You don’t have to worry about your 2020 taxes on April 15 this year, but millions of people will have to focus on their 2021 bills this Thursday.
While taxpayers have an extra month to assemble their 2020 returns, over 9.5 million filers who pay estimated quarterly taxes are still staring down an April 15 deadline—and no deferral seems to be coming to their rescue.
The Internal Revenue Service’s extension of the tax deadline was only for year-end returns. It did not grant any additional time for estimated payments, as it did in 2020.
Roughly 6% of individual tax filers make quarterly payments. They’re a dreaded part of business for the self-employed, sole proprietors, and gig workers. Every three months, people who earn money that is not subject to withholding—which can be anything from rental property income to work from clients—must make estimated payments on that income. Those can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand.
The groups effected are the same groups that have been hit especially hard by the pandemic, and many are struggling financially. Many have applied for Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) loans or Economic Impact Disaster loans.
There seemed to be some hope for the self-employed who are dreading that deadline earlier this month, when a bipartisan group of 60 members of Congress sent a letter to the IRS urging it to move the deadline for first-quarter estimated tax payments to May 17.
That followed a similar appeal from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the National Association of Enrolled Agents, who said not moving the estimated tax deadline “ignores the challenges many small businesses and other taxpayers have suffered as a result of the pandemic.”
The IRS, though, has not commented on the requests—and no changes have been announced, meaning the deadline still stands.
