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
Benjamin Littell of Stout

Benjamin Littell is a director at Stout. He has over 15 years of experience providing cost segregation, capitalization, and construction administration services to both public and private sector clients. Prior to joining Stout, he spent 10 years working in capitalization and cost segregation at Ernst & Young LLP and eight years working as an architect at Francis Cauffman Architects.

Paul Brody
Paul Brody

Paul Brody is Global Blockchain Leader for EY (Ernst & Young). Under his leadership, EY is established a global presence in the blockchain space with a particular focus on public blockchains, assurance, and business application development in the Ethereum ecosystem. He can be found on X at @pbrody.

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.
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