IRS Tax News

IR-2024-264, Oct. 11, 2024

WASHINGTON — Due to Hurricane Milton, the Internal Revenue Service today announced relief for individuals and businesses in 51 counties in Florida.

Individuals and businesses in six counties that previously did not qualify for relief under either Hurricane Debby or Hurricane Helene will receive disaster tax relief beginning Oct. 5, 2024, and concluding on May 1, 2025. They are Broward, Indian River, Martin, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and St. Lucie.

In addition, individuals and businesses in 20 counties previously receiving relief under Debby, but not Helene will receive disaster tax relief under Hurricane Milton, from Aug. 1, 2024, thru May 1, 2025. They are Baker, Brevard, Clay, DeSoto, Duval, Flagler, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Lake, Nassau, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Putnam, Seminole, St. Johns and Volusia counties.

As a result, affected taxpayers in all of Florida now have until May 1, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments, including 2024 individual and business returns normally due during March and April 2025 and 2023 individual and corporate returns with valid extensions and quarterly estimated tax payments.

The IRS is offering relief to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Individuals and households that reside or have a business in any one of the localities listed above qualify for tax relief. The current list of eligible localities is always available on the Tax relief in disaster situations page on IRS.gov.

Filing and payment relief

Hurricane Milton-related tax relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred beginning on Oct. 5, 2024, and ending on May 1, 2025 (postponement period). As a result, affected individuals and businesses will have until May 1, 2025, to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period.

This means, for example, that the May 1, 2025, deadline now applies to:

• Any individual or business that has a 2024 return normally due during March or April 2025.
• Any individual, C corporation or tax-exempt organization that has a valid extension to file their calendar-year 2023 federal return. The IRS noted, however, that payments on these returns are not eligible for the extra time because they were due last spring before the hurricane occurred.

• 2024 quarterly estimated tax payments normally due on Jan. 15, 2025, and 2025 estimated tax payments normally due on April 15, 2025.
• Quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on Oct. 31, 2024, Jan. 31, 2025, and April 30, 2025.

In addition, for localities affected by Hurricane Milton, penalties for failing to make payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after Oct. 5, 2024, and before Oct. 21, 2024, will be abated, as long as the deposits are made by Oct. 21, 2024. Localities eligible for this relief are: Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Citrus, Clay, Collier, Columbia, DeSoto, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, Glades, Hamilton, Hardee, Hendry, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lafayette, Lake, Lee, Levy, Madison, Manatee, Marion, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Nassau, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putman, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Sumter, Suwannee, Taylor, Union and Volusia counties.

Deposit penalty relief and other relief was previously provided to taxpayers affected by Debby and Helene. For details, see the Florida page on IRS.gov. The Disaster assistance and emergency relief for individuals and businesses page also has details, as well as information on other returns, payments and tax-related actions qualifying for relief during the postponement period.

The IRS automatically provides filing and penalty relief to any taxpayer with an IRS address of record located in the disaster area. These taxpayers do not need to contact the agency to get this relief.

It is possible an affected taxpayer may not have an IRS address of record located in the disaster area, for example, because they moved to the disaster area after filing their return. In these unique circumstances, the affected taxpayer could receive a late filing or late payment penalty notice from the IRS for the postponement period. The taxpayer should call the number on the notice to have the penalty abated.

In addition, 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 866-562-5227. This also includes workers assisting the relief efforts who are affiliated with a recognized government or philanthropic organization. Disaster area tax preparers with clients located outside the disaster area can choose to use the Bulk requests from practitioners for disaster relief option, described on IRS.gov.

Additional tax relief

Individuals and businesses in a federally declared disaster area 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 2024 return normally filed next year), or the return for the prior year (the 2023 return filed this year). Taxpayers have extra time – up to six months after the due date of the taxpayer’s federal income tax return for the disaster year (without regard to any extension of time to file) – to make the election. For individual taxpayers, this means Oct. 15, 2025. Be sure to write the FEMA declaration number – 3622–EM – on any return claiming a loss. See Publication 547, Casualties, Disasters, and Thefts, for details.

Qualified disaster relief payments are generally excluded from gross income. In general, this means that affected taxpayers can exclude from their gross income amounts received from a government agency for reasonable and necessary personal, family, living or funeral expenses, as well as for the repair or rehabilitation of their home, or for the repair or replacement of its contents. See Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income, for details.

Additional relief may be available to affected taxpayers who participate in a retirement plan or individual retirement arrangement (IRA). For example, a taxpayer may be eligible to take a special disaster distribution that would not be subject to the additional 10% early distribution tax and allows the taxpayer to spread the income over three years. Taxpayers may also be eligible to make a hardship withdrawal. Each plan or IRA has specific rules and guidance for their participants to follow.

The IRS may provide additional disaster relief in the future.

The tax relief is part of a coordinated federal response to the damage caused by the hurricane and is based on local damage assessments by FEMA. For information on disaster recovery, visit DisasterAssistance.gov.

Reminder about tax return preparation options

• Eligible individuals or families can get free help preparing their tax return at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) or Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) sites. To find the closest free tax help site, use the VITA Locator Tool or call 800-906-9887. Note that normally, VITA sites cannot help claim disaster losses.
• To find an AARP Tax-Aide site, use the AARP Site Locator Tool or call 888-227-7669.
• Any individual or family whose adjusted gross income (AGI) was $79,000 or less in 2023 can use IRS Free File’s guided tax software at no cost. There are products in English and Spanish.
• Another Free File option is Free File Fillable Forms. These are electronic federal tax forms, equivalent to a paper 1040 and are designed for taxpayers who are comfortable filling out IRS tax forms. Anyone, regardless of income, can use this option.
• MilTax, a Department of Defense program, offers free return preparation software and electronic filing for federal tax returns and up to three state income tax returns. It’s available for all military members and some veterans, with no income limit.