IRS extends April 15 and other upcoming deadlines, provides other tax relief for victims of Tennessee tornadoes 

WASHINGTON – Victims of this week’s tornadoes and severe storms in parts of Tennessee, including Nashville, will have until July 15, 2020, to file various individual and business tax returns and make tax payments, the Internal Revenue Service announced today.

The IRS is offering this relief to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as qualifying for individual assistance. Currently this includes Davidson, Putnam and Wilson counties, but taxpayers in localities added later to the disaster area will automatically receive the same filing and payment relief. The current list of eligible localities is always available on the disaster relief page on IRS.gov.

The tax relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred starting on March 3. As a result, affected individuals and businesses will have until July 15, 2020, to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period. This includes 2019 individual and business returns normally due on April 15, as well as various 2019 business returns due on March 15. Among other things, this also means that affected taxpayers will have until July 15 to make 2019 IRA contributions.

The July 15 deadline also applies to quarterly estimated income tax payments due on April 15 and June 15 and the quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on April 30. It also applies to tax-exempt organizations, operating on a calendar-year basis, that have a 2019 return due on May 15.

In addition, penalties on payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after March 3 and before March 18 will be abated as long as the deposits are made by March 18.

The IRS disaster relief page has details on other returns, payments and tax-related actions qualifying for the additional time.