Time's running out for Americans to claim a possible COVID tax refund

July 10 is the drop-dead deadline for tens of millions of Americans to file for a potential COVID-related IRS refund. If taxpayers haven't filed with the IRS by then to protect a potential refund or abatement, they will lose that chance forever.

The potential tax refund stems from a federal judge's ruling in Kwong v. United States late last year suggesting the federal tax filing and payment deadlines were automatically suspended during the federally declared COVID-19 disaster period from January 20, 2020, through May 11, 2023. The government is appealing the ruling, but if the decision stands, millions of Americans who paid or were charged late fees or interest during those 3.5 years may be due a refund since everything was on hold.

But here's the catch: Americans can't wait for the outcome of the litigation to file for a refund or abatement. The law puts a deadline on how long people get to claim the refund, and that formula brings the last day to do so to July 10, 2026, tax experts said. The IRS hasn't advertised this because it likely would rather not have to refund potentially billions of dollars to individuals, businesses and trusts and estates, but lawyers, accountants and

Fuente original: Yahoo Finance (https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/times-running-americans-claim-possible-210058683.html)