Dear Valued Client,
I hope this letter finds you well and in good health. First and foremost, for anyone who is either directly or indirectly impacted by the virus, especially those who may be ill, our heart goes out to you and we wish you a speedy and complete recovery. It is more important now more than ever that we stay connected so we can support you and/or your business during this truly unprecedented time.
With that said, I wanted to provide you with an update relating to your income tax filing(s) and available business assistance.
As you have seen over the past couple of days, we have sought to keep you as updated as possible given all of the changes that have been taking place.
- On Friday, March 20, Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin announced that the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) will also postpone the Federal tax filing deadline, meaning that both Federal tax return filings and payments are now postponed until July 15, 2020. This also includes any 1st Quarter estimated tax payments that were due on April 15th.
- Earlier in the week, the IRS had delayed the Federal tax payment deadline but left the Federal tax filing deadline as of April 15.
- There was no extension given to 2nd Quarter Estimated Tax Payments.
- This means that these payments remain due on June 15th
- At the time of this writing, the has been no consistent guidance given from State Governments as it relates to state income tax filings.
- However, in his press conference on Friday, March 20, Governor Cuomo stated that New York State would adopt the updated tax filing and payment guidelines set forth by the IRS. We anticipate that all State Governments will conform to the Federal guidelines stated above as well.
Additionally, Governor Cuomo signed the New York State on PAUSE Executive Order, a wide-ranging, 10-point policy that went into effect at 8 PM on Sunday, March 22. Most notably, the Governor mandated all Non-Essential businesses to have 100% of their in-office workforce work remotely from home. However, in guidance released by the Governor defining what is considered an ‘Essential Business’, accounting firms were designated as “Essential” under the ‘Financial Institutions’ category.
As of this writing, our offices remain fully operational and open for mail delivery and drop off only. The vast majority of our staff are working remotely from their homes but are completely in sync with all other DSJ personnel in large part because of our technological capabilities and systems. For our clients, it remains business as usual:
Tax Clients: All tax clients can continue to send your tax information through the mail, by drop off to the office, or digitally by publishing it to your Client Portal. Once your information is received, we will work diligently to complete your return in a timely manner and will notify you via email when your return is completed. Once we receive payment and your executed E-File Authorization Form, your return will be filed. Please contact our office if you currently do not have a Client Portal but want to set one up.
Business Clients: Our team is at hard at work, either in the office or remotely at home, to continue to meet your accounting needs and remain available to help you and your business in any way that we can. In recent weeks, we have assisted a group of our client’s work, to completely digitize their business into the Cloud to help them run their business uninterrupted while also remaining in compliance with the Executive Orders passed by the Governor. This is among a wide variety of services we can and are more than willing to help assist you with during these unprecedented and challenging times! Please do not hesitate to contact our offices.
As always, we remain deeply committed to providing you with the highest quality of service while ensuring our staff and families remain healthy and safe. We are confident that all of your accounting needs will be met and stand ready to assist you and/or your business in any way we can.
Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns.
As always, thank you for your continued trust in DSJ.
Sincerely,
