IRS chief: Tax-deadline postponement could delay launch of child tax credit program

The delay in the tax-filing deadline could potentially postpone the launch of a new monthly child tax credit payment program, the head of the IRS warned Thursday.

Commissioner Chuck Rettig also said he expected that people will not have to file amended returns in order to claim a new tax break on jobless benefits.

Appearing before a House tax subcommittee, he rejected suggestions the agency postpone its deadline for filing quarterly estimated tax payments, as it did for annual returns.

And Rettig pushed back against complaints about a backlog of unprocessed tax returns at the agency, pointing to the coronavirus pandemic and recent tax legislation approved by Congress.

“The importance of getting through this is not lost on anyone,” he told the Ways and Means subcommittee on oversight.

His comments came one day after the IRS announced it was postponing the main tax-filing deadline until May 17 from the usual April 15, and amid an unusually difficult filing season for the agency.

The deadline postponement was demanded by lawmakers in both parties, and Rettig made clear he did not like the idea. That’s partly because it would make it harder for the IRS to launch the new child tax credit program — which involves creating a special Web portal for beneficiaries — that is supposed to open for business on July 1, he said.

“The same people who do our income tax processing” and stimulus check processing “are the people who need to develop that portal, so I don’t have the resources to devote to that portal until filing season ends,” he said. “We now have one month less to do the development.”

“We intend to do our best to get there — I’m hopeful that I don’t have to come to the committee to say that we’re unable to meet the statutory requirement” to launch by July 1.