Providing additional relief to taxpayers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Internal Revenue Service has extended a wide array of key tax deadlines for individuals and businesses to July 15, 2020. Last month, the IRS announced that taxpayers generally have until July 15, 2020, to file and pay federal income taxes originally due on April 15. No late-filing penalty, late-payment penalty or interest will be due.

In Notice 2020-23, issued on April 9, the IRS granted relief to many additional returns, tax payments, and other tax-related actions. As a result, the extension to July 15 now applies generally to all taxpayers who have a filing or payment deadline falling on or after April 1, 2020, and before July 15, 2020. Individuals, trusts, estates, corporations and other non-corporate tax filers qualify for the extra time. This means that anyone, including U.S. citizens who live and work abroad, can now wait until July 15 to file their 2019 federal income tax return and pay any tax due.

Notice 2020-23 also extends relief to estimated tax payments due June 15, 2020. This means that any individual or corporation that has a quarterly estimated tax payment due on or after April 1, 2020, and before July 15, 2020, can wait until July 15 to make that payment, without penalty.

For 2016 tax returns, the normal April 15 deadline to claim a refund has also been extended to July 15, 2020. The law provides a three-year window of opportunity to claim a refund.  If taxpayers do not file a return within three years, the money becomes property of the U.S. Treasury. The law requires taxpayers to properly address, mail, and ensure the tax return is postmarked by the July 15, 2020, date.

Tax Returns and Payments To Which Notice 2020-23 Applies

The extension relief afforded by Notice 2020-23 applies to all taxpayers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic who have a tax filing obligation and/or a tax payment obligation.  This includes the following:

• Individual income tax payments and return filings on Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, 1040-SR, U.S. Tax Return for Seniors, 1040-NR, U.S. Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return, 1040-NR-EZ, U.S. Income Tax Return for Certain Nonresident Aliens With No Dependents, 1040-PR, Self-Employment Tax Return – Puerto Rico, and 1040-SS, U.S. Self-Employment Tax Return (Including the Additional Child Tax Credit for Bona Fide Residents of Puerto Rico);
• Calendar year or fiscal year corporate income tax payments and return filings on Form 1120, U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return, 1120-C, U.S. Income Tax Return for Cooperative Associations, 1120-F, U.S. Income Tax Return of a Foreign Corporation, 1120-FSC, U.S. Income Tax Return of a Foreign Sales Corporation, 1120-H, U.S. Income Tax Return for Homeowners Associations, 1120-L, U.S. Life Insurance Company Income Tax Return, 1120-ND, Return for Nuclear Decommissioning Funds and Certain Related Persons, 1120-PC, U.S. Property and Casualty Insurance Company Income Tax Return, 1120-POL, U.S. Income Tax Return for Certain Political Organizations, 1120-REIT, U.S. Income Tax Return for Real Estate Investment Trusts, 1120-RIC, U.S. Income Tax Return for Regulated Investment Companies, 1120-S, U.S. Income Tax Return for an S Corporation, and 1120-SF, U.S. Income Tax Return for Settlement Funds (Under Section 468B);
• Calendar year or fiscal year partnership return filings on Form 1065, U.S. Return of Partnership Income, and Form 1066, U.S. Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit (REMIC) Income Tax Return;
• Estate and trust income tax payments and return filings on Form 1041, U.S. Income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts, 1041-N, U.S. Income Tax Return for Electing Alaska Native Settlement Trusts, and 1041-QFT, U.S. Income Tax Return for Qualified Funeral Trusts;
• Estate and generation-skipping transfer tax payments and return filings on Form 706, United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return, 706-NA, United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return, 706-A, United States Additional Estate Tax Return, 706-QDT, U.S. Estate Tax Return for Qualified Domestic Trusts, 706-GS(T), Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Return for Terminations, 706-GS(D), Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Return for Distributions, and 706-GS(D-1), Notification of Distribution from a Generation-Skipping Trust (including the due date for providing such form to a beneficiary);
• Form 706, United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return, filed pursuant to Revenue Procedure 2017-34;
• Form 8971, Information Regarding Beneficiaries Acquiring Property from a Decedent and any supplemental Form 8971, including all requirements contained in section 6035(a) of the Code;
• Gift and generation-skipping transfer tax payments and return filings on Form 709, United States Gift (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return that are due on the date an estate is required to file Form 706 or Form 706-NA;
• Estate tax payments of principal or interest due as a result of an election made under sections 6166, 6161, or 6163 and annual recertification requirements under section 6166 of the Code;
• Exempt organization business income tax and other payments and return filings on Form 990-T, Exempt Organization Business Income Tax Return (and proxy tax under section 6033(e) of the Code);
• Excise tax payments on investment income and return filings on Form 990-PF, Return of Private Foundation or Section 4947(a)(1) Trust Treated as Private Foundation, and excise tax payments and return filings on Form 4720, Return of Certain Excise Taxes under Chapters 41 and 42 of the Internal Revenue Code; and
• Quarterly estimated income tax payments calculated on or submitted with Form 990-W, Estimated Tax on Unrelated Business Taxable Income for Tax-Exempt Organizations, 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals, 1040-ES (NR), U.S. Estimated Tax for Nonresident Alien Individuals, 1040-ES (PR), Estimated Federal Tax on Self Employment Income and on Household Employees (Residents of Puerto Rico), 1041-ES, Estimated Income Tax for Estates and Trusts, and 1120-W, Estimated Tax for Corporations.

