Deadlines Loom

Remember back in July when you got an extension to file your taxes and October felt so far away? Time has been all out of whack for most of the year, right? Three months was SO much time. Well, we reach that 10th month next week, so it is time to start to get things ready to fill out your return and get it filed.

That means that now it is time for the regular spiel when it comes to the tax extension deadline. And it starts with, what are you waiting for? If you are expecting a refund, wouldn’t it be nicer to have it in your pocket than letting the government hold onto your money? If you are expecting to have to pay, wouldn’t’ it be better to get that under control and stop having to worry about it? Furthermore, if you are in that situation of having to pay, remember that your extension was only an extension to file, not an extension to pay any taxes owed, so you are probably already gathering penalties and interest that also must be paid. The quicker you get on those, the less they can be.

That deadline is rapidly approaching, but there is deadline news all over the place and it feels like it pulls in many directions, again like the rest of this year.

For instance, for those who had to file on September 15 and missed that deadline, it’s possible that penalties for late filing could be avoided by writing “COVID-19” across the top of the tax return. This is not necessarily a hard and fast rule, but communication with the IRS indicates that those who are making good-faith efforts to file in a difficult time could received some forgiveness. (Read more about that here).

Now, will this also carry over to individuals who will be filing on the October 15 deadline? It seems to be setting a precedent that there are some situations where that could be the case, but again, that is not set in stone, so I recommend still making all possible efforts to get it done on time.

But of course, this banner year of 2020 could not be satisfied with just a pandemic, so it has also thrown the wildfires at many on the west coast. There, the IRS has offered some concrete help, extending many deadlines for three more months. If you want more information on that, you can read the agency’s news release here.

Beyond immediate deadline talk, though, is just filing taxes for next year, too, which is just another few months away for starting, so I wanted to include a final link that could have meaning in that period. There you can see what the new Form 1099-NEC will look like for those who receive nonemployee compensation as part of their income (largely those who earn income as a contractor and not an employee). This is a new form this coming year and will
replace the 1099-MISC form for many.

Warmly,

Josh Bousquet
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