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Issue Number: IR-2024-209Inside This IssueHurricane Debby relief expanded to all of Vermont; various deadlines postponed to Feb. 3, 2025 WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today announced tax relief for individuals and businesses affected by Hurricane Debby in all 14 Vermont counties. Affected taxpayers in Vermont now have until Feb. 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments. Vermont is the fifth state to qualify for IRS relief, along with Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, announced last week. The IRS is offering relief to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Individuals and households that reside or have a business in any one of the states’ 14 counties qualify for tax relief. The current list of eligible localities is always available on the Tax relief in disaster situations page on IRS.gov. Filing and payment relief The tax relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred from Aug. 8, 2024, through Feb. 3, 2025 (postponement period). As a result, affected individuals and businesses will have until Feb. 3, 2025, to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period. This means, for example, that the Feb. 3, 2025, deadline will now apply to:
In addition, penalties for failing to make payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after Aug. 8, 2024, and before Aug. 23, 2024, will be abated, as long as the deposits are made by Aug. 23, 2024. The Disaster assistance and emergency relief for individuals and businesses page has details on other returns, payments and tax-related actions qualifying for relief during the postponement period. The IRS automatically provides filing and penalty relief to any taxpayer with an IRS address of record located in the disaster area. These taxpayers do not need to contact the agency to get this relief. It is possible an affected taxpayer may not have an IRS address of record located in the disaster area, for example, because they moved to the disaster area after filing their return. In these unique circumstances, the affected taxpayer could receive a late filing or late payment penalty notice from the IRS for the postponement period. The taxpayer should call the number on the notice to have the penalty abated. In addition, the IRS will work with any 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. Taxpayers qualifying for relief who live outside the disaster area need to contact the IRS at 866-562-5227. This also includes workers assisting the relief activities who are affiliated with a recognized government or philanthropic organization. Tax preparers located in the disaster area with clients located outside the disaster area can choose to use the Bulk Requests from Practitioners for Disaster Relief option, described on IRS.gov. Additional tax relief 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 2024 return normally filed next year), or the return for the prior year (the 2023 return filed this year). Taxpayers have extra time – up to six months after the due date of the taxpayer’s federal income tax return for the disaster year (without regard to any extension of time to file) – to make the election. For individual taxpayers, this means Oct. 15, 2025. Be sure to write the FEMA declaration number – 3609-EM − on any return claiming a loss. See Publication 547, Casualties, Disasters, and Thefts, for details. Qualified disaster relief payments are generally excluded from gross income. In general, this means that affected taxpayers can exclude from their gross income amounts received from a government agency for reasonable and necessary personal, family, living or funeral expenses, as well as for the repair or rehabilitation of their home, or for the repair or replacement of its contents. See Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income, for details. Additional relief may be available to affected taxpayers who participate in a retirement plan or individual retirement arrangement (IRA). For example, a taxpayer may be eligible to take a special disaster distribution that would not be subject to the additional 10% early distribution tax and allows the taxpayer to spread the income over three years. Taxpayers may also be eligible to make a hardship withdrawal. Each plan or IRA has specific rules and guidance for their participants to follow. The IRS may provide additional disaster relief in the future. 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. For information on disaster recovery, visit disasterassistance.gov. Reminder about tax return preparation options
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