Your federal extension ends October 15, 2026. Your state’s does not necessarily end on the same day. Virginia gives you until November 1. Louisiana gives you until November 15. Hawaii gives you until October 20. Delaware, which on paper looks like it should behave like Virginia, gives you the exact same day as the IRS.
Four states, four different answers to a question almost nobody asks, because the federal date is the only one that gets talked about. If your return has a state component, it is worth the two minutes to check which of these calendars you are actually on.
Tax Disclaimer: This article covers four states, each sourced from its own revenue department, and is not tax advice. Rules differ in every state and this is not a complete list. Consult a certified CPA or tax professional for individual advice.
Virginia and Louisiana Start Later, So They Finish Later
Virginia does not use April 15 as its own due date to begin with. The state’s individual return is due May 1, and it grants “an automatic 6-month extension to file your return (Nov. 1 for most filers)” with no application required (Virginia Tax: When to File). The same page is direct about the part people skip past: “You still need to pay any taxes owed on time to avoid additional penalties and interest.” The extension moves the paperwork deadline. It does not move May 1.
Louisiana runs the same shape a little further out. Its individual return is due May 15 (Louisiana Department of Revenue), and state law grants a six-month automatic extension with nothing to file for it: “If you know you cannot file your return by the due date, you do not need to file for an extension. No paper or electronic extension form needs to be filed to obtain the automatic filing extension” (Louisiana Department of Revenue FAQ). The department’s own payment voucher spells out where that six months lands: “the filing date is automatically extended to November 15th,” while “you must pay any tax due by May 15th for calendar year filers” (Louisiana Dept. of Revenue: Form R-2868V).
Both states are doing the same arithmetic as the IRS: a flat six months added to the original due date. They just start the clock later, so they end later too.
Hawaii Adds a Condition the First Two Don’t Have
Hawaii’s original due date is April 20, five days behind the federal one. Its extension is also automatic, but only if you clear a specific bar: the taxpayer must be “due a refund,” or must pay “the properly estimated tax amount owed by April 20, 2026,” and separately, “at least 90% of your total tax liability shown on the return is paid” (Hawaii Department of Taxation: Tax Year Information). Meet either condition and the deadline becomes October 20. Underpay past that 90% line with nothing filed and there is no extension protecting you, automatic or otherwise.
That is a meaningfully different deal from Virginia and Louisiana’s blanket six months. It rewards people who already estimated their bill correctly and penalizes a guess that came in low.
The State That Only Looks Like It Should Match the Pattern
Delaware’s original due date is April 30, ten days later than Hawaii’s and fifteen later than the federal one (State of Delaware: 2026 tax season announcement). Follow the pattern set by the first three states and you’d expect its extension to land somewhere in the second half of October or later. It doesn’t. Delaware’s own instructions put the extended deadline at October 15 (the department’s Form PIT-EXT literally reads “AN AUTOMATIC EXTENSION OF TIME UNTIL October 15, 2026 IS REQUESTED”), the identical date the IRS uses, despite the fifteen-day head start on the original due date (Delaware Division of Revenue: 2025 PIT-RES Instructions).
The same instructions are blunt about payment: “THERE IS NO EXTENSION OF TIME FOR PAYMENT OF TAX,” and interest runs “at a rate of ½% per month, or fraction of a month, from the return’s original due date until paid” (Delaware Division of Revenue: 2025 PIT-RES Instructions). Anyone who assumed Delaware would behave like Virginia, later start, later finish, has actually lost close to three weeks of runway they were counting on.
The Four States Side by Side
| Jurisdiction | Original due date | Extended due date | What triggers the extension |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal | April 15, 2026 | October 15, 2026 | Form 4868, or an electronic payment marked as one |
| Virginia | May 1, 2026 | November 1, 2026 | Automatic, no form (Virginia Tax) |
| Louisiana | May 15, 2026 | November 15, 2026 | Automatic, no form (LDR) |
| Hawaii | April 20, 2026 | October 20, 2026 | Automatic only if 90% of tax is paid, or a refund is due (Hawaii DOTAX) |
| Delaware | April 30, 2026 | October 15, 2026 | Form PIT-EXT; snaps back to the federal date regardless (DE Division of Revenue) |
Two patterns, not one. Virginia and Louisiana add a flat six months to a later starting line. Hawaii adds six months but only for filers who already paid enough. Delaware starts later and still ends on the federal date, which is the one combination that catches people off guard.
Nine States Where the Question Never Comes Up
If you live in one of these, there is no state extension to track because there is no state tax on wages to begin with: Alaska (no state tax on wages), Florida (no state tax on wages), Nevada (no state tax on wages), New Hampshire (no state tax on wages), South Dakota (no state tax on wages), Tennessee (no state tax on wages), Texas (no state tax on wages), Washington (no state tax on wages (2026)) and Wyoming (no state tax on wages).
Your federal extension still runs on the federal calendar either way. There is simply no second one layered on top of it.
What to Actually Check, in Order
Four questions, and the order matters because each one can make the rest irrelevant.
- Does your state tax wage income at all? If it’s one of the nine above, stop here.
- What is your state’s original due date? Not every state uses April 15. Three of the four above don’t.
- Does the extension add a flat six months, or does it require something first? Hawaii’s 90% condition (Hawaii DOTAX) is not a formality; missing it means no automatic extension at all.
- Does the extended date scale with the later start, or does it revert to October 15? Delaware is the only one of these four where it reverts, and it is exactly the state where a filer would least expect that.
Most state revenue departments publish all four answers on one page, usually the same page that hosts the extension form itself. The four states here were chosen because a later original due date is the single most common reason people assume their state extension moved with it, not because they are the only states worth checking.
Check the Actual Page, Not the Assumption
The federal deadline gets the coverage because one rule covers everyone. States are where a reasonable-sounding assumption, later start means later finish, turns out to be true in Virginia and Louisiana, conditional in Hawaii, and false in Delaware. None of that changes what October 15 means for your federal return: the failure-to-file penalty is still priced ten times higher than the failure-to-pay penalty, so file by whichever deadline is actually yours, whether or not the balance is paid in full.
If the balance is the problem rather than the paperwork, an IRS installment agreement cuts the ongoing penalty rate in half and costs as little as $29 to set up. If part of the bill traces back to a shortfall during the year rather than the return itself, the Safe Harbor and Estimated Tax Penalty Calculator will size that portion separately. And if this is the first year you’re checking a state calendar against the federal one, the state estimated-tax deadlines for September run on the same logic: the federal date is never a safe substitute for looking up your own state’s page.
