 internal revenue service IRS tax news IRS hurricane Fiona victims in Puerto Rico qualified for tax relief October 17th deadline other dates extended to February 15th honestly the IRS is always looking out for those taxes giving tax relief what about the people IRS can we get some people relief anyways first to attempt out a joke I once had a rule of thumb but recently decided to no longer follow my thumb because these days I'm in control of my thumb not the other way around so I no longer have rules of thumb but rather am now the thumb ruler the ruler of thumbs yes I have slain the beast and am now the rightful ruler of this kingdom my crown at least I feel like I'm the ruler of my right thumb the left thumb doesn't always listen I think I may have to send the rock over to teach that thumb a lesson coming in and break this guy's thumb like I told you how do you know I didn't break you don't think I hit things did I give you a job this morning I did huh so why don't you break his thumb like I told you to I don't want to hear it thumb I'm in control here and we're moving forward slow yes we're gonna have to go right to ludicrous speed ludicrous speed ludicrous speed sir had you better buckle up buckle this ludicrous speed go whatever thumb well maybe next time I'll take the rule of thumb under advisement how have you been fine sir but I'm still in charge I'm still in charge here I mean it's a good thing you were wearing that helmet yeah what should we do now sir are we stop we're stop sir good possibly moving forward I'll take the advice of thumb I'll take the advice of thumb thumb advice is often correct it turns out why don't we take a five-minute break very good sir smoke if you got them I are 2022-16 1 September 22,022 Washington hurricane Fiona victims and all 78 Puerto Rican municipalities now have until February 15,2023 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 there's a link to FEMA here this means that individuals and households that reside or have a business anywhere in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico qualify for tax relief the current list of eligible localities is always available on the disaster relief page on irs.gov there's a link to that here the tax relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred starting on September 17,2022 as a result of affected individuals and businesses will have until February 15,2023 to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period. This means individuals who had a valid extension to file their 2021 return due to run out on October 17, 2022. So if you were on extension, basically the deadline was October 17, 2022 will now have until February 15, 2023 to file the IRS noted however that because tax payments related to these 2021 returns were due on April 18, 2022 those payments are not eligible for this relief. So in other words note even though you went on extension and you might have an extension of the filing timeframe but there's a difference between that and when you have to pay so you don't typically have an extension to pay so you might have a further extension to file but just still need to pay in order to be reducing the penalties and interest that could be charged. So the February 15, 2023 deadline also applies to quarterly estimated income tax payments due on January 17, 2023 and the quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on October 31, 2022 and February 31, 2023. Businesses with an original or extended due date also have the additional time including among others calendar year corporations whose 2021 extensions run out on October 17, 2022. Similarly tax exempt organizations also have the additional time including the 2021 calendar year returns with extensions due to run out on November 15, 2022. In addition penalties on payroll and excise tax deposits due after September 17, 2022 and before October 3, 2022 will be abated as long as the deposits were made by October 3, 2023. The IRS disaster relief page there's a link to that here once again has details on other returns payments and tax related actions qualified for the additional time. So if we didn't mention what you're thinking about it might be on that page you can like check it out and see what see what's there. The IRS automatically provides filing and penalty relief to any taxpayer with an IRS address of record located in the disaster area. So if your record is in the disaster area they should be filing or making these updates in terms of the due dates automatically based on your address being in that area. Therefore taxpayers do not need to contact the agency to get this relief. 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 taxpayer should call the number on the notice to have the penalty abated. In other words if you get a penalty letter from the IRS and you're like hey wait a sec I'm in the designated area and you applied a penalty that shouldn't have been applied because of this action that's taking place because of the hurricane Fiona just took us out over here then you can call the letter on the IRS letter or the number on the IRS letter and hopefully get them it abated or removed. In addition the IRS will work with a 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. So in other words you're saying I'm not in the area the IRS cannot automatically apply this extensions and whatnot to me based on my address because I'm not in that area but my records are in there and that's still affecting me so in that case you're gonna have to actually contact the IRS in some way shape or form so that they know about the fact that you've been affected and possibly can give you some tax relief. So taxpayers qualified for a relief who live outside the disaster area need to contact the IRS at 866-562-5227 I won't say that 10 times because I'll have a link to this in the description you can look it up there. 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 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 2022 return normally filed next year or the return for the prior year 2021. So if the problem of course happened now in 2022 you might say okay well I could include that in the year that it happened which means you get you wouldn't actually be able to claim it or get a benefit from it till you file the a tax return which would happen by like April 15th of 2023 generally and you might have a lower income in 2022 tax year as the result of the disaster and therefore the relief that you might get might not be going as far as it otherwise would. Your other option possibly is to claim it on the 2021 the prior year tax return which was due on April 15th but you might be on extension so you might still have not have filed the 2021 tax return. If you did file it and you still want to take it on the 2021 return possibly you can look into amending the 2021 return. The benefits of that is that you might be able to claim for taxes any kind of tax benefits you would get earlier than waiting until April 15th of 2023 to file the 2022 return and you might have had more income in 2021 if you didn't have a disaster as opposed to 2022 when you did and because we have a progressive tax system if you have higher income you can have higher taxes and therefore any kind of deduction will typically be better used on that higher income year. In any case be sure to write the FEMA declaration number which is DR3583EM again I won't say that 10 times because I'll have a link to this in the description on any return claiming the loss see publication 547 for details there's a link to that here the tax relief is part of a coordinated federal response to the damage caused by Hurricane Fiona and is based on local damage assessments by FEMA for information on disaster recovery you can visit disaster assistance gov there's a link to that as well as a link to the FEMA code the publication phone numbers are here and everything and they'll be a link to this valuable information that I'm providing for free with that link in the description so there you go