2020 Tax Deadlines for 2019 Tax Year
The impacts of the coronavirus have been widespread, with many states shutting down various businesses and operations. As lawmakers work to try and ease the implications of this for individuals and businesses, many are working to change the tax filing and payment deadlines. There are a lot of questions and various components of these changes. This article is meant to help clarify some of these questions.
On March 20th the US Treasury announced that they were extending the tax filing due date to July 15th. Earlier in the month they had already extended the tax payment due date to July 15th. Having these dates lineup helps to remove some confusion. July 15th is now the new April 15th for the 2019 tax year. If you need an extension beyond July 15th, extensions are still only good through October 15th. They did not allow for any additional time on extensions.
This extension also applies to 1st quarter estimated tax payments. The due date for these payments is now July 15th. It is important to note that 2nd quarter estimated payments did not get changed. They are still due on June 15th. Note that this is actually prior to the due date for 1st quarter. Here is a link to the IRS FAQ page on these changes https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/filing-and-payment-deadlines-questions-and-answers.
One other important component of these changes are the various states. Many states have already taken action to extend their due dates, and we anticipate most if not all, will ultimately do something. Not all states are extending to the same due date. Below is a link to the Tax Foundation, a non-profit focused on educating the public on taxes. They have been updating this website daily with information on what each state is doing. Since we have clients all around the country and world, we encourage you to find your state at the website.
https://taxfoundation.org/state-tax-coronavirus-covid19/#timeline
At Heintz + Clark, we are still focused on completing tax returns on a timely basis. We understand that taxpayers who are due a refund may want to receive that refund as soon as possible. Also, taxpayers that owe may want to have some clarity around how much they will owe so they can plan to make those payments. There is no penalty for filing early. You can file your return prior to July 15th and wait until July 15th to make the payments. Therefore, we are still encouraging our clients to send us their information as soon as they have it ready. We are here to help our clients through this situation and be a part of the solution.