Hello to all our Chinese friends in Austin! Recent news about IRS COVID-era refunds has drawn a lot of attention. For those of us living in the U.S. — especially in a city like Austin, with its concentration of tech industry workers and a large Chinese community — this is more than just a headline; it could directly affect your wallet. Under the relevant rules, taxpayers faced a final deadline to claim COVID-era refunds: July 10, 2026. It's important to clarify that the "refund" referred to here is a refund of late-filing and late-payment penalties and interest charged by the IRS during the pandemic (arising from the case Kwong v. United States) — not a stimulus payment.
Editor's Note (updated July 16, 2026): This article was originally published on July 10, 2026 (the deadline date itself); that deadline has now passed, and the IRS's appeal in the Kwong case is still ongoing. This article previously mischaracterized this refund as a stimulus payment/unclaimed Child Tax Credit and incorrectly listed the year as 2024; both errors have now been corrected. The windows for claiming stimulus payments closed separately on May 17, 2024, and April 15, 2025.
Why Is There a "COVID-Era Refund" at All?
To understand this refund opportunity, it helps to look back at an important ruling. In November 2025, the Court of Federal Claims held in Kwong v. United States that, under Internal Revenue Code Section 7508A(d), the COVID-19 national disaster declaration automatically extended certain tax deadlines — including the deadline for claiming refunds of penalties and interest — for the period from January 20, 2020, to July 10, 2023. As a result, taxpayers who were charged penalties and interest for late-filed returns or late-paid taxes during the pandemic could submit Form 843 (noting "Kwong v. United States" at the top of the form) as a protective refund claim by July 10, 2026. Because the IRS has appealed the ruling, the ultimate outcome for these claims is still pending before the courts. As for the more familiar stimulus checks and the expanded Child Tax Credit, their respective claim windows closed in 2024 and 2025 and are unrelated to this July 10 deadline.
What Does This Mean in Practice for Austin's Chinese Community?
Among the Austin tax clients we work with at YZ CPA LLC, many are tech professionals, restaurant owners, or international students. In 2020 and 2021, some of our Chinese friends filed their returns late or paid their taxes late — due to being newly arrived in the U.S. and unfamiliar with tax law, income disruptions, being stranded abroad, and similar reasons — and subsequently paid penalties and interest to the IRS. These are exactly the people this refund claim is intended for: under the reasoning in the Kwong ruling, this money may not have been owed in the first place.
It's worth noting that this "final deadline" applies to claims for refunds of penalties and interest — not to reissued stimulus payments. If you were never charged such penalties by the IRS during the pandemic, this doesn't apply to you. And if you did pay penalties but missed this deadline, please don't send in materials on your own just yet — have an accountant review your individual case first before deciding on next steps.
What Are the Consequences of Missing the Deadline?
Simply put, taxpayers who failed to submit a protective claim by July 10, 2026, may be unable to benefit even if the courts ultimately rule in taxpayers' favor, because their claim would be untimely. If you submitted your claim before the deadline, please keep your proof of submission safe and wait patiently for the outcome of the appeal. This is a reminder of just how important it is to verify whether you're affected and to act on your rights in a timely manner.
If you'd like to learn more about the details of how various credits and refunds are calculated, we encourage you to check out our Tax Insights column. In addition, if you hold overseas assets or accounts, be sure to confirm whether you meet the requirements described in our FBAR Filing Guide, so that while asserting your refund rights, your tax compliance status remains in good standing and you avoid unnecessary audit risk.
YZ CPA Note: Professional Advice
YZ CPA would like to remind everyone of the following: First, log in to your IRS Online Account to review your payment history during the pandemic years and confirm whether you were charged late-filing or late-payment penalties and interest. Second, if you already submitted a protective Form 843 claim before the deadline, be sure to keep your confirmation receipt and follow the progress of the Kwong case appeal. Third, if you missed the deadline or your situation is more complex (for example, involving self-employment income reported on Schedule C or cross-border tax issues), please seek help from a professional, referring to our Chinese Taxpayer Filing Guide and consulting with a CPA to review your case in detail before deciding on next steps. As an Austin-based CPA serving the Chinese community, we want to emphasize: time-limited tax rights should always be handled as early as possible — don't let delay cost you the opportunity.