8 Tax Deadlines for Your July Calendar

Life moves quickly. It’s easy to get distracted. But that can be costly.

Miss an important financial date or deadline, and you could be on the hook for a penalty or lose out on a limited-time opportunity to save money.

Enter our money calendar series.

In this edition, we’ve rounded up the noteworthy money-related dates that are coming up in July 2020. Take a look and mark your calendar with any dates that apply to you.

A Tax Day like no other

Earlier this year, the IRS announced that it pushed back Tax Day by 90 days, with both federal tax returns and federal taxes owed for 2019 due on July 15, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Certain other tax-related deadlines generally are tied to Tax Day, though, and many of them were bumped back to July 15 as well. In fact, we’ve rounded up eight tax deadlines that fall on that Wednesday.

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July 15 is the deadline to:

• Contribute to an individual retirement account for 2019: The base contribution limit for the 2019 tax year is $6,000. Folks who are 50 or older also can make an additional “catch-up” contribution of $1,000.
• Pay the 10% penalty on IRA or workplace retirement plan withdrawals that are subject to that penalty for 2019: To learn about this penalty, check out “Beware These 3 Tax Penalties on Retirement Accounts.”
• File tax returns and pay any taxes owed for 2019: If you have yet to file, first check out “6 Ways to Get Your Taxes Done for Free.”
• Request an extension for 2019 returns: If you’re unable to file by July 15, you can request an extension until Oct. 15 by filing IRS Form 4868. Just keep in mind that it’s only an extension for filing your return. It does not give you more time to pay, so expect to incur late penalties and interest charges if you don’t pay by July 15.
• Contribute to health savings accounts for 2019: The base contribution limit for the 2019 tax year is $3,500 for someone with self-only health insurance coverage and $7,000 for someone with family coverage. Folks who are 55 or older also can make an additional “catch-up” contribution of $1,000.
• Contribute to Archer medical savings accounts for 2019: For the limits for the 2019 tax year, see IRS Publication 969.
• Pay the first installment of 2020 estimated taxes. This deadline applies to the self-employed, who use Form 1040-ES to pay this tax.
• Pay the second installment of 2020 estimated taxes. This deadline, which the IRS bumped back from June 15, applies to the self-employed, who use Form 1040-ES to pay this tax.

Back-to-school sales tax holidays

The 2020-2021 school year might start off differently than in the past, with many school districts across the country currently weighing whether to return students to the classroom or resume online classes amid the pandemic.

Still, back-to-school sales tax holidays will go on as usual in some states. That means residents of those states will have the opportunity to buy items like school supplies, clothing and sometimes computers this summer without paying any sales tax.

We’ve identified three states with back-to-school sales tax holidays that start in July:

• Alabama: July 17-19
• Mississippi: July 31-Aug. 1
• Tennessee: July 31-Aug. 2

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