IRS announces federal tax relief for taxpayers in several jurisdictions

In February, the IRS announced relief for victims of natural disasters in several locations, including: Spokane, Washington (wildfires); San Diego, California (severe storms and flooding); and several counties in Michigan (severe storms, tornadoes and flooding), West Virginia (severe storms, flooding, landslides and mudslides) and Maine (severe storms and flooding). Affected taxpayers have until June 17, 2024, to file various federal returns and make tax payments.

The federal tax relief applies to:

• Individuals who live in the covered disaster areas;
• Businesses (including tax-exempt organizations) whose principal place of business is located in the covered disaster areas;
• Certain relief workers in the covered disaster areas and any individual visiting the covered disaster areas who was killed or injured because of the disasters; and
• Taxpayers not in the covered disaster areas but whose records necessary to meet a deadline are located in the covered disaster areas.

Relief provided

Affected individuals and businesses will have until June 17, 2024, to file most tax returns (individual, corporate, estate and trust income tax returns; partnership, S corporation and trust tax returns; estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax returns; annual information returns of tax-exempt organizations; and employments and certain excise tax returns) and pay any taxes that were originally due. Taxpayers covered by the San Diego disaster relief additionally have until June 17, 2024, to make 2023 contributions to IRA and health savings accounts. Please see the links to the “IRS Tax Relief in Disaster Situations” pages above for additional details.