Larry's Tax Law

When we thought times were bad enough with the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread social unrest in our country, the West Coast, including the Pacific Northwest, was struck with unprecedented wildfires and massive windstorms, taking lives, destroying property and rendering the air quality throughout the region unhealthy.  On September 16 and 17, the Internal Revenue Service announced good news for many taxpayers residing in Oregon. 

In News Release OR-2020-23 and News Release IR-2020-215, the IRS announced that, due to the wildfires and windstorms striking Oregon, the deadline for certain Oregonians to file returns and make tax payments will be extended to January 15, 2021.

Today, in the wake of the recent decision by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) to extend the income tax filing and payment deadlines to July 15, 2020, it announced a new taxpayer-friendly program called the “People First Initiative” (the “PFI”).  The PFI is designed to provide taxpayers with additional relief from the havoc wreaked by COVID-19.

IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig stated that the PFI is part of the Service’s “extraordinary steps to help the people of our country.”  It is a temporary initiative.  Unless extended, the PFI will be available to taxpayers from April 1, 2020 to July 15, 2020 (“Program Period”). 

The temporary relief offered by the PFI includes postponing Installment Agreement and Offer in Compromise payments, and halting many collection and enforcement actions.  During the Program Period, the IRS will provide needed guidance.

In accordance with ORS 305.157, the director of the Oregon Department of Revenue (“DOR”) ordered an automatic extension of the 2019 tax year income tax filing and payment due dates. Oregon now joins several other states and the U.S. Department of the Treasury in this regard.

For Oregon personal income taxpayers, the order means:

• • The Oregon income tax return filing due date for tax year 2019 is automatically extended from April 15, 2020 to July 15, 2020.
  • The Oregon income tax payment deadline for payments due with the 2019 tax year return is automatically extended to July 15, 2020.
  • The time for making estimated tax payments for tax year 2020 is not extended.
  • The tax year 2019 six-month extension to file, if requested, continues to extend only the filing deadline until October 15, 2020.
  • Taxpayers do not need to file any additional forms or notify the DOR to qualify for this Oregon tax filing and payment extension. 

Yesterday, I reported that the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) issued Notice 2020-17, extending the due date for payment of federal income taxes from April 15, 2020 to July 15, 2020, because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.  After some feedback from the tax community, Treasury has now restated and expanded the relief provided by Notice 2020-17.  

In accordance with Notice 2020-18, not only is the due date for payment of federal income taxes extended to July 15, 2020, but the date for filing federal income tax returns originally due on April 15 is now extended to July 15, 2020.

Notice 2020-18 supersedes and expands Notice 2020-17 in many helpful ways:

On March 13, 2020, President Trump issued an emergency declaration, which in part instructed the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) to provide taxpayers with “relief from tax deadlines” due to the impact of the Coronavirus.  In response, Treasury issued Notice 2020-17 (which will be published in IRB 2020-15, dated April 6, 2020).

Code Section 7508A gives Treasury authority to postpone the time to perform certain acts required under the Code for taxpayers affected by a federally declared disaster (as defined in Code Section 165(i)(5)(A)).