The latest financial news related to COVID-19 centers on a historic move made earlier today. Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin announced the April 15th tax filing deadline has officially been extended to July 15 for all taxpayers and businesses. Mnuchin went on to say, “All taxpayers and businesses will have this additional time to file and make payments without interest or penalties.” Today’s changes were announced just days after two other sweeping changes were made to extend deadlines to July 15, 2020 for the following tax payments.
- 2019 tax return payments originally due April 15, 2020
- 2020 first quarter estimated tax payments originally due April 15, 2020
On March 10, Democratic lawmakers on the Ways and Means Committee sent a letter to the IRS to find out more about any changes for the filing season. “We request your continued evaluation of whether there is any need to extend the tax filing season beyond the April 15 deadline,” they wrote at the time.
As recently as March 17th, the White House detailed how taxpayers would be able to defer tax payments but said that tax day itself would stay the same. “All you have to do is file your taxes; you’ll automatically not get charged interest in penalties,” Mnuchin said during that coronavirus briefing.
Taxpayers may be able to get a further extension with a form 4868, which in normal years gives taxpayers until Oct. 15 to file a return. It was not immediately clear how the delay in Tax Day would change the extension process.
Tax refunds
What remains unchanged after today’s announcement is that taxpayers who expect a refund can file right now and get their refunds once the return is processed.
In a follow-up tweet, the Treasury Secretary encouraged taxpayers to do just that.
IRS data through March 6 shows that almost 68 million Americans — roughly half of all filers based on previous years – have taken that advice. Nearly 53 million Americans (at least) have already gotten their refunds.
Eric Abati is a Tax Partner with ATKG and oversees the firm’s Operations division. He has built an incredible CPA practice over the last 20+ years on the national, regional and local levels and has experience in many industries including real estate, construction, retail, restaurants, investment partnerships and non-profits. Eric is a proud graduate of The Florida State University. For additional information, please contact Eric at 210.733.6611 or ebati@atkgcpa.com.
