Issue Number: IR-2021–59

IR-2021–59: Tax Day for individuals extended to May 17: Treasury, IRS extend filing and payment deadline

IR-2021–59, March 17, 2021   WASHINGTON — The Trea­sury Depart­ment and Inter­nal Rev­enue Ser­vice announced today that the fed­er­al income tax fil­ing due date for indi­vid­u­als for the 2020 tax year will be auto­mat­i­cal­ly extend­ed from April 15, 2021, to May 17, 2021. The IRS will be pro­vid­ing for­mal guid­ance in the com­ing days.   “This con­tin­ues to be a tough time for many peo­ple, and the IRS wants to con­tin­ue to do every­thing pos­si­ble to help tax­pay­ers nav­i­gate the unusu­al cir­cum­stances relat­ed to the pan­dem­ic, while also work­ing on impor­tant tax admin­is­tra­tion respon­si­bil­i­ties,” said IRS Com­mis­sion­er Chuck Ret­tig. “Even with the new dead­line, we urge tax­pay­ers to con­sid­er fil­ing as soon as pos­si­ble, espe­cial­ly those who are owed refunds. Fil­ing elec­tron­i­cal­ly with direct deposit is the quick­est way to get refunds, and it can help some tax­pay­ers more quick­ly receive any remain­ing stim­u­lus pay­ments they may be enti­tled to.”   Indi­vid­ual tax­pay­ers can also post­pone fed­er­al income tax pay­ments for the 2020 tax year due on April 15, 2021, to May 17, 2021, with­out penal­ties and inter­est, regard­less of the amount owed. This post­pone­ment applies to indi­vid­ual tax­pay­ers, includ­ing indi­vid­u­als who pay self-employ­ment tax. Penal­ties, inter­est and addi­tions to tax will begin to accrue on any remain­ing unpaid bal­ances as of May 17, 2021. Indi­vid­ual tax­pay­ers will auto­mat­i­cal­ly avoid inter­est and penal­ties on the tax­es paid by May 17.   Indi­vid­ual tax­pay­ers do not need to file any forms or call the IRS to qual­i­fy for this auto­mat­ic fed­er­al tax fil­ing and pay­ment relief. Indi­vid­ual tax­pay­ers who need addi­tion­al time to file beyond the May 17 dead­line can request a fil­ing exten­sion until Oct. 15 by fil­ing Form 4868 through their tax pro­fes­sion­al, tax soft­ware or using the Free File link on IRS​.gov. Fil­ing Form 4868 gives tax­pay­ers until Oct. 15 to file their 2020 tax return but does not grant an exten­sion of time to pay tax­es due. Tax­pay­ers should pay their fed­er­al income tax due by May 17, 2021, to avoid inter­est and penal­ties.   The IRS urges tax­pay­ers who are due a refund to file as soon as pos­si­ble. Most tax refunds asso­ci­at­ed with e‑filed returns are issued with­in 21 days.   This relief does not apply to esti­mat­ed tax pay­ments that are due on April 15, 2021. These pay­ments are still due on April 15. Tax­es must be paid as tax­pay­ers earn or receive income dur­ing the year, either through with­hold­ing or esti­mat­ed tax pay­ments. In gen­er­al, esti­mat­ed tax pay­ments are made quar­ter­ly to the IRS by peo­ple whose income isn’t sub­ject to income tax with­hold­ing, includ­ing self-employ­ment income, inter­est, div­i­dends, alimo­ny or rental income. Most tax­pay­ers auto­mat­i­cal­ly have their tax­es with­held from their pay­checks and sub­mit­ted to the IRS by their employ­er.   State tax returns The fed­er­al tax fil­ing dead­line post­pone­ment to May 17, 2021, only applies to indi­vid­ual fed­er­al income returns and tax (includ­ing tax on self-employ­ment income) pay­ments oth­er­wise due April 15, 2021, not state tax pay­ments or deposits or pay­ments of any oth­er type of fed­er­al tax. Tax­pay­ers also will need to file income tax returns in 42 states plus the Dis­trict of Colum­bia. State fil­ing and pay­ment dead­lines vary and are not always the same as the fed­er­al fil­ing dead­line. The IRS urges tax­pay­ers to check with their state tax agen­cies for those details.   Win­ter storm dis­as­ter relief for Louisiana, Okla­homa and Texas Ear­li­er this year, fol­low­ing the dis­as­ter dec­la­ra­tions issued by the Fed­er­al Emer­gency Man­age­ment Agency (FEMA),  the IRS announced relief for vic­tims of the Feb­ru­ary win­ter storms in Texas, Okla­homa and Louisiana. These states have until June 15, 2021, to file var­i­ous indi­vid­ual and busi­ness tax returns and make tax pay­ments. This exten­sion to May 17 does not affect the June dead­line.  For more infor­ma­tion about this dis­as­ter relief, vis­it the dis­as­ter relief page on IRS​.gov. Read Full Arti­cle