The statute of limitations was extended due to COVID in most states and many federal courts through emergency tolling orders, but nearly all of those extensions have expired. The federal public health emergency ended on May 11, 2023, and the tolling orders tied to it wound down around the same time or earlier.1Office of Inspector General. OIG’s COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Flexibilities End on May 11, 2023 Upon Expiration of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Declaration Two things still matter in 2026: past tolling days can push a current filing deadline later than you’d expect, and certain federal tax refund claims tied to the pandemic disaster period may have a filing deadline of July 10, 2026, rather than the standard April 15.
How Pandemic Tolling Actually Worked
Tolling means the statute of limitations clock stopped running for a defined period and then picked up where it left off. If you had two years left on a filing deadline when a tolling order took effect, and the order lasted 100 days, you still had two years left the day the order expired. The clock didn’t reset. It paused.
Most orders specified exact start and end dates. Some tied the pause to the duration of a governor’s emergency declaration, so the end date wasn’t known in advance. Either way, the practical rule is the same: any deadline that fell inside the tolling window got pushed back by however many days the clock was stopped.
That math still applies now. A two-year deadline tolled for 100 days in 2020 didn’t expire until 100 days after the date it otherwise would have. For claims with deadlines in 2025 or 2026, the extra days can still matter depending on when the claim arose and how long the applicable tolling window lasted.
Where the Extensions Came From
No single federal law paused statutes of limitations nationwide. Extensions came from a patchwork of state executive orders, state supreme court directives, and individual federal court standing orders. Federal courts issued their own orders on filing deadlines and case management on a court-by-court basis.2United States Courts. Court Orders and Updates During COVID-19 Pandemic
At the state level, at least a dozen states issued broad tolling orders covering civil statutes of limitations, and many others extended specific court deadlines. Tolling periods ranged from a few weeks to well over 200 days. Some orders applied automatically to every civil case in the state. Others covered only cases where the deadline would have fallen inside the emergency window. Civil and criminal matters were often handled under separate orders with different timeframes.
All of this means the answer for your case depends on the specific jurisdiction and the type of claim. There is no shortcut.
The Federal Tax Refund Deadline of July 10, 2026
The IRS approached COVID differently from the courts. Rather than tolling statutes of limitations, it postponed specific filing and payment deadlines. Notice 2020-23 moved the due date for federal tax returns and payments that fell between April 1 and July 15, 2020, to July 15, 2020.3Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2020-23 A separate notice pushed the April 15, 2021 filing deadline to May 17, 2021.4Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2023-21 – Lookback Periods for Claims for Credit or Refund
Federal tax law generally gives you three years from the date a return was filed (or its due date, whichever is later) to claim a refund.5eCFR. 26 CFR 301.6511(a)-1 – Period of Limitation on Filing Claim For the 2022 tax year, that standard deadline is April 15, 2026.
A federal court decision in Kwong v. United States held that the COVID-19 disaster declaration triggered an automatic suspension of certain tax deadlines under Section 7508A, running from January 20, 2020, through the end of the public health emergency on May 11, 2023, plus an additional 60 days. That puts the end of the disaster-related suspension at July 10, 2023, and the resulting refund deadline three years later: July 10, 2026. Taxpayers who were assessed penalties for late filing, late payment, or underpayment of interest during the disaster period may be able to claim refunds of those amounts if they file before that date. Notice 2023-21 addressed how the postponement periods factor into calculating refund eligibility.4Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2023-21 – Lookback Periods for Claims for Credit or Refund
If you paid federal tax penalties or interest during the pandemic period and haven’t claimed a refund, the July 10, 2026 deadline is worth checking. Once it passes, the opportunity disappears permanently.
Criminal Cases and the Speedy Trial Clock
Criminal timing rules were handled separately. In federal court, the Speedy Trial Act requires an indictment within 30 days of arrest and trial within 70 days of indictment or first appearance, whichever is later.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3161 – Time Limits and Exclusions To keep charges alive while courts were closed, many federal district courts entered blanket orders excluding the pandemic period from the speedy trial clock, relying on the “ends of justice” continuance provision. State criminal courts used similar mechanisms under their own rules. Those criminal tolling orders have expired.
Equitable Tolling When No Order Applies
Even where no specific COVID order covers a deadline, some litigants have argued for “equitable tolling,” a judge-made doctrine that pauses the clock when extraordinary circumstances prevented a timely filing. The bar is high. The existence of COVID-19 by itself doesn’t qualify. You have to show that the pandemic specifically prevented you from filing your particular case and that you were actively trying to meet the deadline despite the obstacle.
Courts have granted equitable tolling where lockdowns, illness, or loss of access to legal resources made timely filing genuinely impossible. They’ve denied it where the plaintiff had months of available time and simply didn’t act. Judges want to see evidence of diligence, not just hardship. Sitting on a claim for a year and then blaming COVID in the final month is not an argument that works.
What Happens if You File Too Late
A statute of limitations defense isn’t automatic. The defendant has to raise it. Under federal procedural rules, it’s an affirmative defense that must be stated in the defendant’s initial response to the lawsuit, and most state courts follow the same approach.7Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 8 – General Rules of Pleading A defendant who fails to raise it early may waive it entirely.
When the defense is raised and the court agrees the filing came too late, the case is dismissed with prejudice. It cannot be refiled. There is no extension request and no second chance. That finality is why the tolling calculation matters. A few extra days can be the difference between a viable claim and one that’s gone.
How to Check Whether an Extension Applied to Your Case
You need three things: the jurisdiction where the claim would be filed, the type of case (civil, criminal, or tax), and the exact date your statute of limitations would have expired without any tolling.
For federal court matters, the U.S. Courts website maintains an archive of COVID-related orders organized by circuit and district.2United States Courts. Court Orders and Updates During COVID-19 Pandemic PACER can help you locate specific standing orders for individual courts.8PACER: Federal Court Records. Frequently Asked Questions For state court matters, check the state judiciary’s website for archived emergency orders. Most states published these prominently during the pandemic, and many still maintain the records.
For federal tax refund claims, IRS Notice 2020-23 and Notice 2023-21 are the documents to read.3Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2020-23 They spell out which deadlines were postponed and how the lookback periods work for refund eligibility.
Tolling orders varied not just by state but sometimes by county or individual court. Some applied only to civil cases, others only to criminal matters, and many drew distinctions between types of deadlines inside the same order. If your filing deadline is close enough that a COVID tolling period could make a difference, an attorney familiar with the jurisdiction’s emergency orders is the most reliable way to pin down the exact date.