The IRS and state governments have announced various tax relief programs due to the coronavirus. We’ll do our best to keep this page updated with the most up to date information.

The IRS’s Coronavirus Tax Relief Announcements

As of today (March 18, 2020), the deadline to file your 2019 tax return is April 15, 2020. There’s a ton of misunderstanding and misinformation regarding the deadline. Many news organizations are reporting that the IRS gave a 90-day extension to file your taxes. But make no mistake about it – the deadline to file your taxes is still April 15.

However, on March 17, 2020, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced an extension for the time to pay your taxes, but again, there is no automatic extension to file your taxes. Secretary Mnuchin stated, “any American has the right to extend their taxes,” but did not say an extension was automatic. If you want more time to file your taxes, you’ll still need to file an extension, which would give individuals until October 15 to file.

Secretary Mnuchin said this on extending the time to pay:

[Y]ou can defer up to $1 million as an individual — and the reason why we are doing $1 million is because that covers lots of pass-throughs and small businesses — and $10 million to corporations, interest-free and penalty-free for 90 days. All you have to do is file your taxes, you’ll automatically not get charged interest and penalties[.]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the only way to get more time to file your individual tax return is to apply for an extension.

What happens if you file a valid extension? Is payment due April 15 or are you granted an additional 90-days to pay just by filing the extension? This is unclear. Traditionally, payment of taxes would still be due April 15, even if you filed an extension of time to file. There’s been no official word from the IRS on whether filing an extension would give you an additional 90 days.

But best practice is to assume you do not get the 90 days, and that payment is still due April 15, even if you file a valid extension.

The only sure-fire way to get an extension of time to pay is to file your tax return by April 15. I expect clarification by the IRS shortly and will update this page once that happens.

No Tax Relief from New Jersey

As of March 18, 2020, there’s been no official announcement from the state of New Jersey. As such, the deadline to file and pay your taxes is still April 15. If you’ll be utilizing the IRS’s 90-day grace period to pay your 2019 taxes, make sure you still pay your NJ taxes by April 15.

Other IRS Tax Relief for the Coronavirus

On March 11, 2020, the IRS announced that high-deductible health plans can pay for coronavirus-related testing and treatment. The IRS said that health plans that otherwise qualify as HDHPs will not lose that status merely because they cover the cost of testing for or treatment of COVID-19 before plan deductibles have been met.

Questions About Coronavirus Tax Relief? Contact Us Today

If you have questions about any of the recent IRS changes, contact us today by calling 201-381-4472 or emailing me at brad@paladinilaw.com.

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