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IRS Expands Filing Season Relief to Gift, GST Taxes

Posted on Mar. 30, 2020

Taxpayers with an April 15 deadline for filing returns or making payments on gift or generation-skipping transfer taxes are now under the umbrella of coronavirus-related relief the IRS is offering this filing season.

The IRS on March 27 issued Notice 2020-20, 2020-16 IRB 1, which expands the agency’s relief to the two taxes as a result of President Trump's declaring a national emergency because of the coronavirus.

Taxpayers with an April 15 due date for filing a Form 709, “United States Gift (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return ,” or making payments for either of those two taxes now have until July 15, according to the notice. The extension takes place automatically — no penalties or interest will be applied to taxpayers who wait until July, and no form needs to be filed for the extension to take place, the IRS said.

Taxpayers who wish to extend the due date for filing a Form 709 beyond July 15 can do so by filing a Form 8892, “Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File Form 709 and/or Payment of Gift/Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax.” That will postpone the form filing due date to October 15, but gift and GST tax payments will still be due July 15, according to the notice.

The IRS has thus far mostly limited its filing season deadline tax relief to returns or payments with an April 15 deadline. In one exception, the IRS on March 25 updated its FAQ for the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, which extended the March 31 deadline for foreign financial institutions to file FATCA reports to July 15.

The previous week, the IRS issued Notice 2020-18, 2020-15 IRB 1, which superseded Notice 2020-17, 2020-15 IRB 1. Both of those notices had limited the IRS’s relief to federal income taxes, and specifically excluded other types of taxes from relief, including estate and gift taxes, excise taxes, and payroll taxes.

Tax professionals and tax organizations have pressed the IRS and Treasury to provide more expansive relief in recent weeks. A March 26 letter from the American Institute of CPAs had called for extending the deadline for gift tax returns to July 15, among other changes.

Follow Jonathan Curry (@jtcurry005) on Twitter for real-time updates. 

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