Updated for 2017. This year, the deadline for federal tax filing is Tuesday, April 18th, 2017. If you file for an extension, you can extend the time allowed to file your return by six months to Monday, October 16, 2017. (It does not extend the time to pay any tax due.) There are many legitimate reasons to ask for such an extension, and the extension is granted automatically without needing to provide a reason.

Here’s how to e-File a official federal extension with the IRS in minutes for free (plus state extensions where available!). I have done a dry run with each option. Advantages of using e-File include:

• You save the time and postage costs of paper mailings.
• You can estimate your tax liability using online software and/or calculators.
• You receive confirmation of receipt via e-mail or text, often within hours.

Option #1: TaxACT

This is how I usually do my extension. Tax prep software TaxACT.com allows you to e-File your Federal and State extension (where applicable) for free through them. You don’t need to actually use them to file your taxes later, although you certainly can.

Directions
First, register for free at TaxACT.com with your e-mail address and pick a password. To go directly to the extension form, click on the “Filing” tab on the top, and then the “File Extension” link right below it (see below). You will then be guided through the Form 4868 in a question-and-answer format. TaxACT will file the form electronically for you (or you can print and snail mail).

TaxACT also provides a tax liability estimator to help you determine if you need to make a payment with your extension. If you fill out more details in the main software, then the estimate will be improved. If you don’t think you’ll owe any taxes, you can just put down zero as your expected tax liability. If you wish to make a tax payment, you will be able to choose to pay with direct withdrawal from a bank account (account and routing numbers required) or pay with a credit card (IRS fees apply).

Afterward, you can confirm the status of your extension e-file by going to efstatus.taxact.com. They will even send you a confirmation via e-mail or text message. I got my confirmation less than 3 hours after submission.

Free state tax extensions. As you can see above, TaxACT will now even file out your state tax extension online if possible, otherwise they will provide guidance fill out all the paper form entries for you and all you have to do is print it out and mail it in. Note that you will need to have started a State Tax return with them (even with no personal info added), for the State extension e-file option to be shown.

Option #2: TurboTax

TurboTax.com also allows you to file a Federal extension online for free after signing up for a free account. They will not e-File your State extension, although they will provide some guidance for your state-specific needs. sign up for an account at TurboTax.com first and after logging in, look for the big search box on the top right and type in the keyword “extend” to be directed to their extension section.

It will walk you through the information needed for Form 4868. Again, if you don’t think you’ll owe any taxes, you can just put down zero as your expected tax liability. If you wish to make a tax payment, you will be able to choose to pay with direct withdrawal from a bank account (account and routing numbers required) or pay with a credit card (IRS fees apply).

According to the Turbotax website, you should receive a confirmation email from the IRS within 48 hours of filing the extension.

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In a continued attempt to better explain the 2017 federal income tax brackets, here is a graphical breakdown of a simple scenario for a married filing joint couple with no dependents. See also my previous example for single filers with no dependents. I will try to explain the differences in terms such as gross income, taxable income, marginal tax rate, and effective tax rate.

Here is a commonly-used chart of 2017 federal income tax rates for married joint filers:

Simple example. Let’s say your combined gross income is $120,000 a year. You are a married couple with no dependents and both earn $60,000 gross income. You are both employees that receive W-2 income only (i.e. neither are self-employed). You don’t have any additional income sources like interest, capital gains, rents, etc. You don’t have any extra deductions like IRA/401k contributions or mortgage interest. You live in a state with no state income tax.

Gross income. Let’s start with your annual $120,000 gross income. You each get a personal exemption of $4,050 in 2017. You also get something called the standard deduction which is $12,700 for married filing joint in 2017. Since you don’t have a lot of itemized deductions, you use this standard deduction.

The first 20,800 of your gross income is not taxable. Without doing anything special at all, your $120,000 in gross income is now only $99,200 in taxable income after personal exemptions and the standard deductions. If you’ve already done your taxes, your taxable income should be line 43 on Form 1040, line 27 on Form 1040A, and line 6 on Form 1040EZ.

The first $18,650 of taxable income is subject to a 10% tax rate. Shave off 10% of $18,650 and put that on your tax bill ($1,865). The remaining $80,550 of taxable is moved onto the next tax bracket.

