March 23rd, 2020

Tax Update: Expansion of Emergency Tax Relief

In our previous Tax Alert, we told you about the U.S. Treasury’s decision to permit the deferral of tax payments until July 15, 2020. In a sign of the rapid pace of change in the current environment, the IRS on Friday issued a superseding notice, Notice 2020-18, in which it expanded the emergency relief previously announced in Notice 2020-17. Of particular note are the following:

  • In addition to extending the payment due date from April 15 to July 15, 2020, the IRS has extended the federal tax return filing deadline from April 15 to July 15, 2020, thus aligning the filing due date with the deferred tax payment due date.
  • The relief applies to any individual, trust, estate, partnership, association, company or corporation with a federal income tax return due on April 15.
  • Affected taxpayers will receive an automatic extension and will not be required to file extension forms by April 15.
  • The amount of permitted payment deferrals is now unlimited, no longer subject to the $1 million and $10 million limits applicable under Notice 2020-17 to non-corporate and corporate taxpayers, respectively.
  • The relief applies only to federal income tax returns and payments (including extension payments and self-employment taxes) for 2019 and estimated income tax payments for 2020. The extension does not apply to any other federal tax or the filing of any federal information returns.

For questions about how this tax relief may affect you, please contact Jeffrey M. Marks.