In guidance published March 18, 2020 (Notice 2020-17), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) postponed the payment deadline from April 15, 2020, until July 15, 2020, for federal income tax payments (including payments of tax on self-employment income) for the 2019 tax year and for federal estimated income tax payments (including payments of tax on self-employment income) for the 2020 tax year. Corporate taxpayers may delay up to $10 million in federal income tax payments. All other taxpayers (regardless of filing status) with a federal income tax liability may delay up to $1 million in federal income tax payments. Interest, penalties and additions to tax with respect to such postponed federal income tax payments will not begin to accrue until July 16, 2020.

On March 20, 2020, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced that the IRS will also be postponing the federal income tax filing deadline for the 2019 tax year from April 15, 2020, to July 15, 2020, and that all taxpayers and businesses will have this additional time to file without interest or penalties. Taxpayers may be able to get a further extension with a Form 4868, which in normal years gives taxpayers until October 15 to file a federal income tax return. It was not immediately clear how the delay in the filing deadline would change the extension process. As of this writing, the IRS has yet to release formal guidance regarding this filing deadline delay.