IRS extends tax deadlines for disaster-area taxpayers in multiple states

The IRS has announced extended tax relief for individuals and businesses affected by severe weather events across multiple states.

This relief is crucial for those dealing with the aftermath of storms, tornadoes, and flooding, providing additional time to file and pay federal taxes.

Overview of tax relief

The IRS is offering tax relief to areas designated as major disaster zones by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Affected taxpayers in these regions now have extended deadlines to meet their federal tax obligations.

States and new deadlines

Extended deadline to November 1, 2024

Taxpayers in the following states and counties have until November 1, 2024, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments:

Arkansas: Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Fulton, Greene, Madison, Marion, Nevada, Randolph, and Sharp counties.
Florida: Baker, Gadsden, Hamilton, Lafayette, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Suwannee, Taylor, and Wakulla counties.
Iowa: Adair, Adams, Cedar, Jasper, Montgomery, Polk, and Story counties.
Kentucky: Boyd, Carter, Fayette, Greenup, Henry, Jefferson, Jessamine, Mason, Oldham, Union, and Whitley counties.
Mississippi: Hancock, Hinds, Humphreys, Madison, Neshoba, and Scott counties.
Oklahoma: Blaine, Caddo, Cluster, Delaware, Jackson, Mayes, Muskogee, and Rogers counties.
Texas: Austin, Bell, Bosque, Brown, Caldwell, Calhoun, Clay, Coke, Coleman, Collin, Concho, Cooke, Coryell, Dallas, Denton, Eastland, Ellis, Falls, Fannin, Freestone, Grimes, Guadalupe, Hamilton, Hardin, Harris, Henderson, Hockley, Houston, Jasper, Jones, Kaufman, Lamar, Lampasas, Lee, Leon, Liberty, Limestone, Lynn, Madison, Mills, Montague, Montgomery, Navarro, Newton, Panola, Polk, Robertson, Smith, San Augustine, San Jacinto, San Saba, Shelby, Smith, Sterling, Terrell, Trinity, Tyler, Van Zandt, Walker, Waller, and Washington counties.
West Virginia: Boone, Brooke, Cabell, Fayette, Hancock, Kanawha, Lincoln, Marshall, Nicholas, Ohio, Preston, Putnam, Tyler, Wayne, and Wetzel counties.

Special deadlines for Massachusetts

Taxpayers in Bristol and Worcester counties in Massachusetts have a deadline of July 31, 2024, due to severe storms and flooding that began on September 11, 2023.

Filing and payment relief

The tax relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred from the start of the disaster until November 1, 2024.

Affected taxpayers will have until this new deadline to file returns and pay any taxes originally due during this period.

Examples of extended deadlines include:

Individual income tax returns and payments typically due on April 15, 2024.
Contributions to IRAs and health savings accounts for 2023.
Quarterly estimated tax payments due on April 15, June 17, and September 16, 2024.
Quarterly payroll and excise tax returns due on April 30, July 31, and October 31, 2024.
Calendar-year corporation and fiduciary returns and payments due on April 15, 2024.
Tax-exempt organization returns due on May 15, 2024.

Additional considerations

Uninsured disaster losses

Taxpayers who suffered uninsured or unreimbursed disaster-related losses can choose to claim them on either the return for the year the loss occurred (2024) or the prior year (2023).

They have up to six months after the due date of their federal income tax return for the disaster year to make this election.

Automatic relief and contact information

The IRS automatically provides filing and penalty relief to taxpayers with an IRS address of record located in the disaster area.

Affected taxpayers who receive late filing or payment penalty notices should contact the IRS to have the penalty abated.

Taxpayers who live outside the disaster area but whose records necessary to meet a deadline are located within the affected area should contact the IRS at 866-562-5227 for relief.

Bottom line

This extended tax relief is part of the IRS’s coordinated response to help individuals and businesses recover from the severe weather events.

For more information on specific relief and to stay updated on eligible localities, visit the IRS Disaster Relief page.