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If you extended your 2025 individual return, October 15, 2026 is the last day to file it, and there is no second extension. The same date applies to calendar-year C corporations that extended. Two other extended deadlines, for partnerships and S corporations and for trusts and estates, have already passed this fall.
One point specific to South Florida: as of early September 2026, no federally declared disaster postponement covers Miami-Dade or any Florida county. October 15 is a real deadline for Miami filers this year. Hurricane season runs through November 30, so that can change, but do not plan around relief that does not exist.
Extension lengths differ by return type, which is why the fall calendar is staggered rather than one date. For calendar-year filers of 2025 returns:
Form 1065, Partnerships
Extended due date: September 15, 2026
Status: Already passed
Form 1120-S, S Corporations
Extended due date: September 15, 2026
Status: Already passed
Form 1041, Trusts and Estates
Extended due date: September 30, 2026
Status: Already passed
Form 1040, Individuals
Extended due date: October 15, 2026
Status: Still ahead
Form 1120, C Corporations
Extended due date: October 15, 2026
Status: Still ahead
Q4 2026 Estimated Tax, Individuals
Due date: January 15, 2027
Status: Still ahead
If you are a Miami owner with a pass-through entity, notice the sequencing problem. Your personal return depends on a K-1 from an entity return that was due a month earlier. If that entity return slipped, the October 15 date is not really your first problem. Our corporate tax preparation team can work both ends at once.
An extension gives you more time to file. It never gave you more time to pay. Any balance for 2025 was due back on April 15, 2026, and the failure-to-pay penalty and interest have been accruing since then, not since October.
That is why a taxpayer who extended and paid nothing in April is in a very different position from one who extended and paid a reasonable estimate. Both filed on time. Only one has been quietly accumulating charges all summer.
Two separate penalties can apply, and they are calculated differently.
Failure to File
Rate: 5 percent of unpaid tax per month or part of a month
Cap: 25 percent
Failure to Pay
Rate: 0.5 percent of unpaid tax per month or part of a month
Cap: 25 percent
Both in the Same Month
Failure to file is reduced by the failure to pay amount, resulting in 4.5 percent plus 0.5 percent.
Cap: Same caps apply
Interest
Rate: 7 percent per year for individuals as of October 1, 2026, compounded daily
Cap: No cap
There is also a minimum. If a return is filed more than 60 days late, the penalty is the lesser of $525 (for returns required to be filed in 2026) or 100 percent of the tax owed. That figure is indexed annually, so it changes each year.
Notice the ratio. Failure to file costs ten times what failure to pay costs. That leads directly to the single most useful piece of guidance in this article: if you cannot pay, file anyway. Filing stops the larger penalty immediately and leaves you dealing only with the smaller one.
Levine CPA and Advisors gets Miami individuals and businesses filed before the deadline, and handles the notices when one has already arrived. Call (305) 912-0085 or book a filing appointment.
Penalties are calculated on unpaid tax. If you are owed a refund, there is generally no failure-to-file or failure-to-pay penalty, because there is no balance to apply them to. That is genuinely good news, with one hard limit: you generally have three years from the original due date to claim a refund. Miss that window and the money goes to the Treasury permanently.
We regularly meet Miami filers who stopped filing during a difficult stretch and assumed they owed. Several were owed refunds and lost the oldest years to that three-year rule. If you have unfiled years, the sooner someone looks, the more you keep.
Florida has no personal income tax, so there is no state individual return chasing you behind the federal one. That removes a step that national articles assume. But two Florida-specific items remain:
If you hold accounts or interests outside the United States, the October date is doing more work than you think. Our international tax services cover these filings, and our individual tax preparation team handles the return they attach to.
Options exist, and they are more accessible than most people assume. File the return first, then choose a path:
One detail that catches Miami business owners: business accounts generally cannot apply for a payment plan online and must call the IRS business line instead. Also note that ignoring notices, forgetting, and simply not having the money are not reasonable cause for penalty relief. Serious illness, a natural disaster, and similar circumstances can be. If the balance is large or a notice has escalated, bring in IRS representation rather than negotiating alone.
There is no third extension, no quiet grace period, and no Florida postponement in effect this year. What there is, if you act now, is a straightforward path: file by October 15, pay what you can, and set up a plan for the rest.
Then use the rest of the quarter well. The window for actually lowering your 2026 bill closes December 31, and our year-end tax planning checklist walks through what to do between now and then. Ongoing tax planning services are how you stop repeating October.
No. October 15 is the final extended deadline for individual returns. There is no additional extension available for a calendar-year Form 1040, so the only remaining choice is to file as soon as possible.
The failure-to-file penalty of 5 percent of unpaid tax per month begins, capped at 25 percent, on top of the failure-to-pay penalty of 0.5 percent per month and daily compounding interest. If you file more than 60 days late, a minimum penalty applies, the lesser of $525 for returns required to be filed in 2026 or 100 percent of the tax owed.
Yes. The failure-to-file penalty is ten times the failure-to-pay penalty, so filing on time stops the larger charge immediately. You can then request a short-term plan or an installment agreement for the balance.
Generally no, because the penalties are calculated on unpaid tax. But you usually have only three years from the original due date to claim a refund, after which it is forfeited.
As of early September 2026, no federally declared disaster postponement covers Miami-Dade or any Florida county, so October 15 applies. Hurricane season continues through November 30, so check the IRS disaster relief page before assuming relief exists.
Florida has no personal income tax, so individuals have no state return to file. C corporations and certain other entities doing business in Florida do file a corporate income tax return with its own deadline and extension.
This article is general information, not tax advice. Deadlines, penalty rates, and relief provisions change and depend on your situation. Verify current dates and figures with the IRS and consult a qualified CPA before acting.
Levine CPA and Advisors serves individuals and businesses across Miami and South Florida. Call (305) 912-0085 or contact us to get your extended return filed and a plan in place for any balance.
