By Richard Rubin, Laura Saunders and Andrew Restuccia

Updated March 17, 2020 12:59 pm ET

WASHINGTON—The U.S. government will postpone the April 15 tax-payment deadline for millions of individuals, giving Americans another 90 days to pay their 2019 income-tax bills in an unprecedented move.

The IRS, using authority under President Trump’s national-emergency declaration, will waive interest and penalties as well, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said at the White House Tuesday. The delay is available to people who owe $1 million or less and corporations that owe $10 million or less, Mr. Mnuchin said.

The government granted the extension to give taxpayers a financial cushion as households and businesses cope with the sudden slowdown in economic activity caused by the coronavirus outbreak. The move could provide households with hundreds of billions of dollars in temporary liquidity, Mr. Mnuchin said last week in previewing the government’s actions.

“We are going to use all the tools we have,” Mr. Mnuchin said on Tuesday. “And what tools we don’t have, we’re going to go to Congress.”

The IRS will continue to process tax refunds, and Mr. Mnuchin urged people who can file their tax returns to do so. Mr. Mnuchin said last week that the tax deadline would be delayed for all but the superrich, but his Tuesday announcement was the first explanation of the length of the delay and how it might work. The tax agency hasn’t yet released full details about how the delay will work.

As of March 6, the IRS had received 68 million individual income-tax returns. That was less than half of the returns that the IRS normally expects to get, meaning that tens of millions of people can benefit from the relaxed deadlines.

Many taxpayers who expect refunds file soon after the IRS opens filing in late January. That is particularly true for low-income households that benefit from the earned-income tax credit, which gives them cash.

About three-quarters of households typically receive refunds, and the IRS will still process returns and send out cash. However, people who file closer to the deadline typically owe money and are waiting to pay. They will benefit the most from Tuesday’s announcement, as will businesses that are worried about their cash flow.

Normally, taxpayers must pay what they owe by the mid-April deadline, and they can seek six-month extensions to file their full returns.

The IRS has adjusted its own operations during the outbreak, shifting many employees to remote work, according to a message that Commissioner Charles Rettig sent to workers late Friday. In addition, Mr. Rettig limited travel, gave employees the option of avoiding face-to-face contacts with taxpayers and stopped those in-person contacts in heavily affected areas such as New York and Seattle.

“We continue to look at what sort of flexibilities and additional options can be available to expand telework flexibility given possible resource limitations,” he wrote.

Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-postpones-april-15-tax-deadline-for-90-days-for-millions-of-americans-11584463242