Tax day 2021 change could hide a big state headache
The Internal Revenue Service and US Treasury Department announced a change to this year's tax filing due date. Here in 2021, the tax filing due date (for the 2020 tax season) was extended from its previous date (April 15, 2021) to May 17, 2021. This does not necessarily affect the due date for taxes in your state. Each individual state still has their own due date for State Taxes, regardless of how the IRS changes their Federal Tax Due Date.
Federal and State date
When US taxpayers file taxes for the year, they generally do so for both Federal and State taxes all in one go. With this extension for Federal Tax Returns, the filing due date may not be affected for State Tax Returns. You may still need to file taxes for your STATE by April 15, even if your FEDERAL taxes aren't due until May 17.
The Federation of Tax Administrators webpage has a list of webpages for State Tax Agencies. In this list you can click your state's agency and find their latest ruling on the due date for state tax filing. It's entirely possible that your state will also extend their due date to May 17 – but this move is not guaranteed.
If you've already filed taxes for the 2020 season here in 2021, you have nothing to worry about. If you were planning on filing taxes before April 15 anyway, no worries! If you were counting on filing all taxes after April 15, you SHOULD make sure your state's due date isn't still April 15.
Refund date
It would appear that this extension will not affect the time it takes for refunds to be sent. It is expected that if you've already filed your taxes and are owed a refund, you'll still get said refund in the amount of time it would have taken had this extension not been granted. The extension is only in place to allow individual taxpayers an additional several weeks to get their affairs in order to file taxes for the 2020 tax season.
Take a peek at the timeline below for more updates in the last week on taxes, refunds, and stimulus checks. It's been an interesting journey, navigating taxes and government money during this pandemic – and it's not over yet!