Hurricane Irma Tax Deadline Relief

The Internal Revenue Service has announced that tax relief will be available to individuals who live in, and businesses whose principal place of business is located in, 37 different Florida counties affected by Hurricane Irma, including Sarasota and Manatee counties. Taxpayers who live outside the disaster area may also qualify for relief if they have records necessary to meet a deadline located in the disaster area.

The tax relief offered includes additional time to file certain tax returns, additional time to make certain tax payments, and additional time to perform other time-sensitive actions. If an enumerated tax return, tax payment, or other action for which relief has been granted was previously due on or after September 4, 2017, and before January 31, 2018, taxpayers will now have until January 31, 2018, to perform that action without incurring penalties. This relief would apply to businesses with filing extensions until September 15 and individuals with filing extensions until October 16 for their 2016 income tax returns.

Affected taxpayers may also be entitled to claim disaster-related casualty losses and deduct personal property losses not covered by insurance or other reimbursements on either their current year or prior-year tax returns. Taxpayers should include the Disaster Designation “Florida, Hurricane Irma” at the top of the relevant 2016 tax form(s).

The Internal Revenue Service will also waive certain fees for tax return copy requests and may consider appropriate relief in the event a tax collection or tax audit matter has been impacted by Hurricane Irma.

A full list of the counties whose residents and businesses may be entitled to tax relief can be accessed here: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-relief-for-victims-of-hurricane-irma-in-florida.

Nicholas A. Gard
ngard@williamsparker.com
941-552-2563