Treasury, IRS unveil new guidance covering COVID-19-related travel disruptions

Under Revenue Procedure 2020-20, up to 60 consecutive calendar days of U.S. presence "that are presumed to arise from travel disruptions caused by the COVID-19 emergency will not be counted for purposes of determining U.S. tax residency", or for the purpose of determining "whether an individual qualifies for tax treaty benefits for income from personal services performed in the United States," the Treasury and IRS said, in a statement outlining the new guidance.

The guidance is the latest in an almost daily stream of new regulations, tweaks of existing regulations and changes in deadlines that the Treasury and IRS have been issuing in recent weeks, in response to the economic and social crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

In their statement, the Treasury and IRS also unveiled what they're calling Revenue Procedure 2020-27, which they say provides that qualifications for exclusions from gross income under the Internal Revenue Code Section 911 "will not be impacted as a result of days spent away from a foreign country due to the COVID-19 emergency, based on certain departure dates".

As has become a regular feature of recent Treasury and IRS announcements having to do with new regulations and tweaks to existing ones, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, new "Frequently Asked Questions"  in connection with the new Revenue Procedures have been added to the IRS's website, the Treasury and IRS said.

The Treasury and IRS concluded their announcement by saying that they are "continuing to monitor these and other issues related to the COVID-19 emergency, and updated information about relief will continue to be posted on Coronavirus Tax Relief on IRS.gov."