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A landmark federal court decision has opened the doors to COVID-era tax refunds for millions of U.S. taxpayers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In Kwong v. United States<\/em>, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims determined that the COVID-19 pandemic effectively paused federal tax deadlines from January 2020 through July 2023, giving taxpayers more time to file and pay their taxes than the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had previously recognized.\u00a0<\/p>\n The court ruled that the disaster-relief provision in Internal Revenue Code Section 7508A requires the IRS to pause all penalties and interest throughout the entire disaster period, plus an additional 60 days.<\/p>\n That means that while the COVID-19 federal disaster period ran from January 20, 2020, through May 11, 2023, returns and payments weren\u2019t late until after July 10, 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Last week, Erin Collins, the national taxpayer advocate, wrote that tens of millions of taxpayers<\/a> could be eligible for COVID-era refunds, given that they were hit with penalties or interest for late filings or payments during this period.<\/p>\n \u201cThis issue is widespread and not limited to a small or specialized group of taxpayers,\u201d she wrote. \u00a0<\/p>\n Collins leads the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate, an independent organization within the IRS that helps taxpayers resolve IRS issues and advocates for taxpayers\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n