Coronavirus

Alabama to Follow Feds on April 15 Tax Deadline Change

(U.S. Army photo illustration by Thomas Hamilton III)

The Alabama Department of Revenue expects to delay the April 15 tax payment deadline for state tax filers but is waiting for direction from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

“We will follow suit with whatever the IRS does,” Amanda Collier, an ADOR communications specialist, told Alabama Daily News on Monday.

Last week, President Donald Trump said he would use his emergency authority to allow individual taxpayers ad businesses to defer paying their taxes by next month’s deadline if they have suffered adverse effects from the spreading virus.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters that the delay would cover “virtually all Americans other than the super-rich,” the Associated Press reported.

Advocates have said people shouldn’t have to worry about filing their taxes in the midst of a public health emergency.

So far, a new federal filing deadline hasn’t been announced. Collier said ADOR is waiting for details from the federal government before moving forward with instructions for Alabama filers.

Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, who chairs the Education Ways and Means Committee in the State Senate, said he spoke with ADOR officials last week.

“They are very much aware of the need to extend the filing deadline but are waiting for the feds to set a date,” Orr said.