The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is planning to delay the April 15 tax filing deadline until mid-May, giving taxpayers and tax practitioners more time to prepare to file returns, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
The postponed date had not yet been officially announced, but a final deadline is being discussed, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
BREAKING: The Internal Revenue Service is planning to delay the April 15 tax filing deadline by about one month https://t.co/AwiPlAbIA6
— Bloomberg (@business) March 17, 2021
In 2020, the tax filing deadline was postponed from the usual date to July 15 due to COVID-19. Accountants and members of Congress have pushed to postpone the filing date in 2021 as well due to continued challenges amid the pandemic. (RELATED: Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin Confirms Tax Filing Deadline Delayed Until July — ‘Without Interest Or Penalties’)
The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) urged the IRS to delay the filing season, citing the pressure households across the country are facing and the IRS’s own mail processing backlog, CPA Practice Advisor reported Wednesday.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has created immeasurable hardship for millions of taxpayers and tax practitioners, making it incredibly difficult for them to meet the April 15th filing and payment deadline. The IRS must not overlook the impact the pandemic has had on this year’s tax filing season,” the AICPA’s statement read.
“In the midst of a global pandemic, parents are straining to balance remote work with educating their children at home and businesses are struggling to remain open,” the statement continued.
Although taxpayers who need more time can file for an extension, the process can add additional paperwork burdens, the statement said.
Recent tax changes include last-minute amendments to the $1.9 trillion stimulus package passed in March, which gives taxpayers a new exemption on up to $10,200 of jobless benefits, Bloomberg reported.
People may also claim any missing stimulus checks through an individual tax return, which creates an additional complication. The IRS began sending out $1,400 stimulus payments to qualifying individuals in mid-March.
The IRS itself also has a backlog of millions of individual and business returns that have not been processed from last year. The agency is processing nearly 7 million returns submitted last year for 2019, partly because of 2020’s extended filing deadline, WDAF reported.