IRS 'selectively' extends tax filing deadline to May 11
01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, April 1, 2010
By Neil Downing
Journal Staff Writer
projo.com
The Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday extended until May 11 the deadline for filing federal income tax returns, a move that will give people affected by the floods nearly a month longer than usual to get their taxes done.
The extension applies to all of Rhode Island, except Bristol County, which accounts for 5 percent of the state’s population, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures.
The Rhode Island Division of Taxation will also extend its filing deadline to May 11 for all counties in Rhode Island without exception, state Tax Administrator David M. Sullivan said. “We will do the whole state,” he said.
The extensions granted by the IRS and by the state tax agency are far-reaching, establishing May 11 as the new deadline for:
•All individual income tax returns filed on any Form 1040, whether on paper or electronically.
•Quarterly estimated tax payments that are normally due April 15.
•Contributions that a taxpayer makes to an IRA with the intention of having it count for 2009.
In addition, those who want to deduct a loss for tax purposes related to the recent storms and floods now have the option to claim the loss on either their 2009 or 2010 returns, Sullivan and IRS spokeswoman Peggy Riley said.
Taken together, the changes represent a break for people hard-pressed by the floods, said Mary F. Bernard, former president of the Rhode Island Society of Certified Public Accountants.
“It will help all those people who are underwater right now” and who may need extra time to gather or reconstruct their financial records for tax purposes, said Bernard, director of state and local tax services at Kahn Litwin Renza & Co., Ltd., a CPA firm, which has its headquarters in Providence.
“It just takes one piece of stress off their minds at this point,” she said. “For people who have lost everything, the last thing on their minds” is taxes, she said.
For those who normally must make an estimated tax payment by April 15, the extension “gives people an extra month to come up with the money,” Bernard said.
And those who already have the funds for the estimated-tax installment will have use of their money longer, which could help in dealing with storm-related damage, said Patricia A. Thompson, vice chairwoman of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ national tax executive committee.
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., who earlier on Wednesday had urged the IRS to extend the deadline, said that the IRS decision will provide “a small measure of relief” to those who are affected by the floods. “Tax season can be stressful, and this short-term extension will give Rhode Island families one less thing to worry about as they begin the daunting task of rebuilding their homes and businesses.” Reed said in a statement.
Thompson and Bernard said they could not recall another occasion in which the normal April 15 filing deadline was extended for a disaster affecting Rhode Island.
Those who take advantage of the extension will not have to make any special arrangements, Riley said.
IRS computers will recognize that the return is from someone in Providence, Kent, Washington or Newport counties, based on the ZIP code listed on the return, and will apply automatic relief from late-payment and late-filing penalties and interest that would otherwise apply, she said.
(A taxpayer who nevertheless receives a penalty notice in such a situation should call the IRS disaster hot line at 1-866-562-5227 to request relief, Riley said.)
Bristol County, R.I., was excluded from the IRS’ deadline extension because it was not listed in the portion of the federal government’s recent disaster declaration dealing with individual relief, Riley said. “But keep in mind that these things can be amended as time goes on,” she said.
For some taxpayers, the extensions could cause confusion. For example, as things stand now, a taxpayer in Bristol County, R.I., must file a federal return by April 15, but will have until May 11 to file a Rhode Island return, said Thompson, who is also tax partner at Piccerelli Gilstein & Co. LLP, a CPA firm in Providence.
In Massachusetts, the May 11 federal filing deadline applies to Bristol, Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk and Worcester counties, Riley said.
The Massachusetts Department of Revenue said Wednesday night that the deadline for filing Massachusetts state income tax returns for taxpayers in those seven counties will be extended to May 11.
* * * |
