Page 29 - bon-dia-aruba-20200707

A29
BUSINESS Tuesday 7 July 2020
No more delays: What to know about the July 15 tax deadline

By SARAH SKIDMORE SELL of the Treasury. There is no
AP Personal Finance Writer penalty to file a later return
It's time to do your taxes — if a refund is due.
no more delays. It's also a good time to
As the coronavirus pan- check in with a tax profes-
demic took hold this spring, sional if you have had a
the federal government major shift in income, em-
postponed the traditional ployment or other tax situ-
April 15 filing deadline until ations in 2020. With all the
July 15. changes stemming from
The move provided some the COVID-19 pandemic,
economic and logistical there may be need for
relief for taxpayers deal- added help when it comes
ing with the disruptions and to taxes.
uncertainty brought on by "Reach out to (your tax pro-
lockdowns, school closures fessional) about what 2020
and shuttered businesses. is going to look like," says
But now that new deadline Michael Eisenberg, a CPA
is rapidly approaching. and attorney at Squar Mil-
Taxpayers must file or seek ner in Los Angeles.q
an extension by the new
deadline or face a penalty.
The IRS is expecting about
150 million returns from indi-
viduals and as of last count,
it had received almost 139
million. In this Feb. 5, 2020, file photo, a W-4 form is viewed in New York.
So for those of you still wait- Associated Press
ing to file, make a payment
or with other questions, a other arrangements with I DON'T WANT TO GO TO make the payments for the
few answers: taxpayers who cannot pay ANYWHERE. CAN I DO THIS first and second quarter.
___ in full. Many of those can ONLINE? Those were originally due
DO I HAVE TO? be set up online. And the Yes, you can file or pay on April 15 and June 15 re-
Yes. In most cases, you must penalty for failure to file will your taxes online. The IRS spectively.
file and pay your taxes by be much more expensive urges taxpayers to use ___
July 15. than the failure to pay, says electronic options to sup- WHAT ELSE?
Taxpayers who need more Kathy Pickering, chief tax port social distancing and There are a host of other
time can request an ex- officer at H&R Block. speed the processing of re- tax deadlines linked to July
tension on the IRS website. ___ turns, refunds or payments. 15. Check out the IRS web-
That will give them until WHAT ABOUT REFUNDS? The agency is still working its site or reach out to a tax
Oct. 15 to file. However, an The IRS is still processing and way through a backlog of professional for answers to
extension to file does not issuing refunds, most within mail that built up during its your specific question.
mean added time to pay. 21 days. closure in response to the One worth noting is that
So those planning on filing Those getting refunds will pandemic. Accountants July 15 is also the deadline
later should estimate what be paid interest, dating and tax preparation servic- to claim a refund for 2016
they owe and make that back to April 15, if they file es say they have a variety tax returns. An estimated
payment by July 15. on time. The interest rate is of means to help people $1.5 billion refunds for 2016
___ 5% per year through June prepare their taxes without are sitting unclaimed be-
I CAN'T PAY NOW, WHAT 30. Starting July 1, it drops meeting face to face. cause people failed to file
DO I DO? to 3% per year. The interest ___ tax returns. The law provides
Go ahead and file your is compounded daily for re- WHAT ABOUT ESTIMATED a three-year window of op-
taxes even if you cannot funds. Any refund issued af- TAXES? portunity to claim a refund.
pay. ter July 1 will get a blended Taxpayers who make esti- But if taxpayers do not file a
The IRS is willing to set up rate. mated quarterly tax pay- return within that time, the
payment plans or make ___ ments have until July 15 to money becomes property
Activity in services sector shows record rebound in June

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ac- of 45.4 in May. Any read- index had been the big- index was better-than-
tivity in the U.S. services ing above 50 means that gest point-drop on record. expected but did still left
sector rebounded strongly the service sector, where Before the April and May concerns about what ris-
last month, but those gains the majority of Americans setbacks, the index had ing virus cases could do to
are now being threatened work, is expanding. been in expansion territory efforts by restaurants, bars
by the resurgence of coro- The June advance was for 122 months. and other service business-
navirus cases in many parts 11.5-percentage points Last week, ISM reported es to stay open.
of the country. higher than the Mayread- that its manufacturing in- Daco said it will be dif-
The Institute for Supply ing. It was the largest per- dex rebounded to a read- ficult for the recovery to
Management said Mon- centage point gain in the ing of 52.6 after registering gain momentum until busi-
day that its service sec- history of the services index big declines in the two pre- nesses and consumers are
tor index rose to 57.1 in which goes back to 1997. vious months. confident that the worst of
June, up from a reading The April decline in the The reading for services the pandemic is over.q