Tax extension statistics

Key figures

Business extensions (Form 7004)

10.3M

Filed in 2024 · 89% e-filed

Nonprofit extensions (Form 8868)

1.3M

Filed in 2024 · 65% e-filed

Individual extensions (Form 4868)

20.1M

Filed in 2024 · about 1 in 8 returns

Individual late-filing penalties

4.0M

Assessed in fiscal 2025 (Oct–Sep)

How many businesses file a tax extension?

The IRS processed 10,265,626 Form 7004 applications in 2024, up 95% since 2007 — the first full year after Form 7004 began covering partnerships, estates, and trusts as well as corporations. 89% were filed electronically.

How many nonprofits file a tax extension?

Tax-exempt organizations filed 1,301,434 Form 8868 extension applications in 2024, up 195% since 2004. 65% were filed electronically.

The count spikes in 2013 and 2019 and falls back the next year, then jumps again in 2021 and stays at the higher level. The IRS publications don't explain the jumps.

How many people file a tax extension each year?

Individuals and couples filed 20,095,357 Form 4868 applications in 2024 — about 1 in 8 of the 160.5 million individual income tax returns processed that year, up from 1 in 14 in 2006. The count is up 108% since 2006, the first filing season in which Form 4868 alone gave a six-month extension.

89% were filed electronically in 2024, up from 15% in 2006. Counts for 2020 and 2021 are distorted by the COVID-19 deadline postponements (to July 15, 2020, and May 17, 2021) and IRS processing backlogs.

How many tax extensions are filed electronically?

Most of them. In 2024, 89% of Form 7004s, 89% of Form 4868s, and 65% of Form 8868s were filed electronically. In 2006, fewer than one in five of each form was. The IRS counts an extension obtained by paying electronically with a card as e-filed.

How many late-filing penalties does the IRS assess?

In fiscal year 2025, the IRS assessed 4,009,691 late-filing penalties on individual and estate or trust income tax returns, up 57% since FY2017. Together they came to $6.5 billion. It also assessed 24,251,980 failure-to-pay penalties on the same kinds of returns.

Businesses were assessed 95,797 late-filing penalties on corporation returns, 540,452 on S corporation returns, and 402,483 on partnership returns in FY2025. The IRS also assessed $29.6 billion in additional tax on returns that weren’t filed on time in FY2025, and collected $3.5 billion with late returns.

A timely extension prevents the late-filing penalty as long as the return is filed by the extended date. It doesn't stop the failure-to-pay penalty or interest on tax paid after the original due date — see how the two penalties work, or estimate yours with the penalty calculator.

What is the minimum penalty for filing late?

If an income tax return is more than 60 days late, the failure-to-file penalty is at least the smaller of a fixed dollar amount or 100% of the tax owed. For returns due in 2027 the fixed amount is $535, up from $135 for returns due in 2009.

Partnership and S corporation returns filed late cost $260 per partner or shareholder per month for returns due in 2027, for up to 12 months — even though the business itself usually owes no income tax.

"Minimum penalty" applies to income tax returns more than 60 days late. "Per owner, per month" applies to partnership (Form 1065) and S corporation (Form 1120-S) returns.

About this data

• Extension counts are the IRS's actual counts of forms processed in each calendar year, from IRS Publication 6186. They count applications, not people or businesses.
• A year is the calendar year the IRS processed the form, so 2024 counts are mostly extensions for 2023 tax returns. Penalty years are federal fiscal years (October–September).
• The IRS hasn't published per-form extension counts before 2004. The latest year it has published is 2024.
• Before 2006, Form 4868 gave four months and a second form (Form 2688) gave two more, and Form 7004 covered only corporations. The charts start after those changes; the tables show every year.
• The IRS published the same 2014 Form 4868 total as for 2013. It is shown in the table, marked, and left out of the chart.
• "1 in 8 returns" is our calculation: Form 4868 applications divided by Form 1040-family returns processed in the same calendar year.
• Penalty counts come from the IRS Data Book's civil penalties table, by the federal fiscal year (October–September) in which the penalty was assessed, whatever tax year it relates to. The Data Book labels the late-filing penalty "Delinquency."
• We chart penalty counts, not dollars: the Data Book's dollar totals swing sharply from year to year, and abatements in one year can reverse penalties assessed in earlier ones.
• The Data Book changed its penalty categories in FY2017, when S corporations and partnerships got their own sections, so FY1995–FY2016 figures are listed separately.
• In 2022 the IRS automatically waived late-filing penalties on many 2019 and 2020 returns (Notice 2022-36), the year S corporation and partnership counts dip. The Data Book doesn't say how much of the dip that explains.

Sources

• IRS Publication 6186, Calendar Year Return Projections — historical tables of actual returns filed by type (2005–2023) (XLSX)
• IRS Publication 6186, Calendar Year Return Projections, December 2025 edition (2024 actuals) (PDF)
• IRS Data Book (Publication 55-B), Table 4-2: Civil Penalties Assessed and Abated, FY2025 (XLSX)
• IRS: Failure to file penalty (minimum and per-owner penalty amounts by year)
• Revenue Procedure 2025-32 (penalty amounts for returns due in 2027) (PDF)

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