# Tax Filing Extension



## Alltimegreat1 (Feb 25, 2015)

I am a US citizen who lived and worked in Germany for all of 2017. In previous years I have taken care of my German taxes by March, which left me enough time to complete my US tax return by April 15. This year Germany introduced an online system and annoyingly some of the features I needed to use were not made available until April.

I read on the IRS website that US citizens residing abroad are entitled to an automatic 2-month extension. I understood "automatic" to mean that I was not required to apply for it prior to April 15, and I didn't. Now I've come across a great deal of contradictory information and don't know what to think.

So basically my situation is that I haven't done my US taxes yet nor have I applied for an extension. Additionally, I probably will not be able to complete the taxes by June 15 due to the German authorities taking so long. Any advice on what I should do?

I expect to receive money back from the IRS (additional child tax credit minus some investment income).

Thank you!


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

To be honest, you don't actually need to have completed your German taxes to complete your US forms. But in any event, yes that extension to June 15th is automatic. But if you want to extend past June 15th, you need to file a form 4868 by June 15th. That will extend your deadline to October 15th. 

More details here: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/us-citizens-and-resident-aliens-abroad
Cheers,
Bev


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## Alltimegreat1 (Feb 25, 2015)

Thanks, Bev. I'm never certain about the taxes I'll owe in Germany due to being partially self-employed. This is why I wait to hear back from the German tax office before filing my US return.

Thanks also for confirming that there was no requirement to proactively apply for a 2-month extension up to June 15.


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