TAP 04-052

Elimination of Form 2688

Statement of Issue:

The Internal Revenue Code states that the Secretary may grant a reasonable extension of time for filing a tax return and that, except in the case of taxpayers who are abroad, no such extension shall be for more than six months. In order to obtain this six month extension taxpayers must complete and timely file two tax forms.

Proposal:

To simplify taxpayer compliance, a single form should be required to obtain the maximum six-month extension of time to file a tax return as allowed by the Internal Revenue Code. The Form 4868 could be expanded to an automatic six month extension of time to file and the Form 2688 can be eliminated. This conforms to the procedures of corporate extension requests.