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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Angie Villamaria is the director of solution consulting for Welltok, where she works with clients to understand their objectives and align solutions that optimize consumer health by connecting them to the right programs and resources in a personalized way. Angie has over 25 years of experience working in the public health, benefits, employee wellbeing, health plan design and healthcare delivery sectors.

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Ines Polonius is CEO of Communities Unlimited Inc., a CDFI and not-for-profit organization driving community economic development through the building of entrepreneurial ecosystems, direct assistance and capital to micro-enterprises, small businesses and infrastructure improvements in persistently poor rural places across Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. In 1998, Polonius founded alt.Consulting and became its executive director in 2003.alt.Consulting was dedicated to starting, growing, transitioning and turning around micro-enterprises and small businesses in the Arkansas Delta until a successful merger with Community Resource Group in 2014 formed Communities Unlimited Inc.

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Chrystel Cornelius is the executive director of First Nations Oweesta Corp., a National Native CDFI intermediary lender servicing the Native CDFI industry for the last 20 years. Cornelius has over 20 years’ experience working in Native and rural communities focusing on capitalization structures and community development projects.

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.
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg