On January 6, 2021, the office of the Maryland Comptroller announced extended filing and payment deadlines for certain Maryland business taxes and quarterly estimated income tax returns and payments. The extension will allow certain business taxes and estimated income tax returns and payments that would be due in January, February and March 2021 to be deferred until April 15, 2021. The action is similar to an extension granted last year to businesses during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. No interest or penalties will be assessed and there is no need to file a request for extension.

The extension applies to business taxes administered by the Comptroller: sales and use, admissions and amusement, alcohol, tobacco, and motor fuel tax, as well as tire recycling fee and bay restoration fee returns and payments with due dates between January 1, 2021 and April 14, 2021.

Businesses and self-employed individuals or independent contractors with estimated income tax returns and payments due on January 15, 2021 will also be granted an extension until April 15, 2021. Individual and fiduciary estimated income tax filings and payments not related to business income are also deferred until April 15, 2021. Additionally, if the IRS extends its April 15, 2021 filing deadline for 2020 corporate, pass-through entity and individual income tax returns, Maryland will once again conform to the IRS action.

Any State withholding returns and payments originally due between February 1, 2021 and April 14, 2021 may be submitted by April 15, 2021 without incurring interest and penalties. Employers must still file and pay Federal withholding taxes. However, employers must still complete their 2020 withholding tax returns and payments due by January 31, 2021, ensuring that W-2s will be delivered on time for taxpayers to file when the tax season begins at the end of January.

A summary of these filing and payment extensions is summarized as follows:

The full text of the Comptroller’s Tax Alert on these extensions can be found here. The Office of the Comptroller has indicated that it will be issuing FAQs related to the extensions covered in the Tax Alert, so further guidance is expected to be forthcoming.

Opinions and conclusions in this post are solely those of the author unless otherwise indicated. The information contained in this blog is general in nature and is not offered and cannot be considered as legal advice for any particular situation. The author has provided the links referenced above for information purposes only and by doing so, does not adopt or incorporate the contents. Any federal tax advice provided in this communication is not intended or written by the author to be used, and cannot be used by the recipient, for the purpose of avoiding penalties which may be imposed on the recipient by the IRS. Please contact the author if you would like to receive written advice in a format which complies with IRS rules and may be relied upon to avoid penalties.

[View source.]