On Thursday, April 9, the IRS announced, in Notice 2020-23 (the “Notice”), that it was providing expanded filing and tax payment relief.  In general, the IRS Notice provides all taxpayers with a filing or payment deadline falling on or after April 1, 2020, and before July 15, 2020, until July 15, 2020, to file returns and make payments without penalties or interest. This deferment applies to individuals, trusts, estates, corporations, and other non-corporate tax filers, including fiscal-year filers.

The Notice specifically extends the payment and filing deadlines for the following tax forms:

• Individual income tax payments and return filings on Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, and other forms in the 1040 series (1040, 1040-SR, 1040-NR, 1040-NR-EZ, 1040-PR, and 1040-SS);
• Calendar year or fiscal year corporate income tax payments and return filings on Form 1120, U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return, and other forms in the 1120 series (1120, 1120-C, 1120-F, 1120-FSC, 1120-H, 1120-L, 1120-ND, 1120-PC, 1120-POL, 1120-REIT, 1120-RIC, 1120-S, and 1120-SF);
• Calendar year or fiscal year partnership return filings on Form 1065, U.S. Return of Partnership Income, and Form 1066, U.S. Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit (REMIC) Income Tax Return;
• Estate and trust income tax payments and return filings on Form 1041, U.S. Income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts, and other forms in the 1041 series (1041, 1041-N, and 1041-QFT);
• Estate and generation-skipping transfer tax payments and return filings on Form 706, United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return, and other forms in the 706 series (706, 706-NA, 706-A, 706-QDT, 706-GS(T), 706-GS(D), and 706-GS(D-1));
• Form 8971, Information Regarding Beneficiaries Acquiring Property from a Decedent, and any supplemental Form 8971, including all requirements contained in section 6035(a) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”);
• Gift and generation-skipping transfer tax payments and return filings on Form 709, United States Gift (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return, that are due on the date an estate is required to file Form 706 or Form 706-NA;
• Estate tax payments of principal or interest due as a result of an election made under section 6166, 6161, or 6163 and annual recertification requirements under section 6166 of the Code;
• Exempt organization business income tax and other payments and return filings on Form 990-T, Exempt Organization Business Income Tax Return (and Proxy Tax Under section 6033(e) of the Code); and
• Excise tax payments on investment income and return filings on Form 990-PF, Return of Private Foundation or Section 4947(a)(1) Trust Treated as Private Foundation, and excise tax payments and return filings on Form 4720, Return of Certain Excise Taxes under Chapters 41 and 42 of the Code.

The Notice also extends the due date of quarterly estimated tax payments due on or after April 1, 2020, and before July 15, 2020 to July 15, 2020, without penalty. Previously, the relief only applied to the April 15, 2020 estimated payment. Furthermore, the Notice provides that installment payments of the Section 965 transition tax due on or after April 1, 2020, and before July 15, 2020, are postponed to July 15, 2020

In addition, the Notice provides that “Specified Time-Sensitive Actions” occurring from April 1, 2020, and before July 15, 2020 are also extended to July 15, 2020. The Notice states that “the Secretary of the Treasury has also determined that any person performing a time-sensitive action listed in either §301.7508A-1(c)(1)(iv) –(vi) of the Procedure and Administration Regulations or Revenue Procedure 2018-58, 2018-50 IRB 990; (December 10, 2018), which is due to be performed on or after April 1, 2020, and before July 15, 2020 (Specified Time-Sensitive Action), is an Affected Taxpayer.” Such acts include:

• Filing a petition with the Tax Court, or for review of a decision rendered by the Tax Court;
• Filing a claim for credit or refund of any tax;
• Bringing suit upon a claim for credit or refund of any tax; and
• The long list of items found in Revenue Procedure 2018-58 (the document is 139 pages long and includes such items as Form 990 and Form 5227).

The Notice 2020-23 provides the following specific guidance for taxpayers who are attempting to reinvest capital gain funds in a Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund:

• “For purposes of this notice, the term Specified Time-Sensitive Action also includes an investment at the election of a taxpayer due to be made during the 180-day period described in section 1400Z-2(a)(1)(A) of the Code.”

Moreover, the Notice also gives the IRS additional time to perform certain time-sensitive acts. The IRS is giving itself an extra 30 days to perform these time-sensitive acts if the last date for performance is on or after April 6, 2020, and before July 15, 2020. This applies to taxpayers who are currently under examination, whose cases are with the Independent Office of Appeals, and who submit amended returns or submit payments with respect to a tax for which the assessment period would expire on or after April 6, 2020, and before July 15, 2020.

Lastly, the IRS announced that taxpayers who need additional time to file beyond the July 15 deadline can request an extension to October 15, 2020. However, an extension to file is not an extension to pay any taxes owed. Taxpayers requesting additional time to file should estimate their tax liability and pay any taxes owed by the July 15, 2020 deadline to avoid additional interest and penalties.

This blog will be updated when more information is available.