By Kyle M. Brehm and David B. Tibbals
Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz issued Emergency Executive Order 20-04 on March 16, 2020. The Executive Order forces the closure of several types of places of public accommodation from March 17, 2020, through March 27, 2020. The list of impacted businesses includes restaurants and bars offering their products for on-premises consumption, theaters, performance venues, fitness centers, and other recreational or entertainment facilities.
On March 18, 2020, the Minnesota Department of Revenue announced relief for businesses impacted by Executive Order 20-04:
- Businesses will have a 30-day grace period for payment of their sales and use tax liability associated with the monthly return due on March 20, 2020.
- The Department will not assess penalties or interest that would otherwise result from this failure to timely pay their sales and use tax liability.
- Relief does not extend the deadline for filing sales and use tax returns, and presumably does not mitigate any corresponding late-filing penalties.
- At this point, relief applies only to businesses impacted by Executive Order 20-04.
- Outside of this measure, businesses may still request other penalty and interest relief for reasonable cause under Minnesota law.
Our team continues to actively track tax impacts created by this challenging time. Please feel free to reach out should you wish to discuss this further.