Postponement of Due Dates to July 15

For all of taxpayers with filing and payment obligations listed above, the due date for filing and making payments is automatically postponed to July 15, 2020. This extension is automatic. Taxpayers do not have to call the IRS or file any extension forms, or send letters or other documents to receive this relief.

However, taxpayers who wish to obtain a further extension, until October 15, 2020, must file the appropriate extension form by July 15, 2020. For example, a Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, may be filed by July 15, 2020, to extend the time to file an individual income tax return, but that extension will only be to October 15, 2020. That extension will not extend, however, the time to pay federal income tax beyond July 15, 2020.

The relief afford by Notice 2020-23 includes not just the filing of the tax forms identified above, but also all schedules, returns, and other forms that are filed as attachments or are required to be filed by the tax return due date including, for example, Schedule H and Schedule SE, as well as Forms 3520, 5471, 5472, 8621, 8858, 8865, and 8938. This relief also includes any installment payments under IRC section 965(h) due on or after April 1, 2020, and before July 15, 2020. Finally, elections that are made or required to be made on a timely filed tax form (or attachment) will be deemed timely made if filed on such tax form or attachment, as appropriate, on or before July 15, 2020.

As a result of the postponement of the due date for filing tax forms and making payments, the period beginning on April 1, 2020, and ending on July 15, 2020, will be disregarded in the calculation of any interest, penalty, or addition to tax for failure to file the forms or make payments. Interest, penalties, and additions to tax with respect to such postponed filing and payment obligations will begin to accrue on July 16, 2020.

Relief With Respect to Specified Time-Sensitive Tax-Related Actions

Taxpayers will also have until July 15, 2020, to perform all certain tax-related that are due to be performed on or after April 1, 2020, and before July 15, 2020. This relief includes the time for filing all petitions with the Tax Court, or for review of a decision rendered by the Tax Court, filing a claim for credit or refund of any tax, and bringing suit upon a claim for credit or refund of any tax. This notice does not provide relief for the time period for filing a petition with the Tax Court, or for filing a claim or bringing a suit for credit or refund, if that period expired before April 1, 2020.

Postponement of Due Dates with Respect to Certain Government Acts

Notice 2020-23 also provides the IRS with additional time to perform the certain time-sensitive tax-related actions. Due to the COVID-19 emergency, IRS employees, taxpayers, and other persons may be unable to access documents, systems, or other resources necessary to perform certain time-sensitive actions due to office closures or state and local government executive orders restricting activities. The lack of access to those documents, systems, or resources will materially interfere with the IRS’s ability to timely administer the Internal Revenue Code. As a result, IRS employees will require additional time to perform time-sensitive actions.

The additional time granted to the IRS by Notice 2020-23 applies to the following categories of persons:

• persons who are currently under examination;
• persons whose cases are with the Independent Office of Appeals; and
• persons who, during the period beginning on or after April 6, 2020 and ending before July 15, 2020, file amended returns or submit payments with respect to a tax for which the time for assessment would otherwise expire during this period.

With respect to these categories of persons, a 30-day postponement is granted for time-sensitive actions required to be taken by the IRS if the last date for performance of the action is on or after April 6, 2020, and before July 15, 2020.

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