How to File a New York State Tax Extension (Form IT-370)

To get more time on your New York State income tax return, file Form IT-370 by the April 15 deadline. That gives you until October 15 to submit the return itself. What it does not give you is more time to pay: any tax you owe is still due on April 15, and a New York state tax extension only protects you from the late-filing penalty, not the late-payment penalty or interest.¹

A Federal Extension Doesn’t Cover New York

This trips up more people than anything else in the process. Filing IRS Form 4868 extends your federal return. It does nothing for your state return. New York’s Department of Taxation and Finance will not accept a copy of the federal form in place of IT-370, and submitting one will not extend your state due date.¹

If you need more time on both returns, file two separate requests: Form 4868 with the IRS and Form IT-370 with New York, each by April 15.

When to File and What You Get

For the 2025 tax year, Form IT-370 is due April 15, 2026. If that date falls on a weekend or legal holiday, the deadline shifts to the next business day.¹ Filing on time pushes your return deadline to October 15, 2026.

The extension is automatic. You don’t need to give a reason, and the state won’t reject a timely request. But if the form arrives even one day late, it will not be accepted and your original April 15 deadline stands.¹

The same IT-370 covers both Form IT-201 (resident return) and Form IT-203 (nonresident and part-year resident return). The deadlines and rules are identical regardless of which return you’ll eventually file.

You Still Have to Pay by April 15

The extension buys time to file, not time to pay. Any estimated balance you owe is due by the original April 15 deadline, even though the return itself isn’t due until October.¹

To estimate what to send, work through the worksheet in the IT-370 instructions. In broad strokes:

Project your New York adjusted gross income for the year and calculate the total state tax you expect to owe, including New York City or Yonkers tax if those apply.
Add up what you’ve already paid in: state income tax withheld on your W-2s and 1099s, plus any estimated payments you made during the year on Form IT-2105.
Subtract payments from projected tax. The difference is what you send with the extension.

Last year’s return is a reasonable starting point. If your income changed, adjust. Erring slightly high is safer than coming in low.

The 90% Safe Harbor

New York will presume you had reasonable cause for a late payment, which means no late-payment penalty, if the balance due on your final return is no more than 10% of your total tax liability.¹ Pay at least 90% of what you actually owe by April 15 and the penalty is waived. Interest still runs on anything unpaid, but the penalty itself goes away.

If You Don’t Owe Anything

Still file the IT-370. If you expect a refund or owe zero, the extension doesn’t happen on its own; you need the form on record. New York even provides a separate mailing address for extension requests with no payment attached.²

How to Submit Form IT-370

Online

File through the Department of Taxation and Finance’s Online Services portal at tax.ny.gov. Enter the information from your prepared IT-370 and submit. The system issues a confirmation number right away. Save it, because that number is your proof of timely filing if a question comes up later.

You can pay at the same time. Direct withdrawal from a bank account (ACH debit) is the simplest option. Credit and debit card payments go through third-party processors that typically charge a convenience fee. Many commercial tax preparation programs also support electronic filing of the IT-370.

By Mail

Print, complete, and sign the form. The address depends on whether you’re sending a payment:

With payment: Extension Request, PO Box 4125, Binghamton, NY 13902-4125
Without payment: Extension Request–NR, PO Box 4126, Binghamton, NY 13902-4126

Make any check or money order payable to “New York State Income Tax” and write your Social Security number, the tax year, and “IT-370” on the memo line.²

For mailed requests, timeliness is determined by the postmark, not the date the state receives the envelope. If you’re filing close to the deadline, use certified mail. The receipt is definitive proof of when you sent it.

What It Costs If You’re Late

New York imposes two separate penalties, and the extension only shields you from one.

Late Filing Penalty

Miss the filing deadline with a balance owed and the state charges 5% of the unpaid tax for each month or partial month the return is late, up to 25%. If the return is more than 60 days late, the minimum penalty is $100 or the total amount due, whichever is less.³ Filing the IT-370 on time eliminates this penalty, because your deadline moves to October 15.

Late Payment Penalty

If you don’t pay by April 15, New York charges 0.5% of the unpaid amount for each month or partial month it stays unpaid, capped at 25%.¹ The extension does nothing about this one. Only paying at least 90% of your actual liability by April 15 does.

Interest

Interest runs on any unpaid balance from the original April 15 due date. The rate is reset quarterly. For the first quarter of 2026, the underpayment rate is 9.5% annually.⁴ Interest compounds whether or not you filed an extension, and there’s no cap on the total that can accrue.

The extension is worth filing because it kills the much steeper 5%-per-month late-filing penalty. It does nothing to stop interest and late-payment charges on an unpaid balance. Pay as much as you can by April 15, even if you can’t pay it all.

If You’re Abroad or a Nonresident

U.S. citizens and residents living outside the country on April 15, and military members stationed abroad, automatically get two extra months to file without submitting any form. That moves the filing deadline to June 15, 2026.²

If you want the full six months, you still need to file Form IT-370, but you have until June 15 to do it.¹ One catch worth noting: even with the automatic two-month grace period, interest on unpaid tax still runs from April 15, not June 15.

If you earned New York-source income but lived elsewhere for all or part of the year, use the same IT-370. Identify your residency status correctly on the form, since your eventual return will be IT-203 rather than IT-201. The deadlines, payment rules, and penalties are the same as for full-year residents.

1
Department of Taxation and Finance. Instructions for Form IT-370 Application for Automatic Six-Month Extension of Time to File for Individuals
2
Department of Taxation and Finance. Instructions for Form IT-370 Application for Automatic Six-Month Extension of Time to File for Individuals
3
Department of Taxation and Finance. Interest and Penalties
4
Department of Taxation and Finance. Interest Rates 1/01/2026 – 3/31/2026