SHOULD TAX DEADLINE BE PUSHED BACK FURTHER

Should tax  deadline be pushed back further. After a brutal tax year, fighting thru COVID-19, changes to the Tax Code due to President Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, then President Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, and administering the stimulus bill, the IRS has been a bit overwhelmed lately. The tax deadline of April 15th, 2021, which was delayed until May 17th, was not a product of the IRS. It was the tax professional community who lobbied for the deadline to be pushed back, as they too have been inundated with extra work, and less resources at the IRS to help them, and a  asking Congress for the extension, pleaded that ultimately it would be the taxpayer who suffered the most, if the extension were not granted. Should tax deadline be pushed back further.

"Operationally, this was not called on by the IRS", stated Charles Rettig, Commissioner of the IRS,. "It was an accommodation for the most vulnerable individuals...It's to try to give the individuals who might be struggling to get some of their information a little bit of breathing room if they're not otherwise comfortable doing the automatic extension until Oct. 15th. Rep. Bradley Schneider, D-Ill, asked Rettig why the estimated tax payments were not also postponed.  "There's a large contingent of wealthy individuals in this country who do not make their estimated payments and who essentially take the money they should be paying in quarterly estimated payments to the government and take the arbitrage, invest it, and we're not going to give them a break of interest and penalties to do so," Rettig said.

Rep. Smucker, R-Pa., asked Rettig if the IRS would allow a postponement of estimated tax payments for small business owners. Rettig answered with a flat "no", but said he identifies with small business owners, noting that as he has previously, he grew up working in his family's small business.  "This issue is, where do we draw the line, and that line will quickly run to wealthy individuals who game the system, Rettig said.