29 August 2017 IRS announces Hurricane Harvey tax relief to affected Texas counties Note: On August 30, 2017, the IRS updated the list of Texas counties eligible for Hurricane Harvey tax relief to include the following 11 counties: Colorado, Fayette, Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson, Montgomery, Newton, Orange, Sabine, San Jacinto and Waller Counties. The complete list of eligible counties as of August 30 appears at the end of this Alert. Following FEMA's major disaster declaration for Texas and Hurricane Harvey, the IRS announced it is granting extensions on due dates for returns and relief from penalties for late tax payments for affected individuals and business taxpayers, including payroll returns. (IR-2017-135.) This relief will be provided automatically to any taxpayer with an IRS address of record located in the disaster area. Accordingly, taxpayers don't need to contact the IRS for this tax relief. If an affected taxpayer receives a late filing or late payment penalty notice from the IRS that has an original or extended filing, payment or deposit due date falling within the postponement period, the taxpayer should call the telephone number on the notice to have the penalty abated. Payroll (e.g., Form 941) and excise tax returns due October 31, 2017 may be filed as late as January 31, 2018. Additionally, late-deposit penalties will be waived for federal payroll (e.g., Form 940 deposits due October 31 and Form 941) and excise tax deposits normally due on or after August 23, 2017 and before September 7, 2017 provided the deposits are made by September 7, 2017. Individuals and business with tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred starting on August 23, 2017 have until January 31, 2018 to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period. This includes the September 15, 2017 and January 16, 2018 deadlines for making quarterly estimated tax payments. For individual tax filers, it also includes 2016 income tax returns that received a tax-filing extension until October 16, 2017; however, because tax payments related to these 2016 returns were originally due on April 18, 2017, those payments are not eligible for this relief. The IRS will work with any taxpayer who lives outside the disaster area but whose records necessary to meet a deadline occurring during the postponement period are located in the affected area. Taxpayers qualifying for relief who live outside the disaster area need to contact the IRS at +1 866 562 5227. This also includes workers assisting the relief activities who are affiliated with a recognized government or philanthropic organization. Individuals and businesses who suffered uninsured or unreimbursed disaster-related losses can choose to claim them on either the return for the year the loss occurred (in this instance, the 2017 return normally filed next year), or the return for the prior year (2016). See IRS Publication 547 for details. — Aransas Document ID: 2017-1385 |
