 Internal Revenue Service IRS tax news IRS Mississippi storm victims qualify for tax relief April 18th deadline other dates extended to July 31st. Obviously this storm spells trouble for Mississippi and this is a time we need to come together as one team. So there should be only one all-inclusive eye when we spelled Mississippi at this time. M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I for you podcasters out there there was only one eye on the screen because like I spelled Mississippi with only one eye. Okay okay Phil I know I know this is serious Phil and okay it's no time for five decade old spelled Mississippi with one eye jokes okay I see I see and I should learn I should learn from the commander-in-chief how to open a serious and troubling topic properly. My name is Joe Biden. I'm Dr. Joe Biden's husband and I ate Jimmy's ice cream chocolate chip. I came down because I heard there was chocolate chip ice cream. By the way I have a whole refrigerator full upstairs I think I'm kidding cut. Wow that was educational let me let me try it again let me do another intro people we're going to show both intros because we made two intros intro number one and intro number two and my producer said I had to choose either one or two so because I thought they were both good I chose two intros so so here's the second one after learning the best style from the from the commander-in-chief of course you know good day Mississippi storm victims I like eating ice cream even in the rain even in the rain I like eating ice cream you think I'm kidding but I'm not yeah they make me use a plastic spoon though when I eat ice cream in the rain in case the lightning strikes which pisses me off and you know what when I get pissed off I like to piss off something else usually usually the bathroom rug into the can because it makes me feel better but but it doesn't stop me from from eating my ice cream consumption I just I just keep eating while somebody takes care of all the complicated parts of the process honestly like the only reason I'm here is because they bribed me with ice cream treat after I after I read this thing in front of me so let's get this over with dear Mississippians my heart weeps for your chocolate chip I mean oh so hold on a second I got distracted my heart my heart weeps for your problem I are 2023 dash 60 March 28 2023 Washington Mississippi storm victims now have until July 31st 2023 to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments the internal revenue service announced today the IRS is offering relief to any area designated by the federal emergency management agency otherwise known as FEMA FEMA there's a link to that here as a result of tornadoes and severe storms that occurred on March 24th and 25th this means that individuals and households that reside or have a business in I'm not going to say these correctly these names but I'll say them for comic relief there'll be a link to this in the description so you can get more detail about it but Carol Humphries Monroe and Sharkey counties qualify for tax relief other areas added later to the disaster area will also qualify for the same relief the current list of eligible localities is always available on the tax relief in disaster situations page there's a link to that here if you want to check that out as they update things the tax relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred starting on March 24th 2023 as a result affected individuals and businesses will have until July 31st 2023 to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period this includes 2022 individual income tax returns and various business returns due on April 18th among other things this means that eligible taxpayers will have until July 31st to make 2022 contributions to their IRAs IRAs and health savings accounts the July 31st deadline also applies to the quarterly estimated tax payments normally due on April 18th and July 15th July 31st deadline also applies to the quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on April 30th 2023 in addition penalties on payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after March 24 and before April 10th will be abated as long as the tax deposits are made by April 10th 2023 the disaster assistance and emergency relief for individuals and businesses page there's a link to that here has details on other returns payments and tax related actions qualified for the additional time some affected taxpayers may find that they need more time to file beyond July 31st deadline if so the IRS urges them to request the additional time electronically before original April 18th deadline two free and easy ways to do this are through either IRS free file or IRS direct pay both available only on irs.gov irs.gov visit irs.gov forward slash slash extension for details there's a link to that here after April 18th and before July 31st disaster area taxpayers can file their extension requests only on paper the IRS automatically provides filing and penalty relief to any taxpayer with an irs address of record located in the disaster area therefore taxpayers did not need to contact the agency to get this relief so clearly if it's going to apply automatically if your address is in the the locality hopefully that's the plan at least however if an affected taxpayer receives a late filing or late payment penalty notice from the irs that has an original or extended filing payment or deposit due date falling within the postponement period the taxpayers should call the number on the notice to have the penalty abated in other words it should be automatic but if they mess it up and they give you a penalty that should have been abated or not given then you should call the number on the page not the 800 number because that might take forever to get in through to them even though they have hired a bunch of new people to get on the phones but they're still complaining about the phone thing so you want to call the number on the notice and you might be more likely to get a hold of someone in addition the irs will work with any taxpayer who lives outside disaster area but whose records necessary to meet a deadline occurring during the postponement period are located in the affected area so obviously those taxpayers will not have an address on record within the area but may still qualify for the relief and therefore would have to contact and let the irs know in some way shape or form in order to get the extension taxpayers qualifying for relief who live outside the disaster area need to contact the irs at 8665 625227 this also includes workers assisting the relief activities who are affiliated with a recognized government or philanthropic organization individuals and businesses in a federally declared disaster 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 2023 return normally filed in early 2024 or the return for the prior year this is the 2022 return normally filed in 2023 that's an important distinction to make because obviously the disaster happening in the current year 2023 would mean to get tax relief you would think it would happen on the 2023 return which you wouldn't file until April 15th or whatever by 2024 but maybe you need the relief faster in which case you might get a benefit if you're allowed to file for the relief in the prior year 2022 in in this case also you might have a situation or might want to think about whether or not your income would be higher in prior year or in the current year given the fact that the disaster oftentimes could lower peaceful's income if you have a lower income then you'll be paying less taxes and you would think the tax benefit might not do you as much good as applying it to the higher income year which possibly could have been the prior year because you didn't have the disaster in the prior year now if you haven't filed the prior year tax return because it's due by April 17 18th of the current year then obviously you can go forward with that but if you already filed it then you might need to look into whether or not you could amend the prior year tax return would be the general idea okay that said be sure to write the FEMA declaration number which is 4697 dr on any return claim in a lawsuit publication 547 for details there's a link to that publication here the tax relief is part of a coordinated federal response to the damage caused by these storms and is based on local damage assessments by FEMA the information on disaster recovery visit disaster assistance.gov there's a link to that here there'll be a link to this in the description