Today the US government announced tax relief due to COVID-19 including:
- a 90-day extension on year-end tax payments for 2019, otherwise due on April 15 2020.
- The automatic waiver of interest and penalties upon receipt of these otherwise late payments.
Individuals with up to US$1m and corporations with up to US$10m in tax due on April 15 2020 are eligible.
The IRS is also considering cutting Social Security and Medicare tax rates as people in the US grapple with the economic effects of this virus.
No changes to filing dates have been announced. Accordingly, 15 April 2020 or 15 June 2020 (the latter date being for US persons residing outside the US as of 15 April 2020) remain the filing dates for 2019 US individual income tax returns, unless an extension of time to file is accepted by the IRS to extend the due date to 15 October 2020.
Some states, including California, Maryland and Connecticut are following suit, and we anticipate that more states will also follow the federal 90-day payment extension.