With the recent passing of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), a decision was made by the IRS to extend the 2020 filing tax deadline only for individuals to May 17, 2021. This provides an extension of time to pay 2020 income taxes, otherwise due on April 15, 2021. This extension does not apply to individual states at this time.
This relief does not apply to estimated tax payments that are due on April 15, 2021. These payments are still due on April 15th. Taxes must be paid as taxpayers earn or receive income during the year, either through withholding or estimated tax payments.
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 17th deadline can request an extension of time to file until Oct. 15th.
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.
More details on this update can be found in the IRS Newswire, Issue IR-2021-59.
