Anyone who is just now booting up their tax-prep software or pulling together papers to take to the accountant might want to think about getting an extension of the April 17 filing deadline.

Getting an extension is quite easy; it's a matter of filing a short form with the IRS and, if you're going to owe taxes, estimating what your bill will be and paying it.

The great myth about extensions is that they are a flag to the IRS that make taxpayers vulnerable to being audited.

Tax professionals say this myth has no basis in reality — an estimated 9 million taxpayers receive extensions each year, and the government doesn't have the resources to audit all those people.

What does set off an audit? For a small-business owner, the problem often comes down to income or expense levels that don't fit what the IRS would expect your business to have.

Many small-business owners routinely file for extensions, not because they're running late, but because it's part of their tax strategy.

Those who want more time to contribute to a Simplified Employee Pension, or SEP plan, can do so using an extension, because they don't have to come up with the money until the due date of their tax returns — including that extra time.

If you want an extension, you need to file IRS Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, with the IRS.

Do that, and you have six months, until Oct. 16, to get your return in. Until this year, you could only get a four-month automatic extension, and then had to appeal to the IRS for another two months.

But in a move that saves taxpayers and the government time and money, the tax agency has restructured the extension process. Form 4868 gets you the full six months.

You can download Form 4868 from www.irs.gov if you want to file by regular mail. It's also included in tax prep software, and you should be able to e-file it from your PC.

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