Covid 19 it's changed the work environments for many of us with major economic impacts expected the government has responded
They've done so by extending tax deadlines believe it's normally April 15th. And now it's July 15th. It's a big question
Of course, what does that mean for you joining us live via FaceTime is attorney and CPA mark Kohler. Good morning
Thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate it
Thanks for having me. Very safe of you to have me via webcam, right?
Here's the thing so with the federal tax filing deadline being extended the way it has to July 15th, can you talk about
What does that really mean? Who does this apply to that apply to?
You bet this applies to all individuals first and foremost. So you've got 90 days to get your
Return filed but without having to even file an extension
But I want to point that out still on July 15th
If you can't pay still file an extension because we don't want any additional penalties
But you've got this 90 days to just sit back and get your affairs together and there's no penalties or interest
So you think that they'll actually let you file another extension in July
yes, normally we have it to October 15th and
This week has been crazy. It's been up and down. Do we still need to file?
We don't have to pay so now they made it uniform which is really helpful. So come fly 15th
You'll still need to file an extension if you want until October a lot of people will
Let's just say hypothetically
If you file them on April 15th is your refund gonna be delayed if you have a refund no
And that's a great question
The federal government is has been begging everybody if you think you might get a refund file
And I think that's a great recommendation some you're like, oh, I don't have to file or extend. I got 90 days
Well, hey, you might not be do a refund and you could use that money. You know, what's interesting
2015 where it's just
The extension or that the deadline ended for that on when you could still file and claim a refund there was over
1.4 billion dollars left on the table. So many people are entitled to refunds and don't even know it
So get out there and file. Yeah, no doubt
Alright now what if you have a quarterly tax payment do what do you do about that man?
Those are also extended so we've got individual
1040s extended 90 days in any currently payments and this is where the small business world starts to
Feel a little bit of the relief too
So if there's quarterly payments, do you know penalties or interest you can wait 90 days on that as well
All right. Fantastic. Okay, let's talk about the tax extensions announced so far that do not apply to certain transactions
Say for example IRA contributions, what else is not included?
Well, we still that's right. You nailed it IRA s if you want to contribute to an IRA
I still be thinking about April 15th, and there's the Coverdale and a few other deadlines
And so you're gonna want to watch for those but the other one is business owners
We still had to file an extension on March 15th
And so we don't know if they're gonna extend anything for S corporations or LLC's you have until September 15th
Hopefully by then we'll feel a little more of the reprieves
So I just you know
It's really trying to get more money in people's pocket right now with it the 1040 payments and so many people need it right now
You know, especially if you're you know, if your work your employment has been impacted, so that's really important
Well speaking of work out. We know a lot of folks are working from home right now
They've been ordered to do so by their companies
so if we wanted to say maybe like if we want to write off something like we use our
toilet paper as a table for our our computer
We saw that before can someone write off the toilet paper. Maybe like maybe not if this year, but can they do so next year?
Well, I
Regrettably know. I've got good news and bad news
At least you're gonna get a straight answer here under the tax cuts and Jobs Act
which we just got, you know hit with two years ago the
The deduction for an unreimbursed employee expense at home is gone
So that that's no longer an itemized deduction
So if you're spending your own money to to work from home more efficiently, it's not gonna be a write-off, but we got lower tax
Tax rates and we've got the bigger standard deduction for business owners
This is a big deal
If you were the business owner and bought all of your employees a case of toilet paper for their home office
You get to deduct that but not the employee got it. Hey real quick
I think the tax industry has ever seen anything like this. I know you guys, you know
in the biz, they call it tax season right our
Accounts excited about the deadline being pushed like that that gives you more time. Doesn't it?
It does and there's a lot of good reasons to extend anyway
And so some people think if I don't file by April 15th, I'm gonna get audited
It's actually the opposite the more time you take to file your tax return the better
So professionals are liking this breathing room
We can sprint things out and do more planning as well the government
Is there trying to do a number of things whether it's just the tax payments or family leave?
There's a lot of things for small business owners, especially there have been hit so hard
My heart just goes out to so many of you that might be watching too
This is difficult whether you're an employee or a small business owner so hard really good information
We appreciate it for more tax advice from mark. You can find him online at Mark J Kohler dot-com. It was really helpful. Yeah
Yeah, thank you