U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced Friday that the federal tax filing deadline would be extended by 90 days to July 15 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While many U.S. adults have already filed their 2019 tax forms or still plan to do so soon, there are no doubt many others who are feeling relief thanks to the extension. But which Americans are most likely to take advantage of the extra time given?
In a CivicScience survey of more than 7,500 U.S. adults 18 or older, half of respondents said they had already filed their taxes, but almost one-third said they would now wait to file.Compared with those who have already filed and those who still plan to file early, the “file later” group tends to be older, more educated, and higher-income. Nearly half of the “file later” group earns more than $100,000 per year, compared with less than one-third of the “file earlier” group. It’s possible that younger, lower-income Americans are in greater need of federal tax return checks — especially considering the coronavirus pandemic — and are therefore less likely to delay filing.
Service workers and “technical / medical” employees were less likely to wait to file their taxes, while people employed in “professional / manager” and “operations / sales” roles were more likely to delay filing.There may be another factor weighing on Americans’ decisions to delay filing their taxes — whether they expect to receive a refund or to owe additional taxes. Well more than half of those who expect to owe the federal government money on their tax forms say they will delay to file. Meanwhile, 4 out of 5 Americans who expect to receive money back say they won’t wait. Overall, the Treasury Department’s extension of the tax filing deadline is certain to help Americans of all backgrounds during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, those who say they plan to take advantage of it tend to be older, wealthier professionals who may not need a tax return boost as immediately as lower-income Americans working in service and technical fields.