States and local jurisdictions continue to grapple with novel tax issues in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. On Friday, March 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”), a $2 trillion federal stimulus package to provide fiscal relief in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The CARES Act includes numerous tax relief provisions. States will need to consider whether, and how, they will conform to the federal provisions.
States continue to provide relief in response to the spread of the COVID-19 virus. This week, numerous states responded to the federal income tax filing extension, and we expect additional states to respond in the coming days. Some states are also offering relief for non-income business taxes, and much of the relief is limited to small- to mid-size businesses. Furthermore, COVID-19 is causing complications in property tax assessments, payments, and appeals.
Several states continue to move forward with the taxation of digital advertising and new tax proposals have entered the fray. We last updated you on the attempts by Maryland, Nebraska, and New York. Nebraska had a hearing on its sales tax bill in February, with relatively little movement after that. In contrast, Maryland and New York have continued their move towards imposing taxes on digital advertising in some form and West Virginia has entered the mix.
Numerous state and local jurisdictions have responded to the COVID-19 (“coronavirus”) outbreak by providing relief to taxpayers, primarily through extended filing and payment deadlines. We expect that many more jurisdictions will issue guidance in the coming weeks, particularly because the federal government recently announced its 90-day income tax payment extension plan.