- Massachusetts Department of Revenue
Ann C. Dufresne
617-626-2369
dufresnea@dor.state.ma.us
(Boston, MA) - Massachusetts Revenue Commissioner Amy Pitter today announced that the Department of Revenue will extend the one week reprieve the agency initiated Tuesday for taxpayers affected by the Boston Marathon bombings, expanding the IRS’s three month extension to file personal income tax returns, payments and extensions.
“Since most taxpayers use information from their federal tax return to complete state tax forms, we wanted to ensure that we were offering at least the same relief as the IRS,” said Commissioner Pitter. “There are two major differences from the IRS—one is that the automatic Massachusetts extension applies to affected individuals outside Suffolk County as well, the other is that our relief extends to many impacted businesses.”
Suffolk County residents and all Massachusetts personal income tax filers impacted by the violence will have until July 15, 2013 to file any returns, extensions or estimated payments that are otherwise normally due on April 16, 2013. Taxpayers will not need to file any additional forms or get prior authorization from DOR for the three month extension.
Business and corporate taxpayers directly impacted by the explosions will also have an additional three months to file returns that were due April 16. These taxpayers will still be required to file their regular withholding and sales/use and meals tax returns. However, if they are unable to file and/or make payments because of impacts from the tragic events of April 15, they can seek an abatement for the late filing and late payment penalties.
By law, DOR cannot waive any interest accruing with respect to payments that were due April 16.
Commissioner Pitter encourages any taxpayer who takes advantage of the tax relief to file their returns and extensions electronically, either through the state’s online tax filing system WebFile for Income or other tax preparation software.
This tax filing season, 3.5 million Massachusetts taxpayers are expected to file returns, more than 94% of them will file electronically.
