Extension of Time for Individuals to File and Pay 2020 Returns and Taxes
DATE: 03/19/2021
This Technical Information Release (“TIR”) announces that Massachusetts individual personal income tax returns and payments for the 2020 tax year otherwise due April 15, 2021 are now due May 17, 2021. Under G.L. c. 62C, § 87, in the case of a Presidentially declared disaster, the Commissioner of Revenue (the “Commissioner”) may disregard a period of up to one year in determining whether certain taxpayer actions were performed timely, including the filing and payment of individual personal income tax returns and taxes. On March 13, 2020, the President of the United States issued an emergency declaration under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act in response to the ongoing 2019 novel Coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic, triggering the Commissioner's authority under G.L. c. 62C, § 87. Pursuant to that authority, the Commissioner has determined that Massachusetts individual personal income tax returns and payments for the 2020 tax year otherwise due April 15, 2021 will now be due May 17, 2021. This extension of time to file and pay is consistent with the extension of the federal income tax return filing and payment deadline for individuals announced on March 17, 2021.1
Individual taxpayers will be eligible for an automatic extension of time to file their personal income tax returns as long as the amount required to be paid for a valid personal income tax extension is paid by May 17, 2021.2 The duration of the automatic extension will be based on the original due date of the return, April 15, 2021, and not the due date as modified by this TIR. Taxpayers that have already filed their 2020 returns without making associated payments have until May 17, 2021 to make such payments. The extension described in this TIR does not apply to estimated tax payments. The Department of Revenue intends to issue additional guidance on this extension as needed.
Geoffrey E. Snyder
Commissioner of Revenue
March 19, 2021
REFERENCED SOURCES: Massachusetts General Laws (https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws)
FOOTNOTES
1See https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-day-for-individuals-extended-to-may-17-treasury-irs-extend-filing-and-payment-deadline .
2See TIR 16-10: Simplified Extension Process for Individuals, Fiduciaries, Partnerships, and Estates.
END FOOTNOTES