Internal Revenue Service gives taxpayers extra time as they face coronavirus pandemic
As of mid-March, filers had submitted 76 million individual returns for 2019, about half the 155 million total returns expected this year.
By Laura Saunders Wall Street Journal
Updated March 21, 2020 8:48 am ET
The Internal Revenue Service has extended the deadline for filing individual tax returns for 2019 to July 15 from April 15 in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The change came just two days after the agency extended the tax-payment deadline to July 15.
Millions of taxpayers now have an extra three months to file their returns and pay what they owe the IRS for 2019. As of mid-March, filers had submitted 76 million individual returns for 2019, about half the 155 million total returns expected this year.
The new three-month extension to file and pay was announced in IRS Notice 2020-18. It applies to individuals, corporations, estates and trusts, regardless of how much tax is owed, and it removes limits imposed by the payment extension announced Wednesday.
The IRS’s delay of the tax-filing date comes following pressure from Congress, tax preparers and the public as the new coronavirus upends everyday life in the U.S. and stalls the economy.
The new filing delay appears to extend other deadlines for taxpayers, such as the April 15 deadline for making contributions to individual retirement accounts, Roth IRAs and Health Savings Accounts. The new guidance doesn’t explain whether an automatic six-month extension to complete tax paperwork will remain Oct. 15 or be extended to Jan. 15, 2021.
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PHOTO: BRAD HORRIGAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS