How the extended tax deadline affects payments, retirement contributions, and more

·Senior Columnist

March 26, 2020 at 4:30 PM·3 min read

The government recently extended the tax deadline for federal returns and any tax payments to July 15 from April 15, and the Internal Revenue Service this week is now offering key details on the change.

Here’s what you need to know about getting an additional extension, which tax payments are delayed, and rescheduling your tax payments.

Getting an extension

The agency clarified that taxpayers don’t have to file additional forms or qualify in any way to get the extension. It’s automatic. But if you want your refund, you must file your taxes first.

If you need more time beyond the July 15 deadline, you can request an additional three-month extension until Oct. 15. Normally, an extension would give you six months after the April 15 deadline to file your taxes.

The simplest way to request that additional extension is to electronically file Form 4968 through your tax accountant, tax prep software, or the Free File link on IRS.gov. An extension request must be made be the new filing deadline of July 15. Any taxes that you still owe also must be paid by July 15 to avoid any interest or penalties.

Internal Revenue Service federal building Washington DC USA — The government extended the tax deadline to July 15 from April 15, which affects retirement contributions and tax payments. (Photo: Getty Creative)

Delayed tax payments

Speaking of tax payments: If you are paying your 2019 tax liability through installment payments, any payment that is due on April 15 is now due on July 15.

Say you’re self-employed and make quarterly estimated tax payments, your first-quarter 2020 payment is now due on July 15, not April 15. Your second-quarter payment, however, is still due on June 15.

Scheduling your tax payment

If you filed your tax returns already and set your tax payment for April 15, you will need to reschedule it. The payment will not be automatically extended until July 15. Here’s how to change your payment, depending on how you scheduled the payment.

IRS Direct Pay: Use the confirmation number that was emailed to you to access the “Look Up a Payment” tool. There, you can change or cancel a payment until two business days before the scheduled date.

Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS): Click on Payments on the EFTPS home page and log in. There should be an option to “Cancel a Tax Payment” in the left menu. You must reschedule at least two business days before the scheduled payment.

1040 income tax form and w-2 wage statement with a federal Treasury refund check. Closeup with selective focusing. — Scheduled tax payments won't automatically be rescheduled to the new July 15 deadline. You must change the payment date yourself. (Photo: Getty Creative)

If you authorized an electronic funds withdrawal when you filed your tax return, you can cancel your payment by contacting a representative at 888-353-4537. You must request a cancellation two business days before the scheduled payment.

If you scheduled a payment by credit card or debit card, call the bank or card issuer to cancel the payment.

Retirement contributions

Taxpayers also have more time to make contributions to their IRA accounts and health savings accounts to help lower their 2019 taxable income. Contributions can be made to both types of accounts until July 15.

If you took an early withdrawal from a retirement account last year, the 10% additional tax that you must pay as a penalty has been extended to July 15.

If your contributions to a workplace-based retirement plan exceeded the 2019 limit — $19,000 or $21,000 for those 50 and older — you still need to withdraw that excess amount by April 15.

Janna is an editor for Yahoo Money and Cashay. Follow her on Twitter @JannaHerron.

