Today's IRS announcement

I don't understand the thinking. We assumed wrongly that the filing due date would be moved back. We stopped face to face meetings after a client went into self-quarantine shortly after coming to our office. We dodged the bullet on that one. Now we need to contact our elderly non-technical clients to come to the office to drop off their information. These are the people who should not be going out in public. We're also short staffed since schools and day cares are closed. I hope I'm reading this wrong. If anyone has their take on it I would like to hear about it.

If you have not already noticed there is NO official guidance from IRS or Treasury. To me that means they are still formulating an official policy, which may be changing by the hour.

I have got a ton of phone calls and e-mails about this issue and the confusion is compounded by local news speculations.

I am telling all my clients that have a balance due the following:

1) Strongly recommending they authorize me to file an extension if they are not comfortable getting their returns prepared right now.

2) We already know that the penalty for failure to pay and interest has been (unofficially) waived for 90 days.


3) My state and by neighboring state already announced they will go along with IRS official policy.

So in case they extend the filing deadline, no harm done with the extension. It is just an insurance policy!

Just do extensions. Prioritize those who expect refunds and extend those who don't.

That is exactly what I told my clients this morning.

Just do extensions. Prioritize those who expect refunds and extend those who don't.

For the clients that you do complete and e-file before April 15 (with a balance due), are you telling them they don't have to mail their payments until July 15? I can see a lot of clients forgetting to make that late payment and I'm not calling everyone to remind them!

It's official - I just received an email from the IRS E-News for Tax Professionals:

"The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service are providing special payment relief to individuals and businesses in response to the COVID-19 Outbreak. The filing deadline for tax returns remains April 15, 2020. The IRS urges taxpayers who are owed a refund to file as quickly as possible. For those who can’t file by the April 15, 2020 deadline, the IRS reminds individual taxpayers that everyone is eligible to request a six-month extension to file their return."

It goes on to provide details.

It's official - I just received an email from the IRS E-News for Tax Professionals:

"The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service are providing special payment relief to individuals and businesses in response to the COVID-19 Outbreak. The filing deadline for tax returns remains April 15, 2020. The IRS urges taxpayers who are owed a refund to file as quickly as possible. For those who can’t file by the April 15, 2020 deadline, the IRS reminds individual taxpayers that everyone is eligible to request a six-month extension to file their return."

It goes on to provide details.

Proving that the Secretary does not care about the health of his taxpayers, or any kind of quarantine, but wants to make sure those that had a good year and owe a significant amount of money get a break.

Proving that the Secretary does not care about the health of his taxpayers, or any kind of quarantine, but wants to make sure those that had a good year and owe a significant amount of money get a break.

That may be your view but I doubt most agree with that position. I think they should have also extended the filing deadline along with payment deadline because this is causing a bit of confusion with the taxpayers. It is forcing the filing of an extension if they want to pay later than 4/15. An extra step and more work for all involved. I think they did not think through the practical effect.

At any rate, I have e-mailed all my clients that generally have a balance due to contact me so that we can take care of this matter. I already got 4 takers!

I am wasting a lot of time trying to correct clients' misunderstandings as perpetrated by the media. I am also growing increasingly annoyed with the IRS and States not being unified on this front and having different policies and dates. Accordingly, I am trying to get clients to act as if it is any other tax year by filing by original due date OR filing extensions by original due date, and then taking advantage of the extended time to pay. But good grief, it is just adding more burden to tax preparers as tax authorities place more liability and risk on us, and clients do not always like having to pay for added professional fees because of red tape inefficiencies.

Thanks for all the input. I don't think there are any bad ideas here. I did receive an email from Jennings (Taxspeaker) and he referred to extensions as "properly extended". So I have another unknown. I've always been accused of over-thinking, but this time we'll just do what's realistic to a rational person and let the situation flesh itself out.

I fell your pain CornerstoneCPA! In Maryland they said "business taxes" would be due July 1. I took that to mean pass-through entities and corporations. But no, turns out that meant sales, alcohol taxes, etc. They may have since changed it to cover the income taxes but I'm having trouble keeping up with exactly what can be extended and what cannot. So I think the safest course is as you say to file by the original due date or extend and utilize the additional time to pay.

I am wasting a lot of time trying to correct clients' misunderstandings as perpetrated by the media. I am also growing increasingly annoyed with the IRS and States not being unified on this front and having different policies and dates. Accordingly, I am trying to get clients to act as if it is any other tax year by filing by original due date OR filing extensions by original due date, and then taking advantage of the extended time to pay. But good grief, it is just adding more burden to tax preparers as tax authorities place more liability and risk on us, and clients do not always like having to pay for added professional fees because of red tape inefficiencies.

There is literally nothing we can do about this except to keep calm and carry on. I remember in '08 or '09 when they started talking about sending money to people I got inundated with demands to know when they would see their seventeen hundred dollars (or whatever proposed number was being talked about that day) and you just have to talk them off the ledge.

And the states not being aligned with federal is the price we pay for our history. Because states are allowed to have their own tax systems, they do, and they can do whatever they want. If you don't want to deal with that part... well... Bienvenue Québec

From what I understand, that is as of just now, the amount of payments proposed will be based on income (expected) as per your 2019 tax returns. So get ready for the deluge folks!

NAEA sent out an e-mail yesterday with a link to the CARES bill and a summary thereof. The summary says it will be based on 2018 income.

2018 makes more sense!

Can anyone confirm if the 2019 Tax Filing Deadline was extend 3 months to July 15th, 2020?

That is what Mnuchin just said in a news conference. Haven’t seen anything official yet.

That is what Mnuchin just said in a news conference. Haven’t seen anything official yet.

He posted it on Twitter as well. Details to follow I’m sure.

They have. Notice 2020-18.

I am hoping the rest of the states that have not yet announced affirmatively that they have extended BOTH Filing deadline AND Payment deadline DO soon by this week!