To Our Clients and Friends:
We hope that you and your families are healthy and safe. Like many of you, we continue to monitor the COVID-19 crisis and want to share with you our commitment to continuity of service and the various initiatives we have implemented as a firm to maintain a safe work environment.
We are monitoring our federal, state, and local government updates, and we will do everything in our control to ensure that we are still available by phone, email, or text. We are committed to serving you with as little disruption to our services as reasonably possible.
Safety
Our team is monitoring the situation daily, taking into account guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), public health agencies and state officials. We will adapt our protocols as necessary to maintain our best practices for a clean and safe environment.
We follow the appropriate disinfecting protocols and social distancing suggestions. We have instructed our team members to stay away from the office, along with our clients' offices, if they feel sick or have any of the symptoms identified by the CDC. For field work, we will work with each client on a case by case basis to determine the best approach for the completion of fieldwork while providing our employees and clients with a safe work environment.
Business Continuity
We have the technology to allow our team members to work remotely, if they choose to do so, which many have done. Our offices remain open only for employees wishing to come to work (no visitors allowed) providing us with the ability to administer mail, overnight delivery services, phone calls, etc. In areas where a full quarantine has occurred, accounting firms assisting clients with meeting regulatory requirements (filing taxes, etc.) are considered mission critical and are exempt from the quarantine.
Tax Payment Extension Announced…
Not a Tax Filing Extension
As many of you are aware, the IRS announced an extension of time to pay taxes.
The IRS has issued official guidance clarifying that the 90-day extension for payment of taxes does not apply to the March 15 or April 15 filing deadlines. (IRS Notice 2020-17) This means that even though the actual tax payment has been deferred until July 15, 2020, for most taxpayers, they must still file a timely extension request to avoid the late-filing penalty (or, in the case of the missed March 15 filing deadline, request penalty abatement if late-filing penalties are imposed).
Any person with a federal income tax payment due April 15, 2020, who is affected by the COVID-19 emergency is eligible for the following relief:
- Deferral of up to $1 million in aggregate (combined tax payments due of the 2019 tax payment and 2020 first quarter estimate, both normally due on 4/15) for all taxpayers other than C corporations, regardless of filing status (so the $1 million limit applies to joint filers); or
- Deferral of up to $10 million in aggregate for C corporations (the $10 million limit applies at the consolidated group level if the corporation is part of a consolidated group).
The relief only applies to:
- 2019 income tax payments due on April 15, 2020 (including self-employment taxes); and
- The April 15, 2020, estimated income tax payment due on April 15, 2020, for the 2020 taxable year (including self-employment taxes).
This federal relief is granted under IRC §7508A, which California conforms to. As a result, we believe California conforms to the July 15 payment extension. We have reached out to the FTB for confirmation. (Spidell Publishing, 3/18/20)
We remain committed to working with you to file your returns and/or extensions in a timely fashion. Many of you are aware that we are using a paperless electronic tax return filing system this year. This will allow us a seamless method of delivering your returns to you as our staff works remotely from home.
We are continuing to monitor the situation closely and evaluate additional measures needed to support our clients and team members. With over 55 years of serving our clients we assure you that we will continue to provide you with the exceptional service you have come to depend on from our firm.
We are grateful for your loyalty and appreciate the opportunity we have to serve you. We are here for you, for whatever you need, in this time of crisis.
Wishing you good health and thank you for your continued trust in LevitZacks,
Victor G. Ramsauer, CPA
President/Chief Executive Officer/Shareholder
LevitZacks, Certified Public Accountants
