Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday said that the department will aim to allow $300 billion in tax deferrals to combat the coronavirus pandemic, a major increase from what was previously announced.
“That’s an enormous amount of liquidity in the system,” he said at a White House press briefing.
He said that individuals can defer up to $1 million and corporations can defer $10 million in tax payments to the federal government without being charged for penalties and interest.
The delay in filing and paying taxes will be for 90 days.
Mnuchin told reporters Tuesday that taxpayers can still file their taxes on April 15 if they are able to do so.
Under normal circumstances, April 15 is when tax returns are filed and due. Taxpayers now have an extra 90 days to file and pay their taxes penalty- and interest-free.
Mnuchin had previewed the plan last week.
Tax season kicked off on Jan. 27. More than 150 million individual tax returns for the 2019 tax year are expected to be filed, with the vast majority of those coming before returns are due, according to the IRS.
The agency expects that roughly 90% of individuals will file their returns electronically. It remains an open question how quickly tax refunds would be processed for taxpayers who file their returns early despite the fact that the April 15 deadline has been pushed back.
