Taxpayers in Connecticut are getting a little extra time to file their taxes, courtesy of Hurricane Ida and the IRS. Ida tore up coastal areas in the southern U.S., and went on to batter the Northeast with flooding and other damage.
The Internal Revenue Service recognizes that some victims of the storm may have trouble getting their taxes in on time, so it’s giving taxpayers in part of Connecticut until Jan. 3, 2022 to file and pay various taxes.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officially declared parts of Connecticut a federal disaster area and the taxpayers within those areas are eligible for individual or public assistance.
Currently, the designated area includes Fairfield and New London counties, including the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and the Mohegan Tribal Nation.
If any counties, township or other jurisdiction are added later, taxpayers within those additional locations will be automatically eligible for the IRS relief measures.
What are the terms of the relief?
The IRS relief measure basically postpones a number of tax filing and payment deadlines that would have taken place between Sept. 1, 2021, and Jan. 3, 2022. Taxpayers in the affected areas now have until Jan. 3 to file and pay taxes that would have been due during the period.
Worth noting, however, is that while taxpayers with valid extensions of time to file now have until January 3 to file their taxes, there is no extension of time to pay, since that payment was originally due May 17, 2021.
What payments are covered by the extension include quarterly estimated income tax payments that were due in September, and quarterly payroll and excise tax returns that would have been due otherwise on November 1.
Businesses also are getting more time to file and pay various returns. Calendar-year partnerships and S corporations with a 2020 extension that ended in September and calendar-year corporations that had an extension that ran out in October are also covered by the new deadline, as are calendar-year tax-exempt groups with 2020 extensions that end Nov. 15, 2021.
There are other provisions of the relief package, for both individuals and businesses. Visit the IRS disaster relief page for details on the returns, payments and other actions that qualify for the additional time.
There’s no need to call
Taxpayers don’t need to contact the IRS to qualify for the relief measures; in fact, the relief is granted automatically to any taxpayer with an address on file with the IRS within a declared disaster area.
That said, if a taxpayer within the disaster area gets a notice they’ve been assessed a penalty for filing late or paying late for missing a filing deadline within the September 1 to January 3 timeframe, they have a solution. Simply call the phone number printed on the notice and the IRS will have the penalty abated.
Other taxpayers, the IRS says, indeed should call the agency. Those who qualify for relief but live outside the declared disaster area – such as relief workers attached to a government or recognized philanthropic organization – should contact the IRS at 866-562-5227.
Taxpayers who live outside the disaster area but whose records are needed to file and are located within the disaster area should also call the number for guidance.
How do taxpayers file a loss claim?
Taxpayers have two options when it comes to claiming an uninsured or unreimbursed loss on an income tax return. First, they can claim the loss on a return for the year the loss occurred – such as 2021 in this case, the return normally filed next year.
The second option is to claim the loss on the return for the prior year (2020). In either instance, Connecticut taxpayers claiming losses from the storm need to write the FEMA declaration number DR-4629 on their return.
For more on claiming a loss on a tax return, see Publication 547 for details.
The IRS’ tax relief measures are part of the federal government’s coordinated response to Hurricane Ida. They are based on local assessments of storm damage conducted by FEMA.
DisasterAssistance.gov has additional information on disasters and federal recovery measures.
Source: IR-2021-213