News

The Department of the Treasury and IRS today announced the tax filing and payment deadline of July 15 will not be postponed. Individual taxpayers unable to meet the July 15 due date can request an automatic extension of time to file until Oct. 15. Click here to read more.

Unclaimed income tax refunds worth more than $1.5 billion await an estimated 1.4 million individual taxpayers who did not file a 2016 federal income tax return, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

"The IRS wants to help taxpayers who are owed refunds but haven't filed their 2016 tax returns yet," said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. "Time is quickly running out for these taxpayers. There's only a three-year window to claim these refunds, and the window closes on July 15. To claim the refund, a return for tax year 2016 must be filed by July 15, 2020." 

Click here to read more.

Take a look at the Working Draft TIR to learn about the implications of some of the provisions of the CARES Act. For example, there is no income tax due on the stimulus payments of up to $1,200 for individual taxpayers and $500 for a qualifying child. Unemployment compensation, on the other hand, is subject to both federal and Massachusetts income tax. You’ll find information on the treatment of retirement plan withdrawals, loans from Qualified Employer Retirement Plans, student loans and more.

Billing and various collection efforts were temporarily suspended due to the COVID-19 emergency. Taxpayers are always able to see account balances and make payments through MassTaxConnect. Billing is resuming now. Take a look at our recent blog on the Notices and Bills process with a high level summary of how you should respond to an NIA or NOA and some information on how to set up a payment agreement in less than two minutes.

The Trustee Tax filing and payment due date of June 20 has been extended to September 20 to give taxpayers some time to comply during this COVID-19 emergency. You’ll find more information, including the details of the extension and links to the TIR and emergency regulation amendments, on the DOR COVID-19 information page.

This is just a reminder that income and fiduciary tax payment deadlines - that were due April 15 and June 15 - have been extended to July 15, 2020. There’s more information on the COVID-19 update page.

Payments of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance going out to those who wouldn’t typically qualify for unemployment, like self-employed and gig workers, are not currently set up to have  taxes withheld. We recommend setting aside some of the funds to make estimated payments to avoid a surprise tax bill down the line.

The IRS announced a June 1st resumption of Special Enrollment Exam, (SEE), testing in the enrolled agents section of its tax professionals web page. Prometric test centers are still subject to local COVID safeguard regulations and might not be open. If there is a secondary local COVID outbreak, the Prometric center might be shutdown.  Candidates must wear a medical mask or cloth face covering. Visit Prometric.com for more information

In the last few months, the IRS Criminal Investigation division (CI) has seen a variety of Economic Impact Payment (EIP) scams and other financial schemes looking to take advantage of unsuspecting taxpayers. CI continues to work with law enforcement agencies domestically and abroad to educate taxpayers about these scams and investigate the criminals perpetrating them during this challenging time.

Criminals are continuing to use the COVID-19 Economic Impact Payments as cover for schemes to steal personal information and money. Scams related to COVID-19 are not limited to stealing EIPs from taxpayers, however. CI has already seen scams related to the organized selling of fake at-home test kits, offers to sell fake cures, vaccines, pills and advice on unproven treatments for COVID-19. Other scams purport to sell large quantities of medical supplies through the creation of fake shops, websites, social media accounts and email addresses where the criminal fails to deliver promised supplies after receiving funds. Click here to learn more about these schemes.

Four million prepaid debit cards were mailed to taxpayers who did not get paper checks or direct deposit stimulus payments. Lost and stolen debit cards may be reported at EIPCard.COM. The debit card program is administered by MetaBank. The IRS EIP FAQ page hosts over two dozen FAQ's that are updated regularly. Most recent updates provide background about the "need more Information" messaging and provide a process of how to proceed with misplaced or never received checks.