Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin tweeted on Friday that “Tax Day [is moving] from April 15 to July 15. All taxpayers and businesses will have this additional time to file and make payments without interest or penalties.” This updates a prior pronouncement that the payment due date was being extended to July 15 but tax returns still had to be filed by April 15. Secretary Mnuchin also “encourage[d] all taxpayers who may have tax refunds to file now to get your money.” The IRS followed with Notice 2020-18 that goes into more detail, including that there is no limit on the amount of payments that may be postponed (an announcement earlier in the week included limits), and that estimated income tax payments otherwise due April 15 would also be extended to July 15. Proposed legislation now under consideration may further extend the deadline for estimated payments of 2020 taxes. The legislation is also expected to contain other significant tax-related provisions on which we will report as soon as they are finalized.

Many states have already followed the lead of the federal government and have extended the time for filing returns and paying taxes, including California and, as announced at a press conference yesterday, New York. It is expected that many other states will follow suit.