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
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Clodagh Swennumson

Director, Product Management, Fiserv

A medical worker wearing protective gear walks by a Fire Department of New York (FDNY) ambulance outside the emergency room at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx borough of New York, U.S., on Thursday, April 2, 2020. In four months, the new coronavirus infected more than 1 million people and killed more than 51,000. The U.S. accounts for a quarter of the cases. Photographer: David Dee Delgado/Bloomberg
Henry Montag
May 20, 2020 2:21 PM

Both pieces of legislation have caused sweeping changes to retirement planning and wealth management.

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Thomas D. Glascock, Esq., concentrates his legal practice in estate planning, business planning, exit strategy/succession and asset protection planning, and retirement planning. A member of the National Network of Estate Planning Attorneys, the National Association of Estate Planners, and the American, New York, and Nassau County Bar Associations, he is a frequent speaker at professionals events, has authored numerous professional articles, is designated as an Accredited Estate Planner by NAEP, and is admitted to practice law in New York, the District of Columbia and North Carolina.

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.

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The IRS headquarters building in Washington, D.C.
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