or The last day of any continuous qualified hospitalization (defined later) for injury from service in the combat zone. Second, in addition to the 180 days, your deadline is also extended by the number of days you had left to take action with the IRS when you entered the combat zone. For example, you have 3½ months (January 1–April 15) to file your tax return. Any days left in this period when you entered the combat zone (or the entire 3½ months if you entered it before the beginning of the year) are added to the 180 days. See How Much Extra Time Do These Extensions Give Me? in Pub. 3 for more information. The rules on the extension for filing your return also apply when you are deployed outside the United States (away from your permanent duty station) while participating in a designated contingency operation. Qualified hospitalization. The hospitalization must be the result of an injury received while serving in a combat zone or a contingency operation. Qualified hospitalization means: Any hospitalization outside the United States, and Up to 5 years of hospitalization in the United States. See Pub. 3 for more information on qualified hospitalizations. How Do I Prepare My Return? This section explains how to get ready to complete your tax return and when to report your income and expenses. It also explains how to complete certain sections of the form. Electronic returns. For information you may find useful in preparing an electronic return, see File Electronically , earlier. Substitute tax forms. You can’t use your own version of a tax form unless it meets the requirements explained in Pub. 1167. Form W-2. If you were an employee, you should receive Form W-2 from your employer. You will need the information from this form to prepare your return. See Form W-2 under Credit for Withholding and Estimated Tax for 2025 in chapter 4. Your employer is required to provide or send Form W-2 to you no later than February 2, 2026. If it is mailed, you should allow adequate time to receive it before contacting your employer. If you still don’t get the form by early February, the IRS can help you by requesting the form from your employer. When you request IRS help, be prepared to provide the following information. Your name, address (including ZIP code), and phone number. Your SSN. Your dates of employment. Your employer’s name, address (including ZIP code), and phone number. Form 1099. If you received certain types of income, you may receive a Form 1099. For example, if you received taxable interest of $10 or more, the payer is required to provide or send Form 1099 to you no later than February 2, 2026 (or by February 17, 2026, if furnished by a broker). If it is mailed, you should allow adequate time to receive it before contacting the payer. If you still don’t get the form by February 17 (or by March 2, 2026, if furnished by a broker), call the IRS for help. When Do I Report My Income and Expenses? You must figure your taxable income on the basis of a tax year. A “tax year” is an annual accounting period used for keeping records and reporting income and expenses. You must account for your income and expenses in a way that clearly shows your taxable income. The way you do this is called an accounting method. This section explains which accounting periods and methods you can use. Accounting Periods Most individual tax returns cover a calendar year—the 12 months from January 1 through December 31. If you don’t use a calendar year, your accounting period is a fiscal year. A regular fiscal year is a 12-month period that ends on the last day of any month except December. A 52-53-week fiscal year varies from 52 to 53 weeks and always ends on the same day of the week. You choose your accounting period (tax year) when you file your first income tax return. It can’t be longer than 12 months. More information. For more information on accounting periods, including how to change your accounting period, see Pub. 538. Accounting Methods Your accounting method is the way you account for your income and expenses. Most taxpayers use either the cash method or an accrual method. You choose a method when you file your first income tax return. If you want to change your accounting method after that, you must generally get IRS approval. Use Form 3115 to request an accounting method change. Cash method. If you use this method, report all items of income in the year in which you actually or constructively receive them. Generally, you deduct all expenses in the year you actually pay them. This is the method most individual taxpayers use. Constructive receipt. Generally, you constructively receive income when it is credited to your account or set apart in any way that makes it available to you. You don’t need to have physical possession of it. For example, interest credited to your bank account on December 31, 2025, is taxable income to you in 2025 if you could have withdrawn it in 2025 (even if the amount isn’t entered in your records or withdrawn until 2026). Garnished wages. If your employer uses your wages to pay your debts, or if your wages are attached or garnished, the full amount is constructively received by you. You must include these wages in income for the year you would have received them. Debts paid for you. If another person cancels or pays your debts (but not as a gift or loan), you have constructively received the amount and must generally include it in your gross income for the year. See Canceled Debts in chapter 8 for more information. Payment to third party. If a third party is paid income from property you own, you have constructively received the income. It is the same as if you had actually received the income and paid it to the third party. Payment to an agent. Income an agent receives for you is income you constructively received in the year the agent receives it. If you indicate in a contract that your income is to be paid to another person, you must include the amount in your gross income when the other person receives it. Check received or available. A valid check that was made available to you before the end of the tax year is constructively received by you in that year. A check that was “made available to you” includes a check you have already received, but not cashed or deposited. It also includes, for example, your last paycheck of the year that your employer made available for you to pick up at the office before the end of the year. It is constructively received by you in that year whether or not you pick it up before the end of the year or wait to receive it by mail after the end of the year. No constructive receipt. There may be facts to show that you didn’t constructively receive income. Example. Lennon, a teacher, agreed to the school board’s condition that, in Lennon’s absence, Lennon would receive only the difference between Lennon’s regular salary and the salary of a substitute teacher hired by the school board. Therefore, Lennon didn’t constructively receive the amount by which Lennon’s salary was reduced to pay the substitute teacher. Accrual method. If you use an accrual method, you generally report income when you earn it, rather than when you receive it. You generally deduct your expenses when you incur them, rather than when you pay them. Income paid in advance. An advance payment of income is generally included in gross income in the year you receive it. Your method of accounting doesn’t matter as long as the income is available to