Don't Mess With Taxes

Tax notices are among the pieces of mail delivered by the U.S. Postal Service in recent weeks. Due to COVID-19 complications, those documents detailing IRS questions about earlier filings have later due dates. The deadline for some is this Friday, July 10.

It's the first full week of July 2020, meaning that the countdown clock over there in the ol' blog's right column (shameless plug) shows that we're just single digit days away from this year's July 15 filing deadline.

And some folks have an even earlier due date.

If you recently received an Internal Revenue Service notice, you might need to take action by this Friday, July 10.

Delayed notices, later deadlines: Readers of my earlier post on tax moves to make in July probably remember that I mentioned these notices. They were created before the IRS closed most of its offices in March in order to protect its employers from the coronavirus.

When those tax agency staffers returned to their jobs, they began sending out, via the U.S. Postal Service, the pre-printed notices.

But since the deadlines on most of them had already passed, the notice mailings included an insert that offered recipient taxpayers another, later date by which they needed to deal with the IRS questions.

For some, that notice action date is July 15, the same as the deadline for filing a 2019 tax return and paying any due tax.

But for others, the notice action date is July 10.

Type of tax, taxpayers affects due date: The different dates depend upon the type of tax return and original due date.

Below is what the insert, officially titled Notice 1052-A insert, says regarding the due dates:

If the amount due on your notice is for an income, gift, estate, or Form 990-PF or Form 4720 excise tax return that was due on or after April 1, 2020, and before July 15, 2020, (such as a Form 1040 normally due April 15, 2020), the Treasury Department and the IRS postponed the deadline for making your payment to July 15, 2020. If the amount due (as provided on your notice) is not paid by July 15, 2020, penalty and interest will begin to accrue after July 15, 2020. To avoid penalty and interest, pay the amount due by July 15, 2020.

If the amount due on your notice is for a return that was due before April 1, 2020, or an employment or excise tax return due on or after April 1, 2020, you will not be charged additional penalty or interest if you pay the amount due (provided on your notice) by July 10, 2020.

Specific notices affected: You can find a list of all the affected mailing in my June post about the IRS' decision to extend the notice action deadlines.

Did you get one of these communications? Did you look at the notice deadline?

If not, find it and double check your due date. You might need to act even sooner than you thought.

Regardless of whether you must take action by the end of this week or next Wednesday, make sure you do so. If you don't, as the insert notes, you could find yourself paying added penalty and interest charges.

And if you have questions about or disagree with the IRS' finding in the notice, visit the website or call the phone number listed on the document. Just be prepared to wait on hold, as the IRS itself is still ramping up its services.

You also might find these items of interest:

• Tax notices: A scary letter from the IRS
• Ways to pay that IRS bill that arrived in your mailbox
• Don't ignore that IRS letter and nine other tax notice tips

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