The IRS announced today that taxpayers affected by the winter storms that struck Texas beginning on February 11, 2021 are eligible for relief for filing and paying certain 2020 and 2021 federal income taxes. The relief is available to affected taxpayers in the covered disaster area that includes all 254 Texas counties.
Affected taxpayers include individuals who reside and businesses whose principal place of business are located in the covered disaster area. Taxpayers or businesses not located in the covered disaster area but whose records necessary to meet federal filing obligations are located in the covered disaster area are also eligible for relief. In addition, all relief workers affiliated with a recognized governmental or charitable organization assisting in relief efforts in the covered disaster area and any individual visiting the covered disaster area that was killed or injured due to the storms are also eligible for relief.
The relief postpones the deadline for filing federal income tax returns until June 15, 2021 for federal income tax returns with an original or extended due date after February 11, 2021 and before June 15, 2021. The filing postponement applies to individual, Subchapter C corporation, Subchapter S corporation, partnership, and estate and trust income tax returns. It also applies to estate, gift and generation-skipping tax returns, tax-exempt organization information returns, employment tax returns, and certain excise tax returns.
In addition, the deadlines for making 2020 federal income tax payments and 2021 federal estimated income tax payments originally due on or after February 11, 2021 and before June 15, 2021 are postponed to June 15, 2021. The IRS will not assess penalties for late payment of 2020 income taxes or 2021 estimated taxes if those payments are made on or before June 15, 2021.
In addition, the time for performing time sensitive acts, such as IRA contributions and like-kind exchanges, required to be performed between February 11, 2021 and June 15, 2021 are postponed until June 15, 2021. The June 15, 2020 deadline also applies to quarterly payroll and excise taxes normally due on April 30, 2021.
For more information regarding new developments in tax law, please click here to view our Tax Alerts on the Whitley Penn website.
Whitley Penn is continually monitoring the tax and economic developments related to the coronavirus pandemic and will send out additional alerts in the future. In the interim, please contact your Whitley Penn tax advisor if you have any questions or require any additional information.