Tax Filing and Payment Deadlines Extended Due to COVID-19

The April 15th deadline to pay has been changed to July 15th. This is automatic extension; no request needed.

• All taxpayers, including individuals, corporations, trusts, estates, non-corporate and self-employed filers, can defer federal income tax payments originally due on April 15th until July 15th.
  • “Income tax payments” includes 2019 income tax and 2020 1st quarter estimated income tax payments.
  • This does not include the 2020 2nd quarter estimated tax payment due June 15th.
• The deferral is for federal income tax payments only. It does not include payroll, excise, gift, estate, or state income taxes.
• States may follow the federal deferral, chose their own, or do nothing.
• The initial deferral provisions had limitations on amounts, but those limitations were subsequently eliminated in IRS Notice 2020-18.

The April 15th deadline to file has also been changed to July 15th. Again, this is automatic extension; no request needed. If additional time to file is needed beyond July 15th, an automatic extension is available until the September 15th (most taxpayers) or October 15th (individuals and C corporations) deadlines. This does not extend the time to pay, so penalties and interest will start to accrue if the tax is not paid by July 15th.

EMPLOYERS: relief is also expected in the form of various credits. Initial comments from the IRS can be found here.