Missed Yesterday's Deadline? Just "COVID-19" It.
By Anthony P. Daddino on September 16, 2020
-
Anthony P. Daddino
View Bio
While the IRS has refused any formal program for late penalty relief, informally the IRS is embracing the virtue of forgiveness, with the magic word being “COVID-19.”
In June 2020, the AICPA penned a letter to Treasury and IRS, urging the IRS to “automatically waive failure to file and failure to pay penalties” as a result of challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The IRS never embraced the AICPA’s suggestion, although discussions apparently continued with the AICPA recently reporting some good news: a commitment by the IRS to “remain flexible in granting penalty relief where taxpayers can demonstrate good faith efforts in filing their returns.” While hardly a guarantee of penalty relief, the news is nonetheless welcomed, especially by those who had an unfortunate discovery this morning involving yesterday’s deadline.
According to the AICPA, tax professionals should write “COVID-19” on an attachment to the return and describe why the deadline was missed. And if possible, they should also write “COVID-19” at the top of the return. And of course if all else fails, there is always your friendly neighborhood tax attorney.
If you have any questions about this blog post or any other tax-related matter, please do not hesitate to contact me at (214)749-2464 or adaddino@meadowscollier.com.
In June 2020, the AICPA penned a letter to Treasury and IRS, urging the IRS to “automatically waive failure to file and failure to pay penalties” as a result of challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The IRS never embraced the AICPA’s suggestion, although discussions apparently continued with the AICPA recently reporting some good news: a commitment by the IRS to “remain flexible in granting penalty relief where taxpayers can demonstrate good faith efforts in filing their returns.” While hardly a guarantee of penalty relief, the news is nonetheless welcomed, especially by those who had an unfortunate discovery this morning involving yesterday’s deadline.
According to the AICPA, tax professionals should write “COVID-19” on an attachment to the return and describe why the deadline was missed. And if possible, they should also write “COVID-19” at the top of the return. And of course if all else fails, there is always your friendly neighborhood tax attorney.
If you have any questions about this blog post or any other tax-related matter, please do not hesitate to contact me at (214)749-2464 or adaddino@meadowscollier.com.
