In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, federal and New Jersey State officials have announced several important tax-related changes.
1. Extension of federal tax deadline from April 15 to July 15
The U.S. Treasury Department announced a 90-day extension of the income tax filing deadline, meaning that corporate and non-corporate filers, including individuals, with returns due on April 15 now have until July 15, 2020 to file their 2019 tax returns and make payments. This extension includes estimated payments for the first quarter of 2020.
As of the date of this Alert, Treasury has not given any indication as to whether it will approve a similar extension of the deadline for other tax filings such as federal estate tax returns (Form 706).
2. Extension of New Jersey tax deadlines to correspond with new federal deadline
The New Jersey Legislature has similarly passed a bill that would extend the April 15th deadline by which to file New Jersey Gross Income Tax (GIT) and Corporation Business Tax (CBT) returns to June 30. The bill, A3841, passed the New Jersey Assembly by a vote of 65-0 and the Senate by a vote of 34-0, and is now on Governor Murphy’s desk.
The bill references only an extension of time to file, and thus it is unclear from the language of the bill whether the extension is both for filing and payment, or just for filing. This ambiguity may be moot, however, because both GIT and CBT payments are due when the returns are due, and thus an extension of time to file is arguably an automatic extension of time to pay. A notice from the Director of Taxation to clarify the timing of payment and the bill’s effect on estimated payments would be helpful.
3. New Jersey tax appeal filing deadlines have been extended
Chief Justice Stuart Rabner of the New Jersey Supreme Court signed an order on March 19th extending filing deadlines for property tax appeals before the County Boards of Taxation and the New Jersey Tax Court. The order provides that the filing deadlines for complaints and counter-complaints relating to local property tax appeals and the filing deadlines for state tax appeals are extended to the later of (a) May 1, 2020, or (b) 30 days following a determination by Governor Murphy that the state of emergency has ended, in each case to the extent such deadlines have not already passed. The Taxation Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association, which is chaired by Riker partner Jason Navarino, was instrumental in obtaining these extensions.
Please contact Robert Daleo, Jason Navarino or Hannah Greendyk of our Tax Department if you have any questions about how these changes affect you.
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