The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced that taxpayers impacted by Hurricane Lee in Maine and Massachusetts are now eligible for disaster tax relief. Affected taxpayers will have until February 15, 2024, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and to make certain tax payments. (IR 2023-177, 9/25/2023)
This relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred beginning September 15, 2023, to February 15, 2024 (the “postponement period”).
The IRS is offering this relief to taxpayers in the disaster area. The disaster area includes all 16 counties in Maine and all 14 counties in Massachusetts.
Note. The IRS disaster relief page has details on all the returns, payments and other tax-related actions qualifying for relief during the postponement period.
Automatic relief.
The IRS automatically provides filing and penalty relief to any taxpayer with an IRS address of record located in the disaster area. Taxpayers who do not have an IRS address of record located in the disaster area, but who have been affected by the hurricane, can contact the IRS for assistance.
In addition to the filing and payment relief, 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 (2023) or the return for the prior year (2022).
Note. Generally, qualified disaster relief payments are excluded from gross income.
The IRS may provide additional disaster relief for Hurricane Lee victims in the future. For more information, visit the disaster relief page on IRS.gov.
For more information about claiming disaster losses, see Checkpoint’s Federal Tax Coordinator ¶ M-2000 et seq.
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