The next $57,250 in taxable income is subject to a 15% tax rate. Shave off 15% of $57,250 ($8587.50) and add that to the existing $1865. The tax bill is now $10,452.50. The remaining $23,300 of taxable is moved onto the next tax bracket.

The next $77,200 in taxable income is subject to a 25% tax rate. However, we only have $23,300 left. So we shave off 25% of $23,300 ($5825) and add that to the existing $10,452.50. The total tax bill is now $16,277.50.

In this example, this 25% is your marginal tax bracket. If you earned another $1, it would be taxed at this marginal rate of 25%.

Payroll taxes. These aren’t technically federal income taxes, but you must each pay a Social Security tax (OASDI) of 6.2% and Medicare payroll tax (HI) of 1.45% of your gross income. That’s $3,720 a year for Social Security and $870 a year for Medicare. You both earn $60,000 gross and don’t exceed the income caps. (Your respective employers pay the same amount.)

Overall effective tax rate. You paid $16,278 in federal income taxes on $120,000 of income, for an average or overall effective tax rate of 13.6%. Again, you also paid 7.65% in payroll taxes. You see that two married people earning $60k each pay the same percentage in tax as a single filer earning $60k.

The “marriage penalty” usually occurs when two individuals both with either low- or high-incomes marry. The “marriage bonus” usually comes about when the incomes are quite different. For example, a single person earning $120k in gross income would pay an extra $7,000 in income tax vs. married earning $120k.

Married earning $60k gross annually. Alternatively, a married couple earning $60k gross would pay roughly $3,000 less in income tax vs. single earning $60k (and only reach the 15% marginal tax bracket). Here’s that visualization:

Here’s a chart from OurWorldinData.org that shows how the average tax rate changes with taxable income (2016, married filing joint).

I was looking up the 2017 federal income tax brackets and pulled up the commonly-used chart below. This tax table has many applications in personal finance, but it can be hard to understand. What is the difference between gross income, taxable income, marginal tax rate, and effective tax rate? Sometimes I like to run through simplified examples to help my understanding.

Simple example. Let’s say your gross income is $60,000 a year. You are single with no dependents. You are an employee that receives W-2 income only (i.e. you are not self-employed). You don’t have any additional income sources like interest, capital gains, rents, etc. You don’t have any extra deductions like IRA/401k contributions or mortgage interest. You live in a state with no state income tax.

Gross income. Let’s start with your annual $60,000 gross income. You get something called a personal exemption which is $4,050 in 2017. You also get something called the standard deduction which is $6,350 for singles in 2017. Since you don’t have a lot of itemized deductions, you use this standard deduction.

The first 10,400 of your gross income is not taxable. Without doing anything special at all, your $60,000 in gross income is now only $49,600 in taxable income after personal exemptions and the standard deductions. If you’ve already done your taxes, your taxable income should be line 43 on Form 1040, line 27 on Form 1040A, and line 6 on Form 1040EZ.

The first $9,325 of taxable income is subject to a 10% tax rate. Shave off 10% of $9,325 and put that on your tax bill ($932.50). The remaining $40,275 of taxable is moved onto the next tax bracket.

The next $28,625 in taxable income is subject to a 15% tax rate. Shave off 15% of $28,625 ($4293.75) and add that to the existing $932.50. The tax bill is now $5,226.25. The remaining $11,650 of taxable is moved onto the next tax bracket.

The next $53,949 in taxable income is subject to a 25% tax rate. However, we only have $11,650 left. So we shave off 25% of $11,700 ($2,912.50) and add that to the existing 5,226.25. The total tax bill is now $8,138.75.

In this example, this 25% is your marginal tax bracket. If you earned another $1, it would be taxed at this marginal rate of 25%.

Payroll taxes. These aren’t technically federal income taxes, but you must pay a Social Security tax (OASDI) of 6.2% and Medicare payroll tax (HI) of 1.45% of your gross income. That’s $3,720 a year for Social Security and $870 a year for Medicare. (Your employer pays the same amount.)

Overall effective tax rate. You paid $8139 in federal income taxes on $60,000 of income, for an average or overall effective tax rate of 13.6%. Again, you also paid 7.65% in payroll taxes. Here’s a chart from OurWorldinData.org that shows how the average tax rate changes with taxable income (2016, married filing joint).