In response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and the National Emergency declaration, the IRS and U.S. Treasury moved the deadline for filing 2019 federal tax returns and paying any tax due from April 15 to July 15, 2020. The deadline change allows taxpayers to defer paying the balance due on their 2019 taxes until July 15, without incurring penalties or interest charges.
This deadline extension is automatically granted to all U.S. taxpayers, including individuals (both employees and self-employed), corporations, small businesses, and estates and trusts. You do not need to file any forms or call the IRS to receive this automatic extension.
However, the IRS urges all taxpayers who may be owed a 2019 federal tax refund to file their returns as soon as possible so that the refund can be issued. Filing electronically and requesting direct deposit is the fastest way to get your refund. In spite of some service reductions due to the coronavirus, the IRS is still able to issue most refunds within 21 days of receiving an electronic filing.
If you cannot file your return by the July 15 deadline, you may request additional time by filing Form 4868 (Form 7004 for businesses). Submitting this request will generally result in an automatic filing extension until October 15. Note, however, that this extension applies only to filing returns, not to making payments. Therefore, to avoid interest charges and/or penalties, you should estimate the amount of tax you owe and pay that amount by July 15 if at all possible.
In addition to the April 15 2019 filing and payment deadline, other IRS deadlines between April 1 and July 15 were extended to July 15, 2020. The deadlines for both first- and second-quarter estimated tax payments (ordinarily April 15 and June 15) were moved to July 15. If you pay estimated taxes, you may make these two payments at any time up until July 15 without penalty.
The deadline extension from April 15 to July 15 also applies to filing for unclaimed federal tax refunds from 2016.
If you have not yet made an appointment to speak about filing your taxes, you should do so right away.