Treasury pushes tax payment deadline back 90 days due to coronavirus

Individuals and businesses will have an extra 90 days to pay the IRS if they owe additional income tax for 2019, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday.

Normally, taxpayers owe the amount due by April 15. But as part of the government’s response to the coronavirus, individual and small business filers will be able to defer payments of up to $1 million and corporations can defer up to $10 million — without incurring interest or penalties.

But taxpayers should still file their federal returns by April 15, Mnuchin said.

“We encourage those Americans who can file their taxes, to continue to file their taxes on April 15 because for many Americans you will get tax refunds. We don’t want you to lose out on those tax refunds,” Mnuchin said.

Taxpayers can still request a six-month extension to file returns, like they could in any other year.

The new deadline announced Tuesday applies to federal tax income payments only. It’s up to states to set their own deadlines.

Some states are making changes due to the coronavirus. In California, individuals will have until June 15 to both file and pay their state taxes.