IRS Expected To Push Back Tax-Filing Deadline

If you've been putting off filing your tax return this year, here's some good news. The IRS is expected to delay the filing deadline by another month, a congressional source familiar with the matter tells NPR. The delay was first reported by Bloomberg News.

Updated March 17, 2021 at 3:34 PM ET

Democratic leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee called the extension "absolutely necessary." The statement from Chairman Richard Neal of Massachusetts and Bill Pascrell of New Jersey said the new deadline would be May 17.

With the original April 15 deadline less than a month away, there have been numerous last-minute changes to the tax laws because of the COVID-19 relief bill signed into law by President Biden just last week. One big change made the first $10,200 in unemployment insurance collected in 2019 tax-exempt for many recipients.

The IRS has been under pressure to move back the filing deadline by taxpayers and accountants.

Last year, the filing date was pushed back to July because of the coronavirus pandemic. The IRS, which has seen its budgets cut by Congress and its staff reduced in recent years, is still processing millions of paper returns from that year.

The agency said Tuesday it has made payments from the stimulus bill to some 90 million Americans. [Copyright 2021 NPR]