Service That Qualifies for an Extension of Deadline
The deadline for filing tax returns, paying taxes, filing claims for refund, and taking other actions with the IRS is automatically extended if any of the following statements is true.
- You serve in the Armed Forces in a combat zone or you have qualifying service outside of a combat zone. (See Qualifying service outside combat zone, earlier.)
- You serve in the Armed Forces in a qualified hazardous duty area or are deployed overseas away from your permanent duty station in support of operations in a qualified hazardous duty area, but your deployment station is outside the qualified hazardous duty area. (In the rest of this discussion, the term “combat zone” includes a qualified hazardous duty area.)
- You serve in the Armed Forces on deployment outside the United States away from your permanent duty station while participating in a contingency operation. A contingency operation is a military operation that is designated by the Secretary of Defense or results in calling members of the uniformed services to active duty (or retains them on active duty) during a war or a national emergency declared by the President or Congress.
Deadline extension period. Your deadline for taking actions with the IRS is extended for 180 days after the later of:
- The last day you are in a combat zone, have qualifying service outside of the combat zone, or serve in a contingency operation (or the last day the area qualifies as a combat zone or the operation qualifies as a contingency operation), or
- The last day of any continuous qualified hospitalization (defined later) for injury from service in the combat zone or contingency operation or while performing qualifying service outside of the combat zone.
Example 1. Captain Margaret Jones entered Saudi Arabia on December 1, 2001. She remained there through March 31, 2003, when she departed for the United States. She was not injured and did not return to the combat zone. The deadlines for filing Captain Jones’ 2001, 2002, and 2003 returns are figured as follows.
The 2001 tax return. The deadline is January 10, 2004. This deadline is 285 days (180 plus 105) after Captain Jones’ last day in the combat zone (March 31, 2003). The 105 additional days are the number of days in the 3 1/2 month filing period that were left when she entered the combat zone (January 1 - April 15, 2002).
The 2002 tax return. The deadline is January 10, 2004. The deadline is 285 days (180 plus 105) after Capt. Jones’ last day in the combat zone (March 31, 2003).
The 2003 tax return. The deadline is not extended because the 180-day extension period after March 31, 2003, ends on September 27, 2003, which is before the start of the filing period for her 2003 return (January 1 - April 15, 2004).
