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.
Alasdair Milton is a managing director in KPMG's healthcare and life sciences strategy practice with over 20 years of experience. He leads the precision medicine offering, with a particular focus in cell and gene therapies. As a trained cancer biologist, he helps clients solve complex business problems that require deep scientific and technical knowledge, and has worked across a multitude of therapeutic areas.
Christine Kachinsky is the U.S. life sciences tax industry leader and a partner at KPMG. She leads teams providing tax and advisory services to several global pharmaceutical companies and serves as one of the firm's subject matter experts with respect to R&D incentives and global incentives for energy and sustainability investments in the form of grants, investment tax and/or other tax credits and deductions.
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.