Associated Press
China says US is 'playing with fire' after latest military aid for Taiwan
The Chinese government protested Sunday the latest American announcements of military sales and assistance to Taiwan, warning the United States that it is “playing with fire.” U.S. President Joe Biden authorized Saturday the provision of up to $571 million in Defense Department material and services and in military education and training for Taiwan. Separately, the Defense Department said Friday that $295 million in military sales had been approved.
TODAY
Here’s what to do if you win the Mega Millions jackpot
The next drawing for the Mega Millions jackpot of $8325 million will take place December 20 Here's what to do if you win.
Associated Press
Isolated Chicago communities secure money for a coveted transit project before Trump takes office
Adella Bass dropped her in-person college classes because it was just too hard to get there from the far South Side of Chicago, where the city's famous elevated train doesn't run. The Biden administration notified Congress last week that it would commit $1.9 billion toward a nearly $5.7 billion project to add four new L stations on the South Side, the Chicago system’s largest expansion project in history. The pledge, which the Federal Transit Administration is expected to formally sign before President Joe Biden leaves office in January, essentially locks in current and future funding.
AFP
Minorities fear targeted attacks in post-revolution Bangladesh
For generations, the small Hindu temple outside the capital in Muslim-majority Bangladesh was a quiet place to pray -- before arsonists ripped open its roof this month in the latest post-revolution unrest."My son saw the flames and doused them quickly," said temple custodian Ratan Kumar Ghosh, 55, describing how assailants knew to avoid security cameras, so they tore its tin roof open to enter.
Associated Press
Winter is hitting Gaza and many Palestinians have little protection from the cold
Winter is hitting the Gaza Strip and many of the nearly 2 million Palestinians displaced by the devastating 14-month war with Israel are struggling to protect themselves from the wind, cold and rain. There is a shortage of blankets and warm clothing, little wood for fires, and the tents and patched-together tarps families are living in have grown increasingly threadbare after months of heavy use, according to aid workers and residents. Shadia Aiyada, who was displaced from the southern city of Rafah to the coastal area of Muwasi, has only one blanket and a hot water bottle to keep her eight children from shivering inside their fragile tent.
CBS News
NYPD chief resigns amid sexual misconduct claims
NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey has resigned following allegations of sexual misconduct, the department says.
Associated Press
As flooding becomes a yearly disaster in South Sudan, thousands survive on the edge of a canal
Long-horned cattle wade through flooded lands and climb a slope along a canal that has become a refuge for displaced families in South Sudan. “Too much suffering,” said Bichiok Hoth Chuiny, a woman in her 70s. Such flooding is becoming a yearly disaster in South Sudan, which the World Bank has described as “the world’s most vulnerable country to climate change and also the one most lacking in coping capacity."
CNN
Two US Navy pilots eject safely over Red Sea after fighter jet shot down in apparent friendly fire incident
Two US Navy pilots ejected safely after their fighter jet was shot down over the Red Sea on Saturday in an apparent friendly fire incident, US Central Command said in a statement.
AFP
Iraq's prohibition zeal threatens Baghdad's boozy subculture
The smell of dampness rises through the dust at a private club in central Baghdad, one of many shut in a crackdown on alcohol sales in Iraq.Several private "social" clubs that have operated in Baghdad for decades were sent official letters in November forbidding them from manufacturing and serving alcoholic beverages.
Associated Press
Two US Navy pilots shot down over Red Sea in apparent 'friendly fire' incident, US military says
Two U.S. Navy pilots were shot down Sunday over the Red Sea in an apparent “friendly fire” incident, the U.S military said, marking the most serious incident to threaten troops in over a year of America targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels. The U.S. military had conducted airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the time, though the U.S. military’s Central Command did not elaborate on what their mission was and did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press.
AFP
Tunisia women herb harvesters struggle with drought and heat
On a hillside in Tunisia's northwestern highlands, women scour a sun-scorched field for the wild herbs they rely on for their livelihoods, but droughts and rising temperatures are making it ever harder to find the precious plants.Wildfires fuelled by drought and rising temperatures have ravaged these woodlands, further diminishing the natural resources that women like Soudani depend on.
AFP
Trump threatens to take back control of Panama Canal
Incoming US president Donald Trump on Saturday slammed what he called unfair fees for US ships passing through the Panama Canal and threatened to demand control of the waterway be returned to Washington.He continued that if Panama could not ensure "the secure, efficient and reliable operation" of the channel, "then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question."
Politico
Trump taps billionaire Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta as Italy ambassador
Fertitta has never held political office but is a longtime GOP donor — including to Trump’s Save America PAC.
Associated Press
The water was their livelihood. Now Thailand's sea nomads work to preserve a vanishing way of life
When Hook was a child, he started his days by jumping off the boat that his family lived on and into the ocean. Now Hook, whose full name is Suriyan Klathale, lives on land like the rest of his community, a people known as the Moken. The recollections of his childhood, which many Moken of his generation still have, are mostly just memories.
Associated Press
Fleeing motorist is dead after driving into Texas shopping mall and injuring 5
A fleeing motorist drove a pickup truck into a busy JCPenney store in Texas on Saturday, injuring five people before he was fatally shot by law enforcement, authorities said. Four of the injured people were taken from the Killeen mall to hospitals and the fifth went on their own, Sgt. Bryan Washko of the Texas Department of Public Safety said in an evening media briefing. Ofelia Miramontez of the Killeen Police Department said the incident began with calls about an erratic driver in a black pickup in Belton, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) away.
Reuters
Trump says he might demand Panama hand over canal
President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday accused Panama of charging excessive rates for use of the Panama Canal and said that if Panama did not manage the canal in an acceptable fashion, he would demand the U.S. ally hand it over. In an evening post on Truth Social, Trump also warned he would not let the canal fall into the "wrong hands," and he seemed to warn of potential Chinese influence on the passage, writing the canal should not be managed by China. It also underlines an expected shift in U.S. diplomacy under Trump, who has not historically shied away from threatening allies and using bellicose rhetoric when dealing with counterparts.
AFP
In ruined homes, Palestinians recall Assad's torture
School lessons ended in Syria's biggest Palestinian refugee camp on October 18, 2012, judging by the date still chalked up on the board more than a decade later.According to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, at the start of Syria's conflict in 2011 it was home to 160,000 registered refugees.
CNN
How a teenager’s holiday romance led to prison time in Dubai
British citizen Marcus Fakana, 18, is facing a one-year prison sentence for his summer romance with a London teenager, 17, who he met while on holiday in the United Arab Emirates.
Politico
Biden could foil Trump’s plans to resume federal executions
The president is considering using his clemency power to convert federal death sentences to life in prison.
NBC News
Lara Trump says she's removed her name from contention to be Florida's senator
Lara Trump, President-elect Donald Trump's daughter-in-law, said on Saturday that she decided to remove her name from consideration to be a senator in Florida.

Getting an extension

Delayed tax payments

Scheduling your tax payment

Retirement contributions

Latest Stories