IRS sets end date for faxing refund claim forms amid coronavirus

The Internal Revenue Service is giving taxpayers until the end of the year before it stops its temporary procedures for faxing in Forms 1045 and 1139 for claiming tentative tax refunds.

The Internal Revenue Service is giving taxpayers until the end of the year before it stops its temporary procedures for faxing in Forms 1045 and 1139 for claiming tentative tax refunds, instead of mailing them, which it has allowed as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In April, the IRS began allowing taxpayers to file both forms by fax while many IRS employees worked remotely and were unable to process the mail.

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Sasha Leonhardt and Jon Langlois are partners and David McGee is a law clerk at Buckley LLP where they represent bank and nonbank mortgage originators, mortgage servicers, and secondary market purchasers in regulatory compliance, transactional, and enforcement matters.

Jeff is the Chief Innovation Officer at Transcarent, leading our efforts to design novel products and partnerships supporting our end-to-end Member support services. His interests span from furthering evidence-based health initiatives to innovative opportunities that deliver trusted, simple, seamless and connected solutions that drive value for our clients, Members and the providers themselves.

Prior to joining Transcarent, Jeff was the Health Strategy and Innovation Leader at Mercer Consulting. He was the Chief Medical Officer at One Medical, designing their innovative model of care and was responsible for the company’s B2B strategy. Jeff has also served as the Chief Medical Officer at RedBrick health where he was responsible for the company’s clinical programs (wellbeing, disease management, medication therapy management). Jeff led design, development and ongoing operations of the clinical and coaching programs as well as leading outcomes research for a range of population health programs.

Previously, he was a partner at Willis Towers Watson, where he was responsible for employer based health management programs, employer-provider contracting and onsite/near site clinics. He has operated a national group of 58 primary care medical practices, was Chief Medical Officer of an early ACO management firm and was an analyst at a hedge fund.

Jeff is a board-certified internist and rheumatologist and an Associate Professor at NYU School of Medicine.

Stephen Graziano is the director of channel sales at Flimp Communications. Prior to joining Flimp, Stephen spent most of his career working in the insurance consulting space, specifically in the voluntary insurance and benefits communication arenas. He is passionate about helping employees and employers have a better experience with their benefits through better understanding, higher engagement, and cost savings for both parties.

An individual, estate or trust can file Form 1045, Application for Tentative Refund, to apply for a quick tax refund resulting from the carryback of a net operating loss, the carryback of an unused general business credit, the carryback of a net section 1256 contracts loss, or an overpayment of tax due to a claim of right adjustment under section 1341(b)(1) of the Tax Code.

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IRS headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Corporations (other than S corps) can file Form 1139, Corporation Application for Tentative Refund, to apply for a quick refund of taxes from the carryback of a net operating loss (or a loss from operations of a life insurance company), the carryback of a net capital loss, the carryback of an unused general business credit, or an overpayment of tax from a claim of right adjustment under section 1341(b)(1).

The CARES Act, which Congress passed in March in response to the coronavirus crisis, included some provisions allowing companies to carryback their net operating losses for five years and file refund claims, giving them a quick capital infusion in the midst of the pandemic. Taxpayers with a net operating loss arising in a tax year starting in 2018, 2019 or 2020 can carry that loss back to each of the five preceding years unless the taxpayer elects to waive or reduce the carryback. The law also allows a carryback for a two-year period of NOLs for a tax year that began in 2017 and ended during 2018.

Another section of the CARES Act modifies the credit for prior-year minimum tax liability of corporations, including to accelerate the recovery of remaining minimum tax credits of a corporation for its 2019 taxable year from its 2021 taxable year and to allow a corporation to elect instead to recover 100 percent of any of its remaining minimum tax credits in its 2018 taxable year. In April, the IRS began allowing taxpayers on a temporary basis to fax in Forms 1045 and 1139 to expedite the tax refund process.

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However, on Wednesday, the IRS added an entry to its Frequently Asked Questions page describing the temporary procedures to say the procedure will end on Dec. 31, 2020. After midnight on New Year’s Eve, the fax numbers will no longer be operational. The IRS noted that the end of the faxing process is independent of any filing due dates. For example, the last day to file Form 1139 electing to take the 100 percent refundable minimum tax credit in 2018, is Dec. 30, 2020.

“Additionally, if you file one application for a tentative refund and claim both the NOL carryback and the minimum tax credit at the same time, you must file the application by the earliest applicable deadline,” the IRS noted.