The IRS gave an automatic extension of October 15, 2020 to all individual returns, trusts and corporations. By "corporations" does this include "scorp"? I know that in a normal given year an s corp tax extension deadline is September 15th.
Still September 15 according to this
Still September 15 according to this
Extensions to Oct 15th are for personal 1040 tax returns only. All others are still Sept 15th. IRS rules have no changed on that, as of the date of my reply.
The S-corp was not automatically extended ... you had to file an extension by 3/16 to get to 9/15 to file the S-corp return and there are no second extensions for businesses.
The auto extension (for personal returns and those returns with a 4/15 filing deadline) to the covid date of 7/15 was done a couple of weeks AFTER the 3/16 deadline when all businesses were to have their extensions already filed. Even then, if you still needed more time to file after 7/15 you had to file an extension to get to the 10/15 deadline.
If you got a late filing penalty and this is the first one your business has gotten then write back and use the " I didn't understand about the filing deadline changes" for an excuse and promise to never do it again and they will usually abate the penalty for the first offence ... this will not work a second time so pay attention going forward.
if you did not file for an extension for the S-corp it is now 7 months late. the penalty is about $200 per month per shareholder. look for a penalty notice from the IRS. you will have to write back something to the effect you believed the return was automatically extended 10/15/2020. that you have taken steps to ensure that in the future the return will be filed on time. therefore you request abatement of the penalty. the final determination is at the description of the IRS.