In these trying times, we could all use an extra grace period to get all of our affairs in order. Of course, there are those of us who wait until the last minute to get things done regardless of the times.
In either case, there’s a bit of good news on the horizon for people who are running late on getting their taxes filed: You got time.
According to AP News, the White House is doing something helpful for a change by pushing the tax filing deadline back three months. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made the announcement via Twitter on Friday writing, “we are moving Tax Day from April 15 to July 15. All taxpayers and businesses will have this additional time to file and make payments without interest or penalties.”
Purportedly, the idea is to provide those inconvenienced by the corona-crisis with a little extra leeway and the decision comes just a few days after Mnuchin announced that the White House will allow individuals and businesses more time to pay their 2019 tax bills by delaying the deadline, originally April 15, for 90 days.
President Donald Trump—who, again, probably doesn’t get much kinder than this—said in a White House briefing that he wants to give taxpayers more time and “hopefully by that time, people will be getting back to their lives.”
The Trump administration used the authority he gained by declaring a national emergency to institute the delay—not just to help citizens and businesses, of course, but to aid the U.S.economy in its time of need.
From the Associated Press:
The delay is available to people who owe $1 million or less and corporations that owe $10 million or less.
It is expected that many states will follow the lead of the federal government and delay their tax filing deadlines as well but that will be a state by state decision. .
Mnuchin had said the payment delay could provide $300 billion in temporary support to the economy by giving households and businesses the ability to use money they would have paid to the IRS as financial support to meet other needs during the economic emergency created by the efforts to contain the coronavirus.
The administration is working with Congress to develop a $1 trillion support package, and Mnuchin has said the IRS payment delay will add $300 billion to that effort.
So people who were already running behind on getting right with the IRS have a nice time extension to make things easier on them, but that doesn’t mean they get to go full Lauryn Hill-late in getting things together; particularly if they’re expecting a tax refund in a timely fashion. According to AP, the president urges anyone expecting refunds to file immediately in order to get their money quicker.