Individual Tax Deadline Extended to May 17, 2021
Individual Tax Deadline Extended: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Treasury Department announced today the 2020 tax year federal income tax filing due date for individuals has been automatically extended from April 15, 2021 to May 17, 2021. Just like last year, taxpayers do not need to file additional forms for the May 17, 2021 deadline. Formal guidance will be coming from the IRS soon.
Federal Returns
Although the IRS has extended the deadline, they urge taxpayers to file as soon as possible. Especially if taxpayers are expecting a refund. E-filed returns that are refunds associated with them are usually distributed within 21 days.
2020 tax year federal income tax payments are also postponed until May 17, 2021 without penalties and interest. This applies to individuals and individual taxpayers who pay self-employment tax. Penalties, interest and additions to tax will accrue on any unpaid balances as of May 17, 2021. But taxpayers can avoid this if they pay their federal balances by this date.
If you need additional time to file your taxes beyond May 15th,. You can file an extension to the October 15th deadline by filing Form 4868. It should be noted that the October 15th extension does not grant an extension to pay due taxes. You should pay any tax due by May 17, 2021 to avoid penalties and interest.
The extended May 17th deadline does not apply to estimated tax payments. These are still due on April 15, 2021. Usually, estimated tax payments are made in quarterly instalments to the IRS by taxpayers whose income isn’t subject to income tax withholding. This includes interest, dividends, self-employment, rental, or alimony income. The majority of taxpayers have their taxes automatically withheld from their paychecks and their employer submits this to the IRS.
State Returns
The federal May 17, 2021 extension only applies to federal income returns and tax payments (including self-employment tax), not to state tax payments or any other type of federal tax payments. Taxpayers in 42 states and the District of Columbia will still need to file their state returns, and the filing and tax payment deadlines vary by each state and are not always the same as the federal deadline. The IRS highly encourages taxpayers to verify with their state tax agency for filing deadline details.
Disaster Relief for Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma
After the disaster declarations issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency earlier this year in Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma, the IRS announced that these states will have a special relief deadline of June 15, 2021. Taxpayers in these states will not be affected by the May 17th deadline and will have until June 15th to file various individual and business tax returns and to make tax payments.
You can contact us for more information on the new deadlines, or you can visit the disaster relief page on IRS.gov.
