Timeline: COVID-Era IRS Refunds, Key Dates from 2019 to July 10, 2026

The COVID-era refund story spans roughly seven years of legislation, court decisions, and IRS guidance. The timeline below identifies the events most relevant to a Form 843 protective claim under Kwong v. United States.

2019 — Congress sets the legal hook

December 20, 2019 — Congress enacts IRC § 7508A(d)

As part of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020, Congress added subsection (d) to IRC § 7508A, titled "Mandatory 60-day extension." The statute provides that for taxpayers determined by the Secretary to be affected by a federally declared disaster, the period of the disaster "shall be disregarded" in computing tax filing and payment deadlines. This is the statutory hook the Kwong court would later rely on.

2020 — Disaster declaration and initial relief

January 20, 2020 — COVID-19 federal disaster declaration begins

The President declared a federally declared disaster under the Stafford Act based on the COVID-19 outbreak, with retroactive effective date of January 20, 2020. The declaration covered the entire United States and its territories. This date is the start of the COVID disaster window for IRS § 7508A(d) purposes.

March 27, 2020 — CARES Act signed into law

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) provided emergency tax relief for individuals and businesses. The CARES Act did not by itself address the § 7508A(d) deadline-suspension question that Kwong later decided.

April 2020 — IRS Notice 2020-23

The IRS issued Notice 2020-23, postponing certain federal tax-filing and payment deadlines from April 15, 2020 to July 15, 2020. The notice provided narrow, time-limited relief — one of the IRS positions the Kwong court would later find insufficient under § 7508A(d).

2022 — First wave of penalty relief

August 24, 2022 — IRS Notice 2022-36

The IRS issued Notice 2022-36, granting automatic relief from certain failure-to-file penalties for tax years 2019 and 2020 if the return was filed by September 30, 2022. The notice provided narrow, year-specific relief; the Kwong court later found this insufficient to satisfy § 7508A(d).

2023 — Disaster window ends

July 10, 2023 — COVID-19 federal disaster declaration ends

The COVID-19 federally declared disaster ended on July 10, 2023, after roughly 41 months. Combined with January 20, 2020 as the start, this defines the "COVID disaster window" of January 20, 2020 through July 10, 2023.

2024 — Loper Bright reshapes the legal terrain

January 2024 — IRS Notice 2024-07

The IRS issued Notice 2024-07, providing automatic relief from certain failure-to-pay penalties for balances assessed during early-COVID-era return processing. Like Notice 2022-36, narrow and time-limited.

April 2024 — Abdo v. Commissioner

The U.S. Tax Court decided Abdo v. Commissioner, a deadline-suspension case involving COVID-era penalties. Abdo reached partial conclusions about § 7508A(d) but did not provide the full statutory holding that Kwong would later issue.

June 28, 2024 — Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (SCOTUS)

The U.S. Supreme Court decided Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, 603 U.S. ___ (2024), overruling the four-decade-old Chevron doctrine of judicial deference to agency interpretations. By a 6–3 vote, the Court held that the Administrative Procedure Act requires courts — not agencies — to "decide all relevant questions of law." The decision reshaped how courts read IRS positions, including the § 7508A(d) interpretation later at issue in Kwong.

2025 — Kwong decides the central question

November 2025 — Kwong v. United States

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims decided Kwong v. United States, 179 Fed. Cl. 382 (Nov. 2025). The court held that IRC § 7508A(d) automatically suspended IRS filing and payment deadlines for the entire COVID-19 federal disaster period (January 20, 2020 – July 10, 2023). The plaintiff was awarded a refund of failure-to-file and failure-to-pay penalties tied to a 2020 return whose original due date fell within the disaster window.

Late 2025 — Government appeals to the Federal Circuit

The U.S. government filed a notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. As of the date this timeline was last updated, the appeal is pending, with no public timeline for the decision. The appeal does not pause the IRC § 6511 deadline for individual refund claims — making protective claims the recommended approach for taxpayers.

2026 — Public guidance and the deadline

April 30, 2026 — National Taxpayer Advocate blog post on Kwong

The National Taxpayer Advocate published a public blog post addressing the Kwong decision and its implications for taxpayers. The post estimated that "tens of millions of taxpayers may be eligible for significant tax refunds" if the Kwong reading holds, and recommended that taxpayers file refund claims themselves — including protective claims with the language "Protective Refund Claim Pursuant to Kwong Case" — before the IRC § 6511 deadline.

May 2026 — Mainstream news coverage

Major business and financial publications covered the Kwong decision and its taxpayer implications, including the New York Times (May 8, 2026), the Wall Street Journal, Fortune (May 6, 2026), and Tax Notes. The coverage drew public attention to the July 10, 2026 deadline and the protective-claim filing approach.

July 10, 2026 — IRC § 6511 deadline for most COVID-era penalty refund claims

For most COVID-era penalty assessments, the three-year refund-claim window under IRC § 6511 closes on July 10, 2026 — three years after the COVID disaster declaration ended. Form 843 protective claims must be filed (mailed certified) before this date to preserve refund rights. Assessments paid later than the original deadline have their own three-year window from the date of payment, which for some filers is later than July 10, 2026.

After July 10, 2026

Once the § 6511 deadline closes for a given assessment, no court ruling — including a final Kwong appeal decision — can revive a missed claim. The window for filing closes one taxpayer at a time as each year's deadline lapses. The Federal Circuit's eventual ruling on the Kwong appeal will determine the outcome of already-filed claims, but cannot retroactively extend the filing deadline for taxpayers who waited.