IRS postpones deadline for gift and GST taxes due to coronavirus

The Internal Revenue Service is postponing the date for filing gift tax and generation-skipping transfer tax returns and making payments until July 15 because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The Internal Revenue Service is postponing the date for filing gift tax and generation-skipping transfer tax returns and making payments until July 15, 2020, because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The IRS issued Notice 2020-20 on Friday, extending the relief it provided earlier this month on the tax-filing and payment dates for most other types of tax returns. The IRS also said the associated interest, additions to tax, and penalties for late filing or late payment will be suspended for the gift tax and generation-skipping transfer tax until July 15.

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Dror Liwer

Dror Liwer is the founder and chief information security officer of Coronet, an award-winning cloud security company that helps mid-sized and small businesses protect cloud apps from unauthorized access, data theft and malware/ransomware for free.

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Marilyn Schlein Kramer is senior vice president of customer experience at HDMS, an analytics platform company. You can reach her at mkramer@hdms.com.

John Samuel, who joined CGS as its global chief information officer in 2016, was promoted to executive vice president in 2018, leading the company’s digital transformation to support its future expansion plans. With more than 20 years of progressive technology operations experience, he leads the global CGS technology teams, responsible for shaping the corporate digital strategy and overseeing IT initiatives, cybersecurity and implementation of productivity and process improvement tools.

The relief is automatic and applies to any amounts due related to these types of returns. There’s no requirement to file for an extension and the three-month period between the original due date of April 15 and the new deadline of July 15 will be disregarded in terms of any interest, penalties or extra taxes for those who fail to file a Form 709 United States Gift and Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Return by April 15.

Groups of tax and accounting professionals such as the American Institute of CPAs, the National Society of Accountants and the National Conference of CPA Practitioners have been pressing the IRS to provide additional forms of tax relief beyond the initial relief granted for tax payments from coronavirus victims.

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The IRS headquarters building in Washington, D.C.
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