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.

CORONAVIRUS IMPACT: ADDITIONAL COVERAGE
Steve Lockshin, founder and chair of Vanilla

Steve Lockshin, an entrepreneur and financial advisor, is a principal of AdvicePeriod and a co-founder of estate planning software firm Vanilla.

Prior to co-founding AdvicePeriod, he was chairman of Convergent Wealth Advisors, a company he founded in 1994. Lockshin is widely known for his contemporary approach to wealth advisory as well as his estate-planning knowledge and is a frequent speaker on both topics. He memorialized his concerns about conflicts of interest in the industry in his guide for consumers, "Get Wise to Your Advisor."

Janthana Kaenprakhamroy

Janthana Kaenprakhamroy, the author of Navigating Insurtech and CEO of Tapoly. Forbes listed her as number 6 among the Top 100 Women Founders to watch and recognized her as one of the Top Ten Insurtech Female Influencers by The Insurance Institute. Recently, she was named one of the Most Influential Women in Tech 2023 and received the Innovator of the Year award at the UK FinTech Awards 2023. Furthermore, she was honoured as the winner of the Insurance Leader of the Year by the Women In Finance Awards 2021. Prior to her current roles, she served as a chartered accountant and internal audit director at top-tier investment banks.

Byron Slosar is the Founder & CEO of hellohive, a diversity recruitment and resume technology company. He previously spent 15 years in undergraduate career development and recruiting. He lives in NYC with his husband and son.

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.

IRS-Building-light
The IRS headquarters building in Washington, D.C.
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg