IRS: NYers owed $86.8M on unfiled 2019 taxes; deadline days away

That tax return you neglected to file for 2019 might be costing you a lot of money.

The Internal Revenue Service estimates that 81,600 New Yorkers  will leave $86.8 million in refunds to be swept into government coffers unless they file their tax returns by Monday, July 17.

The median refund for New Yorkers would be $945, according to IRS calculations.
The projections are based in part on money withheld from jobs and other income sources that are reported to the IRS, an agency spokesman said.

"The 2019 tax returns came due during the pandemic and many people may have overlooked or forgotten about these refunds," IRS commissioner Danny Werfel said in a statement. "We want taxpayers to claim these refunds, but time is running out."

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency in March 2020.

Nationwide, the IRS estimates that almost $1.5 billion would be owed to 1.47 million people if only they would file their returns.

New York sits in fourth place, behind Texas, Florida and California, in the 2019 tax procrastination ranking of the IRS.

 The agency estimates that 135,300 Texans would receive $142.2 million, with a median refund of $924. Californians would be eligible to receive $141.8 million, while Floridians could get $89.5 million.

Federal law allows taxpayers to file and claim their tax refunds within three years. If they miss the deadline, the money is swept into the U.S. Treasury.

The COVID-19 emergency prompted Washington to extend the three-year window for unfiled 2019 returns to July 17.

Susan Silverman Quigley, whose Garden City firm offers financial planning, tax, mortgage and insurance services, said that her practice has been busy filing and fixing tax returns that were due during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"A lot of it was connected to COVID," she said. "A lot of people had so much anxiety that they were frozen. They just stopped in their tracks."

Here's the IRS' advice for quickly gathering documents needed to file a tax return by the midnight Monday deadline:

• Request forms W-2, 1098, 1099 or 5498 from employers, banks or others.
• If that doesn't work or takes too long, order a free wage and income transcript online at irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript.

By Ken Schachter

kenneth.schachter@newsday.comkschach

Ken Schachter covers corporate news, including technology and aerospace, and other business topics for Newsday. He has also worked at The Miami Herald and The Jerusalem Post.