The U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service are providing special tax filing and payment relief to individuals and businesses in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The filing deadline for federal tax returns has been extended from April 15 to July 15, 2020.
This relief is automatic, taxpayers do not need to file any additional forms or call the IRS to qualify. This relief also includes estimated tax payments for tax year 2020 that are due on April 15, 2020. Penalties and interest will begin to accrue on any remaining unpaid balances as of July 16, 2020.
The IRS has established a special section on its website focused on steps to help taxpayers, businesses and others affected by the coronavirus, which can be found here www.irs.gov/coronavirus.
Governor Andy Beshear has also directed the Kentucky Department of Revenue to adopt most of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) income tax relief described in recent Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Notice 2020-18.
This includes extending the 2019 Kentucky income tax return filing due date from April 15, 2020 to July 15, 2020. Late filing penalties will be waived for 2019 Kentucky income returns that are filed by July 15, 2020. Kentucky income tax payments due on April 15, 2020 are deferred for 90 days to July 15, 2020. Late payment penalties will be waived for income tax payments deferred from April 15, 2020 to July 15, 2020. However, interest still applies to the deferred income tax payments because Kentucky law prohibits the waiver of interest. The Kentucky relief applies only to income taxes. Additional guidance on COVID-19 Kentucky income tax relief will soon be available on DOR’s website.