Tax Deadline for Individual (1040) Tax Returns Pushed to May 17, 2021

Mar 22, 2021

By John Hsiao, CPA – Partner

On Wednesday, March 17, 2021, the Treasury Department and IRS announced that the federal income tax filing due date for individuals (1040) for the 2020 tax year will be postponed from April 15, 2021 to May 17, 2021. Illinois and various other states have already followed the lead of IRS and are extending their due dates for 1040s to May 17th as well.

Individual taxpayers can also postpone federal individual income tax payments for the 2020 tax year due on April 15, 2021 to May 17, 2021 without penalties and interest, regardless the amount owed. If you need additional time to file beyond the May 17th deadline, you can request an automatic filing extension to extend the filing deadline to October 15, 2021. However, this does not grant an extension of time to pay your 2020 tax due. To avoid penalties and interest, you need to pay the 2020 income tax due by May 17, 2021.

This relief does not apply to the 2021 federal Q1 estimated tax payments due on April 15, 2021. As of right now, this federal tax filing deadline postponement only applies to individual income tax returns due on April 15th. It does not apply to 1041 trust returns, 1120 corporate tax returns, 709 gift tax returns, or any other non-individual tax forms/returns that are due on April 15th.

Since the IRS has only provided a very limited tax filing relief, and your 2021 first quarter estimated tax payment and other non-individual tax returns are still due on April 15th this year, MichaelSilver has taken the “business as usual” approach for the remaining of this tax season. Our goal is to complete and file as many tax returns and extensions by April 15th as possible. We are committed to providing our clients with excellent and timely services. Every client is unique and important to us. Your tax advisors at MichaelSilver are ready to work with you. We will keep you informed of additional federal and state changes related to this tax filing season.

If you have any questions about this tax filing extension and how it may impact you, please contact your MichaelSilver tax advisors at 847.982.0333.