Most tax professionals found last season’s filing extension to July 15 helpful and want another this season, according to a recent survey from the National Association of Tax Professionals.
Of the 589 respondents, 61.8 percent reported that they thought the July 15, 2020, filing extension for individual returns was positive for them as a practitioner, and 77 percent of tax pros thought the extension was positive for their clients. More than half (53 percent) of respondents favor another filing extension in 2021.
Other findings of the survey include:
- 73 percent of respondents expect the lack of guidance from the IRS on new tax provisions related to COVID-19 relief to be the biggest challenge for 2021.
- Two out of three respondents expect the biggest challenge for taxpayers in the 2021 filing season to be understanding the tax impacts of COVID-19, including the Economic Impact Payments, COVID distributions and the Earned Income Tax Credit.
- Almost four out of five (78 percent) believe the delay in processing 2019 returns will affect the 2021 season.
