Treasury Announces Delay in Tax-Payment Deadline

Published on March 18, 2020

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday announced a measure of relief in response to the emerging challenges taxpayers are facing due to the coronavirus (COVID-19). Individuals and corporations can delay their tax payments for up to 90 days, pushing the new payment deadline to July 15th. Corporations will be able to defer up to $10 million in payments, while individual taxpayers will be able to defer up to $1 million in payments. The IRS will not charge interest or penalties on underpayment of federal income taxes payments originally due on April 15, 2020 as long as payments are made by July 15, 2020. Payments not made by the extended due date of July 15, 2020 will incur penalties and interest. 

This delay applies to all federal income tax payments due on April 15, 2020, including the first quarter estimated tax payment for 2020. The filing deadline remains unchanged, and the Treasury is still encouraging people to file as early as possible to speed up the processing of refunds, where applicable.

If you have any questions about this, contact the Johnson Lambert team.

This communication is intended to provide general information on legislative COVID-19 relief measures as of the date of this communication and may reference information from reputable sources. Although our firm has made every reasonable effort to ensure that the information provided is accurate, we make no warranties, expressed or implied, on the information provided. As legislative efforts are still ongoing, we expect that there may be additional guidance and clarification from regulators that may modify some of the provisions in this communication. Some of those modifications may be significant. As such, be aware that this is not a comprehensive analysis of the subject matter covered and is not intended to provide specific recommendations to you or your business with respect to the matters addressed.