Taxpayers affected by Hurricane Matthew in Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Columbus, Cumberland, Edgecombe, Hoke, Johnston, Lenoir, Nash, Pitt, Robeson, Wayne and Wilson counties will receive special tax relief. The tax relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred starting on 10/04/2016. As a result, affected individuals and businesses will have until 3/15/2017 to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period. This includes the January 17th deadline for making quarterly estimated tax payments. For individual tax filers, it also includes 2015 income tax returns that received a tax-filing extension until 10/17/2016. Tax payments related to these 2015 returns were originally due on 4/18/2016 and are therefore not eligible for this relief.
A variety of business tax deadlines are also affected including the October 31st and January 31st deadlines for quarterly payroll and excise tax returns. In addition, the IRS is waiving late-deposit penalties for these tax deposits normally due on or after October 4th and before October 19th if the deposits are made by 10/19/2016.
The IRS automatically provides filing and penalty relief to any taxpayer with an IRS address of record located in the disaster area. Thus, you do not need to contact the IRS to get this relief. However, if you receive a late filing or late payment penalty notice from the IRS that has a due date falling within the postponement period, you should call the number on the notice to have the penalty abated.
The tax relief is part of a coordinated federal response to the damage caused by severe storms and flooding and is based on local damage assessments by FEMA. For information on disaster recovery, visit disasterassistance.gov.
See the full news release here.
If you have questions concerning this announcement, please consult your tax professional.