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Letter to IRS Commissioner Rettig & Acting Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy Mazur - 100+ Members Urging IRS to Extend April 15th Tax Deadline

Letter

By: Bill Pascrell, Jr., Al Lawson, Jr., Cindy Axne, Debbie Dingell, Brian Fitzpatrick, Adam Smith, Ro Khanna, Dutch Ruppersberger, Kathy Manning, Nydia Velázquez, Steve Cohen, Peter Welch, Mark DeSaulnier, Tony Cárdenas, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Jahana Hayes, Nikema Williams, Jan Schakowsky, Andy Levin, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Jamaal Bowman, Kurt Schrader, Elaine Luria, Ann Kirkpatrick, Doris Matsui, Jimmy Panetta, Scott Peters, Joe Courtney, Dan Kildee, Donald Bacon, Tom Malinowski, Steven Horsford, Paul Tonko, Brendan Boyle, Jamie Raskin, Eleanor Norton, Ed Case, Stephen Lynch, Suzanne Bonamici, Susan Wild, Norma Torres, Rashida Tlaib, Chris Pappas, Dwight Evans, Donald Beyer, Jr., Ruben Gallego, Judy Chu, Jimmy Gomez, Ed Perlmutter, Darren Soto, Chuy Garcia, Seth Moulton, Deborah Ross, Adriano Espaillat, Peter DeFazio, Jim Cooper, Tom O'Halleran, Mike Thompson, Barbara Lee, Karen Bass, John Larson, Kweisi Mfume, Alma Adams, Frank Pallone, Jr., Don Payne, Jr., Grace Meng, Brian Higgins, Mikie Sherrill, Chellie Pingree, David Trone, Joe Morelle, Alcee Hastings, Sr., Danny Davis, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Madeleine Dean, Marilyn Strickland, Joe Neguse, Brenda Lawrence, Susie Lee, David Cicilline, Gerry Connolly, Anna Eshoo, Ted Lieu, Alan Lowenthal, Bill Posey, Michael San Nicolas, Jim McGovern, Angie Craig, Dina Titus, Earl Blumenauer, Conor Lamb, Abigail Spanberger, Terri Sewell, Raul Grijalva, Jerry McNerney, Julia Brownley, Jason Crow, John Sarbanes, Ilhan Omar, Joshua Gottheimer, Albio Sires, Thomas Suozzi, John Katko
Date: March 16, 2021
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Government Budget and Spending

Dear Commissioner Rettig and Acting Assistant Secretary Mazur:

We write to urge you to extend the impending April 15th federal tax filing and payment deadline. We welcomed the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) decision last year, after bipartisan calls from Congress, to provide an automatic filing and payment extension to July 15, 2020. Almost a year later, we are still grappling with the massive economic, logistical and health challenges wrought by this devastating pandemic. Millions of stressed-out taxpayers, businesses and preparers would appreciate an extension of the deadline to file their 2020 tax returns.
Over the past year, Congress enacted four historic emergency stimulus packages to deliver relief to Americans through Economic Impact Payments, the Paycheck Protection Program, and the Employee Retention Tax Credit. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, signed into law by President Biden on March 11, 2021, contained a provision excluding from income the first $10,200 of unemployment benefits received in 2020 for those with an adjusted gross income under $150,000. The IRS will need to take action to address the changes in the tax law, and taxpayers will need additional time to fully understand how this affects their tax liability. Further, taxpayers and tax return preparers are awaiting guidance from the IRS regarding these recent tax changes and are still waiting for some IRS forms to be made available for electronic filing.1 Compounding these complicating factors, the IRS did not begin the 2020 filing season until February 12, 2021, nearly three weeks later than usual, creating a lot less time for constituents and businesses to file taxes overall.
With limited in-person tax assistance at local tax preparation clinics, libraries, and community centers, tens of millions of our constituents are facing the same logistical hurdles as last year. Additionally, the IRS is struggling to address taxpayer issues, with the agency reporting that it is answering only 1 out of 4 telephone calls. As our leaders on the House Ways and Means Committee have pointed out, compared with the same time last year, 27% fewer tax returns have been filed already and 31% fewer returns have been processed by the IRS.2
For these reasons, we respectfully urge you to extend the federal tax filing and payment deadline as Americans, and the IRS, continue to grapple with the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you for your thoughtful attention to this urgent matter.
Very truly yours,


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