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.
Joe Peiffer is the founder of the national law firm Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise.
He has represented thousands of investors, is a published author, and is currently the president of PIABA, a nonprofit international bar association whose members represent investors in disputes with the securities industry.
Benjamin Edwards is a professor of law at the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
He serves as the current chair for the Section on Securities Regulation for the Association of American Law Schools. His writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Bloomberg and The Daily Beast.
Souma Basu is a Principal in the Capco US Insurance Practice. He has extensive experience advising financial services and insurance company clients on assessing business and operations challenges, developing strategies, and delivering results. Empowering digital transformation in insurance, he has helped develop leading industry solutions and tools to address underwriting, claims, and customer-centric solutions critical to personal and commercial insurers.
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.
