Hurricane Ida created disaster conditions in Louisiana; the IRS previously granted relief for impacted taxpayers in various parishes in the state. President Biden just declared a federal disaster area for many counties in New Jersey and New York (including New York City). The IRS extended the same relief for those taxpayers. Any tax deadline from September 1, 2021 onward through year-end is extended until January 3, 2022.
There are some caveats with this. First, because 2020 tax payments were due on May 17th, that payment deadline has not been extended. However, if you filed a valid extension and owe the late payment penalty, that penalty is suspended between September 1st and January 3, 2022. Second, be aware that the IRS has a “down-time” for electronic filing of tax returns; this typically begins in mid to late November and lasts until late January. During that time, all returns must be paper-filed. It’s currently taking the IRS eight to twelve months to process paper-filed returns. You may want to consider not waiting until January (especially if you are expecting a refund).
This relief does extend to third quarter estimated payments (due September 15th), partnership and S-Corporation returns on extension (also due on September 15th), trust/estate returns on extension (due September 30th), C-Corporation returns on extension (due October 15th), and nonprofit returns on extension (due November 15th). Quarterly payroll and excise tax returns due on November 1st are also extended for impacted taxpayers.
New Jersey is conforming to this relief for impacted New Jersey taxpayers. Note that if you paper-file in New Jersey, you need to write, “Presidential Disaster Relief Area, Hurricane Ida” on the top of the return or payment. While I expect New York to conform, there has been not yet been an announcement from the New York Department of Taxation and Finance.
