Posted on March 20 2020

Coronavirus Update 3/20/20

EMERGENCY UPDATE — Friday, March 20 —

To Our Clients:

In our email message to you yesterday, we explained the changes recently made by the IRS regarding the timing of final 2019 federal income tax payments and first quarter estimated payments for 2020.  You will recall that, in all such cases, the due date for these payments was deferred from April 15 to July 15.

Today, we would like to provide you with another update.

As of yesterday, the IRS had not postponed the April 15 filing deadline.   We are happy to inform you that this morning the Treasury Department officially moved the federal filing date from April 15 to July 15 to coincide with the timing of the deferred payment.  This is good news, as it means we will not have to file federal extensions on your behalf.  In effect, for this year only, July 15 is replacing April 15 as what has become to be known as “Tax Day.”

It is important to note that we are still awaiting official word from Pennsylvania and local taxing authorities, who have yet to postpone their respective filing and payment due dates.  We fully expect that they will do so; in fact, as a result of last evening’s shutdown of most of Pennsylvania’s businesses (including accounting firms), they really have no choice.  For now, we are proceeding on the basis that Pennsylvania and local taxing authorities will postpone their respective filing and tax payment due dates.  We continue to monitor this situation and will advise you of any changes.

Regarding Pennsylvania, we should add that the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants has sent a formal notice to Governor Wolf requesting a delay for filing and payment to no earlier than June 15.  Like this morning’s Treasury announcement, this would be welcome news.

In our email message yesterday, we also informed you of revised office hours beginning on Monday, March 23, 2020.  As a result of Governor Wolf’s shutdown order, our office is closed indefinitely.  This means we will not be answering our phones.  The only way to contact us is via email.  As stated yesterday, we are requiring our professional and administrative staff to work remotely from home, and someone will respond to you.

While the extended filing and payment dates provide us with more time to complete your tax returns, we recognize that those of you expecting refunds would prefer to file your returns sooner rather than later.  We will make every effort to do so, but please understand that the shutdown order does pose certain limitations for clients choosing not to register their Client Portals.   We are working to resolve those limitations as soon as we can.

Once again, we appreciate your patience and understanding during these trying times, and encourage all of you to be safe and stay healthy.

Very truly yours,
MillerSearles LLC | Certified Public Accountants | Advisors