Two important deadlines that may not apply to you, please read them anyways:
- R&D Tax Credit retroactive expensing. If you know about this, we have likely already discussed it. The OBBBA passed last year allows qualifying taxpayers to go back and AMEND prior year returns (2022-2024) to expense capitalized section 174 expenses. This must be done NO LATER THAN JULY 6TH 2026, so time is running out to submit those amendments. The other option was to accelerate the capitalized expenses into 2025/2026 tax year, which a majority of clients are opting to do.
- COVID-ERA PENALTIES: this one is lesser known. Two recent federal rulings–Abdo v. Commissioner (2024) and Kwong v. United States (2025)–state that the IRS lacked the legal authority to assess certain penalties during the COVID-19 disaster period. The IRS has since refunded $1.2 billion to affected taxpayers. Relief can be requested, but this must be done by JULY 10TH 2026, so this is also on a time clock. There are third party service providers that have automated this process for a service fee which is likely a percentage of the recovered amount. One example is TaxBandits. Our firm is not taking a fee for this, you would work directly with the third party provider if automation and convenience are preferred. Given the short time period and the automated processes in place, we would recommend it. The alternative is scanning your IRS.gov accounts to review penalties issued from tax year 2020-2023. Also please note that the IRS is appealing these rulings and they could be overturned.