Combat Zone Deadlines: Extra Time to File and Pay
Published November 7, 2026
Publication 3 (2025), Armed Forces' Tax Guide, explains tax rules for members of the armed forces. This guide covers one part of it: how service in a combat zone or a contingency operation extends IRS deadlines. It is general information. It is not advice about your return.
Two steps extend the deadline
The publication says the deadline for filing your return, paying your tax, asking for money back, and taking other actions with the IRS is extended in two steps.
- The deadline is extended by 180 days. The 180 days start after the later of two dates. The first is the last day you are in a combat zone, have qualifying service outside a combat zone, or serve in a contingency operation. The second is the last day of any continuous qualified hospitalization for an injury from that service.
- The deadline is also extended by the number of days you had left to act when you entered the combat zone or began the service.
If you entered the combat zone before the time to act began, the extension is the whole period you had to act. The publication gives an example. A person had 3 and a half months, from January 1 to April 15, 2025, to file a 2024 return. Any days of that period left when the person entered the zone are added to the 180 days.
What the extension covers
The extension covers filing a return, paying tax, asking for money back, and other actions with the IRS. Keep your records of the dates you were in the zone or on service. Those dates decide how much extra time you have.
If you were not in a combat zone
The publication has separate rules for members who are not in a combat zone or a contingency operation. These rules cover how to ask for more time to file and how to ask for more time to pay. Read that part of the publication if your service was outside a combat zone.
Pay and allowances
The publication sorts military pay into groups. These are basic pay, special pay, bonus pay, incentive pay, and other pay. It also covers in-kind military benefits. Some items are excluded from gross income. Combat zone pay is one example. Others include certain Financial Assistance Program payments, death allowances, and family allowances. The publication explains each group, so read it before you decide how to report a payment.
Other topics in the same publication
Each of these topics has its own section in the publication. Read the section that matches your service. Publication 3 also covers the child tax credit, the credit for other dependents, the additional child tax credit, and the credit for excess social security tax. It explains terrorist or military action related payments and the rules for a deceased taxpayer's return. For the basic duties of a survivor or executor, see survivors and executors: basic tax duties after a death.
Keep your dates
An extension depends on dates. Write down the day you entered the combat zone, the day you left, and the dates of any hospital stay for an injury from that service. Keep copies of orders or other records that show those dates. Store them with your tax records, so you can show them if the IRS asks.
Related rules
The publication also covers combat pay, which can be excluded from income. For that rule, see the combat zone pay exclusion. For people who live abroad, see Form 2350 and the extension for U.S. citizens abroad.
Upload your documents and answer a few simple questions to start your return.
Sources: Sources: IRS, Publication 3 (2025), Armed Forces' Tax Guide, Extensions of Deadlines (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p3.pdf) This is general information, not advice about your specific return.
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