Spanberger Calls on IRS to Extend Tax Filing Deadline to July 15

WASHINGTON – Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., is calling on the Internal Revenue Service to immediately extend the 2020 tax filing deadline an additional three months — to July 15, 2021.

Central Virginia taxpayers currently have until Thursday, April 15, 2021 to file their 2020 tax return and pay any tax owed. However, the IRS continues to struggle with existing backlogs — and the agency started accepting 2020 tax returns two weeks later than originally anticipated.

As of the end of January 2021, there were still 6.7 million 2019 returns in the IRS backlog. Many Central Virginians are still waiting for their 2019 refunds, while some Virginians are waiting for stimulus payments that would have been based on 2019 returns.

In a letter sent to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig late last week, Spanberger called on the agency to extend the filing deadline to July 15, as it did during last year’s filing season.

“The ongoing backlog of 2019 tax returns, the insufficient capacity of IRS customer service phone lines, and the hundreds of thousands of CP59 notices sent to taxpayers who the IRS claimed did not file a 2019 tax return have only exacerbated the lack of clarity surrounding tax filing this year,” she said . “This confusion, and the corresponding challenges related to an insufficient ability to plan and save, has been compounded by a condensed filing season that didn’t even begin until February 12th, 16 days later than tax season began last year.”

Spanberger continued, “Such an extension would help eliminate unnecessary taxpayer anxiety during an already stressful period by providing more time to establish clarity and plan for payments. Additionally, this extension would enable the IRS to provide stimulus checks and outstanding 2019 tax refunds to the millions of taxpayers still waiting, thereby simplifying their filing process for this tax season.”