Hurricane Irma victims in parts of Florida, and elsewhere have until Jan. 31, 2018, to file certain individual and business tax returns and make certain tax payments, the Internal Revenue Service announced Tuesday, September 13.
Currently, the IRS said that affected taxpayers in Broward, Charlotte, Clay, Collier, Duval, Flagler, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Palm Beach, Pinellas, Putnam, Sarasota and St. Johns Counties in Florida and the islands of St. John and St. Thomas; the municipalities of Culebra and Vieques in Puerto Rico; would receive this and other special tax relief. Locations may be added in coming days, based on damage assessments by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
This tax relief parallels the kind that was granted last month to victims of Hurricane Harvey that affected Texas and parts of the Gulf Coast. This includes an additional filing extension for taxpayers with valid extensions that run out on Oct. 16 and businesses with extensions that run out on Sept. 15.
“This has been a devastating storm for the Southeastern part of the country, and the IRS will move quickly to provide tax relief for victims, just as we did following Hurricane Harvey,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “The IRS will continue to closely monitor the storm’s aftermath, and we anticipate providing additional relief for other affected areas in the near future.”
The IRS is offering this relief to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as qualifying for individual assistance. Parts of Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are currently eligible, but taxpayers in localities added later to the disaster area, including those in other states, will automatically receive the same filing and payment relief. The current list of eligible localities is always available on the disaster relief page on IRS.gov.
The tax relief delays various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred starting on Sept. 4, 2017, in Florida and Sept. 5, 2017, in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. As a result, affected individuals and businesses will have until Jan. 31, 2018, to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period.
This includes the Sept. 15, 2017, and Jan. 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 Oct. 16, 2017. The IRS noted, however, that because tax payments related to these 2016 returns were originally due on April 18, 2017, those payments are not eligible for this relief.
A variety of business tax deadlines are also affected including the Oct. 31 deadline for quarterly payroll and excise tax returns. Businesses with extensions also have the additional time including, among others, calendar-year partnerships whose 2016 extensions run out on Sept. 15, 2017, and calendar-year tax-exempt organizations whose 2016 extensions run out on Nov. 15, 2017. The disaster relief page has details on other returns, payments and tax-related actions qualifying for the additional time.
The IRS’s tax relief is part of a coordinated federal response to the hurricane, and it has set up a dedicated web page at www.irs.gov/hurricaneirma. For general information on disaster recovery, go to disasterassistance.gov. For information on government-wide efforts specifically related to Hurricane Irma, visit www.USA.gov/hurricane-irma.
For additional information and individual advice please contact your Prager Metis team member at any of our locations by calling 212.643.0099 or visiting us at www.pragermetis.com
