Article

IRS significantly expands tax return filing and payment due date relief

April 10, 2020

On April 9, 2020, the IRS and Treasury Department issued Notice 2020-23, granting an automatic extension until July 15, 2020, to comply with several federal filing and payment obligations in addition to those already extended, as well as to perform certain time-sensitive actions. The relief generally applies to all obligations that otherwise would have been due on or after April 1, 2020, and before July 15, 2020, including 2020 second-quarter estimated tax payments. It also extends to both calendar-year and fiscal-year filers.

The notice clarifies “all schedules, returns, and other forms” that must be attached to the returns that are automatically extended are covered (such as Schedules H and SE, and Forms 3520, 5471, 5472, 8621, 8858, 8865 and 8938). This relief includes any installment payments of repatriation tax liabilities due on or after April 1, 2020, and before July 15, 2020. In addition, elections that are made or required to be made on a timely filed covered return are extended as well.

This relief is automatic: affected taxpayers do not have to call the IRS, file extension forms, or send letters or other documents to receive this extension. Taxpayers may continue to file for additional extensions beyond July 15, 2020, but the extension date may not go beyond the original statutory or regulatory extension date. For example, a request for an extension to file an individual tax return may be filed by July 15, 2020, to extend the time to file the return, but that extension will only be to Oct. 15, 2020. It will not extend the time to pay federal income tax beyond July 15, 2020.

Caution: This relief applies to federal obligations only. Each state will have its own deadlines. Please visit our state tax-filing extension matrix to see if your state has extended its deadlines in response to COVID-19.

Tax returns and payments covered by the notice include, but are not limited to:

• Individual income tax payments and filings on Forms 1040, 1040-SR and 1040-NR,