Current Federal Tax Developments

View Original

IRS Greatly Expands List of Returns, Payments and Actions That Can Be Delayed Until July 15

The IRS has again expanded due date relief in Notice 2020-23,[1] explicitly providing relief for forms that are filed with the Form 1040 (such as Schedule H) and more general relief for certain time sensitive acts that occur between April 1, 2020 and July 15, 2020.

The Notice provides the following relief:

The Secretary of the Treasury has determined that any person (as defined in section 7701(a)(1) of the Code) with a Federal taxpayment obligation specified in this section III.A (Specified Payment), or a Federal tax return or other form filing obligation specified in this section III.A (Specified Form), which is due to be performed(originally or pursuant to a valid extension) on or after April1, 2020,and before July 15, 2020,is affected by the COVID-19 emergency for purposes of the relief described in this section III (Affected Taxpayer).

The list of forms and payments covered are:

  • Individual income tax payments and return filings on Form 1040,U.S. Individual Income Tax Return,1040-SR,U.S. Tax Return for Seniors,1040-NR,U.S. Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return, 1040-NR-EZ, U.S. Income Tax Return for Certain Nonresident Aliens With No Dependents, 1040-PR, Self-Employment Tax Return -Puerto Rico, and 1040-SS,U.S. Self-Employment Tax Return (Including the Additional Child Tax Credit for Bona Fide Residents of Puerto Rico);

  • Calendar year or fiscal year corporate income tax payments and return filings on Form 1120, U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return, 1120-C, U.S. Income Tax Return for Cooperative Associations, 1120-F, U.S. Income Tax Return of a Foreign Corporation, 1120-FSC, U.S. Income Tax Return of a Foreign Sales Corporation, 1120-H, U.S. Income Tax Return for Homeowners Associations, 1120-L, U.S. Life Insurance Company Income Tax Return, 1120-ND, Return for Nuclear Decommissioning Funds and Certain Related Persons, 1120-PC, U.S. Property and Casualty Insurance Company Income Tax Return, 1120-POL, U.S. Income Tax Return for Certain Political Organizations, 1120-REIT, U.S. Income Tax Return for Real Estate Investment Trusts, 1120-RIC, U.S. Income Tax Return for Regulated Investment Companies, 1120-S, U.S. Income Tax Return for an S Corporation, and 1120-SF,U.S. Income Tax Return for Settlement Funds (Under Section 468B);

  • 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, 1041-N, U.S. Income Tax Return for Electing Alaska Native Settlement Trusts, and 1041-QFT, U.S. Income Tax Return for Qualified Funeral Trusts;

  • Estate and generation-skipping transfer tax payments and return filings on Form 706, United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return,  706-NA, United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return, 706-A, United States Additional Estate Tax Return, 706-QDT, U.S. Estate Tax Return for Qualified Domestic Trusts, 706-GS(T), Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Return for Terminations, 706-GS(D), Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Return for Distributions, and 706-GS(D-1), Notification of Distribution from a Generation-Skipping Trust (including the due date for providing such form to a beneficiary);

  • Form 706, United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return, filed pursuant to Revenue Procedure 2017-34;

  • 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 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 sections 6166, 6161, or 6163 and annual recertification requirements under section 6166of 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);

  • 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 Internal Revenue Code; and

  • Quarterly estimated income tax payments calculated on or submitted with Form 990-W, Estimated Tax on Unrelated Business Taxable Income for Tax-Exempt Organizations, 1040-ES,Estimated Tax for Individuals,1040-ES (NR), U.S. Estimated Tax for Nonresident Alien Individuals, 1040-ES (PR), Estimated Federal Tax on Self Employment Income and on Household Employees (Residents of Puerto Rico), 1041-ES, Estimated Income Tax for Estates and Trusts, and 1120-W, Estimated Tax for Corporations.

The ruling also adds a number of time sensitive acts to the list of items that will be timely if performed by July 15, 2020.  As the Notice states:

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 April1, 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),[2]

The Notice also deals with those in the middle of attempting to reinvest 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.

As well, the Notice provides the relief extends to items filed as attachments to the forms noted above:

This relief includes not just the filing of Specified Forms, but also all schedules, returns, and other forms that are filed as attachments to Specified Forms or are required to be filed by the due date of Specified Forms, including, for example, Schedule H and Schedule SE, as well as Forms 3520, 5471, 5472, 8621, 8858, 8865, and 8938.  This relief also includes any installment payments under section 965(h) due on or after April1, 2020,and before July 15, 2020.Finally, elections that are made or required to be made on a timely filed Specified Form (or attachment to a Specified Form) shall be timely made if filed on such Specified Form or attachment, as appropriate, on or before July 15, 2020


[1] Notice 2020-23, April 9, 2020, https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-20-23.pdf, retrieved April 9, 2020

[2] Revenue Procedure 2018-58, https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-18-58.pdf, retrieved April 9, 2020