There’s no penalty for filing after the April 18 deadline if a refund is due.

Some taxpayers automatically qualify for extra time to file and pay taxes due without penalties and interest, including members of the military who served or are currently serving in a combat zone.

If you’re a U.S. citizen or resident alien and you are out of the country on the April 18 deadline, you can file your return after April 18 without it being considered late.

Sending an extension by April 18 may avoid a late filing penalty of 5% of your unpaid balance per month, capped at 25%. But it won’t bypass a monthly late payment fee of 0.5%, limited to 25% of taxes owed.

The penalty for failure to file is usually 5% of the amount of tax owed for each month or part of a month that your return is late, up to a maximum of 25% of the unpaid tax.

If you don’t file your tax return, you may miss out on any refunds that you are entitled to receive. The IRS generally has a three-year statute of limitations on refunds, which means that if you don’t claim your refund within three years from the due date of the return, you will forfeit it.

If you file more than 60 days after the due date, the minimum penalty is either $435 or the amount of tax owed, whichever is smaller.

Interest will also be charged on any unpaid taxes from the due date of the return until the date you pay in full. The interest rate is determined quarterly and is the federal short-term rate plus 3% points.

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