The key April 15 tasks are filing your return and paying any due tax. But there are some other tax responsibilities that must meet the Tax Day deadline.
Last year, the Internal Revenue Service received almost 166 million tax returns. So far this 2026 filing season (based on data updated March 27), the agency has received 88.4 million returns.
Those figures mean that Tax Day 2026 just a week away, a whole lot of taxpayers are in tax crunch mode right now .
But they aren’t the only ones facing the April 15 deadline.
Here are 10 instances where some people might need to take care of additional tax tasks by next Wednesday.
1. File your 2025 tax return. Of course, we start here. April 15 is the day to get your Form 1040 and other material to the IRS. The easiest way to do this is to file electronically. Many taxpayers also might be able to e-file their returns for free.
2. Pay any 2025 tax you owe. While Uncle Sam’s tax collector wants your paperwork, he really wants any tax you owe. The IRS imposes separate penalties, and adds interest, for both not filing on time and not paying on time, so take care of both today.
In addition to urging taxpayers to e-file, the IRS also recommends we pay our tax bills electronically. One way to do that is through an IRS.gov individual taxpayer account. If you’re interested in this online payment process, check it out now so the account is ready to make the monetary transfer on April 15.
3. Get more time to file your return. If you just can’t finish your tax return by April 15, then file Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, by next Wednesday’s deadline. This will prevent any late- or nonfiling penalties.
But note that if you do owe taxes, when you send in Form 4868 you also must pay all or at least part of what you owe. That previously mentioned separate late/nonpayment penalty (and interest) starts accruing if you don’t.
4. File your 2022 tax year return to get your unclaimed refund. Every year, around a billion taxpayers just don’t file a tax return. They don’t get in trouble, though, because they don’t owe any taxes. However, they also don’t get refunds they are due because they don’t file.
Tax law gives these taxpayers three years to claim the refunds by filing the prior year’s Form 1040. Since the 2022 returns were due on April 15, 2023, that three-year window closes on April 15, 2026.
This year, the IRS says that around 1.3 million who didn’t file a 2022 return are due a part of nearly $1.2 billion in unclaimed refunds. If they don’t file by April 15, they forfeit their old, unclaimed refunds.
5. Make your first quarter 2026 estimated tax payment. Tax Day is always double Tax Day for those who get money not subject to withholding. These taxpayers must pay the tax on those amounts, which include self-employment earnings, prize and gambling winnings, and investment income, via estimated taxes.
These four extra payments start each tax year on April 15, with the three remaining payments due on June 15, Sept. 15, and Jan. 15 of the next year. You can mail the IRS paper Form 1040-ES by April 15, along with a check, or you can sidestep the form by paying your estimated tax amounts electronically.
Remember that online taxpayer account mentioned in April 15 tax task #2? You also can use it to pay next week’s, and all of 2026’s, estimated tax amounts.
6. Contribute to your IRA for the 2025 tax year. Tax Day is the last day to maximize prior year IRA contributions, whether you’re putting money in a traditional IRA or a Roth version. For the 2025 tax year, you can add up to $7,000 to your traditional or Roth IRA. Taxpayers age 50 and older can contribute up to $8,000.
Not only will the prior-year contributions help bulk up your retirement account, they could mean added tax breaks.
If you put the money into a traditional IRA, you might be able to claim an above-the-line deduction, which you can claim whether you take the standard deduction or itemize, on your 2025 return filing if you qualify.
Adding to either type of IRA also could, again if your meet income requirements, qualify you to claim the Saver’s Credit. This tax credit could be worth up a maximum $1,000 (or $2,000 if married filing jointly taxpayers both contribute and qualify) dollar-for-dollar reduction of any tax you owe.
7. Add to your HSA for the 2025 tax year. The same tax year contribution shift is available to those with a health savings account, or HSA. The special tax advantaged medical accounts are used by those who have a high-deductible health plan (HDHP). You use the HSA to cover the larger deductible amounts you face in exchange for your HDHP’s lower policy premiums.
For the 2025 tax year, a taxpayer with self-only HDHP coverage can contribute up to $4,300 to an HSA. Those who had family coverage last year, the HSA contribution limit is $8,550. If you’re 55 or older, you can contribute an additional $1,000.
Before you add more, though, double check your earlier contributions. If you exceed HSA contribution limits, you’ll face penalties.
8. Don’t forget your state return filing (or extension). Most states collect individual income taxes. And most of them follow the IRS calendar, requiring state returns and payments be made by April 15.
The good news is that these states also tend to mimic the IRS when it comes to extensions. The better news is that most also offer their own state tax free filing options.
So, if your state taxes are due on April 15, file and pay. If you can’t, check with your state tax department on how you can extend this obligation at that level, too.
9. File your business’ return if it is a C corporation. April 15 isn’t just a key deadline for individual taxpayers. Businesses organized as a C corporation need to file Form 1120, the U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return, by April 15 if they operate on a calendar year basis.
If your business uses a fiscal year, you need to file your tax return by the 15th day of the fourth month following the close of your tax year. For example, if your business uses a July 1 to June 30 tax year, your business tax return would be due Oct. 15 instead of April 15.
10. Submit your FBAR foreign assets to the U.S. Treasury. This is the due date for the required filing of Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, or FBAR. The information in the FBAR filing is the federal government’s way of tracking foreign bank and financial accounts owned by U.S. taxpayers.
In 2016, the law was changed so that the FBAR filing coincided with the annual April individual federal tax return deadline, which already was on most taxpayers’ filing radar. But the report isn’t filed with the IRS.
Instead, if you’re required to report, you submit your information to the U.S. Treasury using Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) Form 114. File it electronically at FinCEN’s BSA (Bank Secrecy Act) E-Filing System website.
If you’re freaking out about filing a FBAR by April 15, there’s some good news. To make it easier for affected individual to meet the FBAR filing requirement, FinCEN grants filers failing to meet the FBAR annual April due date an automatic extension to Oct. 15 each year (yes, the same as the IRS extension deadline), with no need to file a separate extension request.
Okay, ready to file your 2025 tax return or take care of more tax tasks by April 15? You still have time, but you need to get to work. Now!
And if you’re not ready, that’s fine, too. I refer you back to #3, get more time to file. Instead, send the IRS Form 4868 to get a filing extension, and pay what you owe, by next Wednesday.
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