April 15 federal tax filing deadline moved to July 15

Today, March 20th, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced that the federal tax filing deadline would be moved from April 15th to July 15th.

Earlier this week on March 17, he had announced that the payment deadline would be moved from April 15^th to July 15^th for individuals, estates and trusts owing payments up to $1 million and for corporations owing up to $10 million of income taxes. The IRS since released Notice 2020-17 providing guidance on the deferral of tax payments until July 15th.

However, with this new announcement, all individuals, estates, trusts and businesses can also defer filing income tax returns until July 15^th.

The extension will be automatic, with no action required by the taxpayer.

Taxpayers are still allowed to file a “normal” extension by April 15th, which extends the filing deadline to October 15th, and still allows for the deferral of tax payments to July 15^th. 

Mnuchin also encouraged those who expect to have tax refunds to file sooner.

Note that the extension only applies to federal income taxes. States will need to issue their own guidance if they plan on extending return and payment due dates as well. So far, a limited number of states have extended their filing and payment deadlines.

We encourage clients to continue to send us their tax information. Wipfli will continue to work on returns as we receive information.

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