The IRS announced on Thursday that nearly 300 filing, payment and administrative deadlines are being pushed back amid the spread of COVID-19. This is in conjunction with a previously announced guidance that called for the general tax deadline for Americans to be pushed back from April 15 by three months.
Among the guidelines released Thursday, tax returns and payments for tax-exempt organizations, fiscal year businesses and estate taxes will be pushed back to July 15.
This comes as the IRS said that "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 9 timely administer the Code. As a result, IRS employees will require additional time to perform time-sensitive actions."
The IRS said that this relief is automatic ant that affected taxpayers do not have to call the IRS or file any extension forms, or send letters or other documents to receive this relief. Those who need additional time to file may choose to file the appropriate extension form by July 15, 2020, to obtain an extension to file their return, but the extension date may not go beyond the original statutory or regulatory extension date, the IRS said.
“In an effort to relieve taxpayers during these challenging times, Treasury and the IRS are extending tax deadlines for fiscal year businesses, tax-exempt organizations and more than 270 other tax-related deadlines,” said Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday.
More information from the IRS is available here.