Taxpayers rush to file returns by Wednesday despite 3-month extension

NEW YORK - After the coronavirus pandemic hit, the U.S. government pushed back the deadline to file your federal tax return by three months. And now many people are racing to their accountants at the last minute despite that extension.

CPA Anil Melwani said his firm 212 Tax and Accounting Services in Manhattan is bombarded by people scrambling to meet the tax deadline on Wednesday, July 15.

"I've been doing this for 12, 13 years and any April I've done this has been smooth sailing compared to what I've been going through the past few days," he said.

Marc Gigerian, a CPA with Gigerian & Gigerian in Howell, New Jersey, said that clients are "coming out of the woodwork" in the last two weeks.

"It's the same thing every time," Gigerian said. "'I forgot. I've been busy. It's corona.'"

"There's a lot of late arrivals now," Jeff Weberman, a CPA with Adeptus Partners, said. "People coming in late to file their taxes after realizing it's due in a couple of days."

Weberman's firm has offices in New York, New Jersey, and Maryland.

"A lot of people got caught up with navigating the world as it exists today," he said.

But now your time is up. You can get an extension to file your paperwork but not the money you owe. If you don't pay up by Wednesday, you will get slapped with penalties and interest.

"There's a certain type of client that likes to come in at the last minute," Gigerian said. "It's usually people who owe a lot of money so they like to push it back as far as they can."