IRS grants tax relief to Maine weather victims

Individuals and businesses in parts of Maine that were affected by severe storms and flooding that began on Dec. 17 now have until June 17 to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The Internal Revenue Service is offering relief to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which currently includes Androscoggin, Franklin, Hancock, Kennebec, Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset, Waldo and Washington Counties. Individuals and households that reside or have a business in these localities qualify for relief. 

The same relief will be available to any other localities in the state that are added later to the disaster area. The current list of eligible localities is on the disaster relief page on IRS.gov.

The relief postpones various filing and payment deadlines that occurred from Dec. 17, 2023, through June 17, 2024. Affected individuals and businesses will have until June 17 to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period.

The June 17 deadline applies to: 

• Individual income tax returns and payments due on April 15, 2024. 
• 2023 contributions to IRAs and health savings accounts for eligible taxpayers.
• Quarterly estimated income tax payments normally due on Jan. 16 and April 15, 2024.
• Quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on Jan. 31 and April 30, 2024.
• Calendar-year partnership and S corp returns normally due on March 15, 2024.
• Calendar-year corporation and fiduciary returns and payments normally due on April 15, 2024.
• Calendar-year tax-exempt organization returns normally due on May 15, 2024.

Penalties for failing to make payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after Dec. 17, 2023, and before Jan. 2, 2024, will also be abated as long as the deposits were made by Jan. 2.
The IRS automatically provides filing and penalty relief to any taxpayer with an address of record in the disaster area. An affected taxpayer may not have an address of record located in the disaster area, however, because they moved to the disaster area after filing their return. If they receive a late-filing or late-payment penalty notice from the IRS for the postponement period, they should call the number on the notice to have the penalty abated.

The service 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; they need to call (866) 562-5227. This includes workers assisting the relief activities who are affiliated with a recognized government or philanthropic organization.

The IRS urges anyone who needs an additional tax-filing extension beyond June 17 for their 2023 federal income tax return to request it electronically by April 15. Requests filed by a disaster-area taxpayer between April 15 and June 17 can only be submitted on paper. Whether requested electronically or on paper, the taxpayer then has until Oct. 15, 2024, to file, though payments are still due on June 17.

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 2023 return normally filed this year), or the return for the prior year (2022).

Taxpayers have 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, 2024. Write the FEMA declaration number — 4754-DR — on any return claiming a loss.