What To Do If You Missed The July 15 Deadline To File And Pay

While the federal income tax-filing deadline has passed for most people, some taxpayers haven’t filed their 2019 tax returns yet.

If a taxpayer is entitled to a refund, there’s no penalty for filing late. Penalties and interest begins to accrue on any remaining unpaid tax due as of July 16, 2020.

Anyone who didn’t file and owes tax should file a return as soon as they can and pay as much as possible to reduce penalties and interest. Some taxpayers may have extra time to file their tax returns and pay any taxes due. This includes some disaster victims, military service members, and eligible support personnel in combat zones.

Filing soon is very important because the late-filing penalty and late-payment penalty on unpaid taxes add up quickly. However, in some cases, a taxpayer filing after the deadline may qualify for penalty relief. Additionally, taxpayers who have a history of filing and paying on time often qualify for administrative penalty relief. A taxpayer will usually qualify if they have filed and paid timely for the past three years and meet other requirements.

The IRS is currently processing tax returns, issuing refunds and accepting payments. Taxpayers who mail or who have already mailed a tax return will experience a longer wait.

Reminder: An Extension To File Is Not An Extension To Pay Taxes

For most taxpayers the filing and payment deadline was postponed July 15. Those who need more time to file beyond the postponed date can request an extension to file.

Taxpayers have until July 15, 2020 to request an extension to file their 2019 tax return. This will give them until October 15 to file their tax return. To get an extension to file, taxpayers can file Form 4868.

However, this is only an extension to file taxes, not an extension to pay taxes. Taxes must be paid by July 15 in order to avoid penalties and interest.

IRS Warns Against COVID-19 Fraud and Other Financial Schemes

The Internal Revenue Service reminds taxpayers to guard against tax fraud and other related financial scams related to COVID-19. Criminals seize every opportunity to exploit bad situations, and this pandemic is no exception.

In the last few months, the IRS has seen a variety of Economic Impact Payment (EIP) scams and other financial schemes looking to take advantage of unsuspecting taxpayers. Criminals use EIP as cover to steal personal information and money. The IRS has also seen an increase in phishing schemes, which are unsolicited emails or social media attempts that appear to be from the IRS, in an attempt for the scammer to gather personally identifying information, account numbers, or passwords.

There are also scams related to the organized selling of fake at-home test kits, offers to sell fake cures, vaccines, pills and advice on unproven treatments. Other scams purport to sell large quantities of medical supplies through the creation of fake shops, websites, social media accounts and email addresses where the criminal fails to deliver promised supplies after receiving funds.

Some scammers set up fake charities to solicit donations. Other scammers offer “opportunities” to invest early in companies working on a vaccine for the disease, promising that the “company” will dramatically increase in value as a result.

Coronavirus-related scams should be reported to the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) at 1-866-720-5721 or submitted through the NCDF Web Complaint Form (https://www.justice.gov/disast…/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form). The NCDF is a national coordinating agency within the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division dedicated to improving the detection, prevention, investigation and prosecution of criminal conduct related to natural and man-made disasters and other emergencies.

Taxpayers can also report fraud or theft of their Economic Impact Payments to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) (https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/). Also, taxpayers can report phishing attempts to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov.

Taxpayers are encouraged not to engage potential scammers online or on the phone, even if you're wise to the ploy. If nothing else, you'll let the scammer know that your email address or phone number is valid. Scammers can then sell that information to other scammers.