San Francisco Tax Preparation / CPA: Processing Pending Payments During COVID-19

The IRS has warned taxpayers that if they mailed checks (either with or without tax returns), the checks may still be unopened in the backlog of mail that it is processing due to COVID-19. Any payments will be posted as the date the IRS receives them, rather than the date the IRS processed them.

Penalties and Interest

To avoid penalties and interest, taxpayers should not cancel their checks, and should ensure funds continue to be available so the IRS can process them. To provide fair and equitable treatment, the IRS is providing relief from bad check penalties for dishonored checks it received between March 1 and July 15 due to delays in this IRS processing. However, interest and penalties may still apply.

High Call Volumes

Due to high call volumes, the IRS suggests waiting to contact the agency about any unprocessed paper payments still pending. Information on options to make payments other than by mail can be found at https://www.irs.gov/payments.

Additional Information

For more information on the IRS’s progress on mission critical functions during COVID-19, go to https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-operations-during-covid-19-mission-critical-functions-continue.