March 13, 2020—The National Conference of CPA Practitioners (NCCPAP) today calls for the United States Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to grant immediate relief for all taxpayers due to the uncertainty of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
NCCPAP is requesting that the IRS and the U.S. Department of the Treasury consider the following:
- No penalties for tax years 2019 and 2020: NCCPAP is requesting that tax returns due after March 15, 2020 neither be penalized nor have interest charges assessed. This would apply to both individual and business tax returns. With the uncertainty of the April 15, 2020 due date for 2019 individual income tax returns being extended, there is the possibility that individual taxpayers may not have paid a sufficient amount to cover their income tax liability for 2019. With the anticipated extension of the 2019 return due date, this will also impact potential payments against their 2020 liability. Both years will be affected by the delay for 2019 returns, and both years should be granted relief.
- IRA contribution date extensions: NCCPAP is requesting that the due date for 2019 IRA contributions be extended to the same new due date as the income tax returns.
- Business relief: NCCPAP is asking for relief from penalties not only for income tax returns, but also for all other elections and filings, such as payroll tax reports. If the business owner is affected by the pandemic and not allowed to go to the office, the filing of a payroll tax report and making the necessary payment might be delayed past the normal due date.
- Payment relief: NCCPAP is asking for payment relief for those taxpayers that have already filed their returns and requested their payment be made via direct debit. We ask that those payments be delayed through the extended filing date.
“It is our concern that taxpayers not be penalized due to their own health situation, or to other factors beyond their control due to the pandemic,” states Neil H. Fishman, CPA, CFE, FCPA, CAMS, and National President of NCCPAP. Stephen Mankowski, CPA, and Sanford Zinman, CPA, co-chairs of the NCCPAP Tax Policy Committee concur. “We are concerned about our clients as well as our staff. While there are many ways for clients to send their information to us in a secure fashion, not all of our clients may have the ability to get us their information, especially if quarantined,” states Stephen Mankowski, CPA, and “with the uncertainty of the long-term effects, we feel it is necessary for the IRS to help taxpayers,” adds Sanford Zinman, CPA. Overall, NCCPAP urges the IRS and the U.S. Department of the Treasury to act quickly and definitively.
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