IRS gives taxpayers one more day to file after payment site crashes

• The IRS will give last-minute filers additional time to file and pay their tax returns after the web page for paying their tax bills using their bank accounts crashed on Tax Day.
• The "Direct Pay" page was down for most of Tuesday.
• The IRS expects to receive 17 million returns this week, along with 14 million extension requests.

The IRS will give last-minute filers additional time to file and pay their tax returns after the web page for paying their tax bills using their bank accounts crashed.

The page was operational again as of 5:05 p.m. ET on Tuesday — Tax Day — after being unavailable for most of the day.

The IRS apologized for the problem.

"This is the busiest tax day of the year, and the IRS apologizes for the inconvenience this system issue caused for taxpayers," acting IRS Commissioner David Kautter said in a statement.

The agency said individuals and businesses that were originally due to file Tuesday will now have until Wednesday night.

The outage affected the "Direct Pay" link, a free service for paying taxes via bank accounts, and the "Payment Plan" page, where filers can pay their tax bill in installments. Both pages are back online.

Other ways to pay

Filers can also use the IRS site to pay via a debit or credit card; however, you'll be on the hook for fees ranging from $2 to $3.95 for debit transactions and expenses approaching 2 percent for credit card payments.

You can also pay what you owe with a paper check.

Need more time?

April 18 is now the deadline for 2017 returns and tax payments, but what if you need a little more time?

Last-minute filers seeking extra time can pay the IRS estimated taxes on the phone or online and obtain an automatic extension to file their return.

In that case, your return will be due on Oct. 15.

Taxpayers can also submit Form 4868, either electronically or on paper, to push their filing deadline to Oct. 15. If you're serious, do it now – you have until midnight on April 18.

Failure to file will hurt: The IRS will assess a penalty of 5 percent of the balance due for each month your return is late, up to a maximum of 25 percent.

Can't pay now?

If you don't pay your tax bill by midnight on April 18, you'll face a penalty of 0.5 percent of the balance due for each month your taxes go unpaid, up to a maximum of 25 percent.

Interest also accrues on taxes owed.

Filers who don't have the cash on hand to pay the IRS can apply for a short-term payment plan, aiming to pay off the debt in under 120 days. You can also apply for a long-term installment plan if it'll take you more time to get clear with the IRS.

A warning: Even with a payment plan, you'll continue to see interest and some penalties accrue on your balance owed until you've paid off what you owe.

CNBC's Lorie Konish and Ryan Ruggiero contributed to this story.