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.
Emily Wilson is a Director at Alpha FMC, a leading global consultancy to the asset and wealth management industry. She advises leading asset and wealth management firms on investment strategy, portfolio construction, and operational transformation. Prior to joining Alpha, Emily spent over 16 years at Wellington Management, where she served as Managing Director overseeing investment platform technology, data strategy, and business management across more than $1 trillion in assets.
Mitch Cohen is the founder of ClearLine, a crisis communications readiness and response platform serving mid-market organizations and enterprises that need to govern crisis exposure across portfolios, policyholder books, and client rosters.
Sean Woodward is a managing director at VRC specializing in business enterprise valuations, purchase price allocations (ASC 805), impairment analyses (ASC 350), intellectual property valuations, contingent consideration valuations, and the valuation of equity (IRC 409A and ASC 718) for financial and tax reporting purposes.
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.
