If you were among the victims of the severe storms and flooding in Louisiana that began August 11th, you may qualify for an extension for filing tax returns and payments to both the IRS and the state of Louisiana.
"The extension deadlines apply to most tax returns and payments."
Federal relief
As part of the tax relief plan, the IRS will postpone deadlines for certain taxpayers who live or have a business in the affected areas. Specifically, tax deadlines that fall on or after Aug. 11th of this year and before Jan. 17th, 2017 will be given an extension until Jan. 17th, 2017. Those dates include returns from taxpayers that have already been granted an extension until Oct. 17th, the Sept. 15th deadline for quarterly estimated tax payments, 2015 corporate and partnership returns on extension through Sept. 15th and Oct. 31st deadlines for quarterly payroll and excise returns.
State relief
The extended deadline for Louisiana tax returns and payments that were originally due on or after August 11th will now be due on January 17, 2017. As part of the extension, the Louisiana Department of Revenue will provide tax relief for individuals by waiving late filing penalties, payment penalties and interest that would otherwise apply.
However, any taxpayers currently on extension with deadlines after August 11th are not eligible for any additional extensions for purposes of payment.
It is important to note penalties for failure to make employment and excise tax deposits that were due between Aug. 11th and Aug. 26th will be abated, provided payments are made by August 26th.
Applicable tax returns
The grant relief applies to most tax returns filed with the IRS and the state of Louisiana. These include:
- Individual, corporate and estate and trust income tax returns.
- Partnership, S corporation and trust returns.
- Estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax returns.
- Employment and certain excise tax returns.
The IRS will grant relief for Form 5500 series returns as well. This relief will waive any penalties for late filing and payments related to property exchanges of affected taxpayers or acts to be performed by unaffected taxpayers for affected taxpayers.
It is important to note though that W-2, 1098, 1099 series, or Forms 1042-S and 8027 do not qualify for the relief.
Affected taxpayers
Taxpayers considered to be eligible for the extension are individuals residing in or whose critical tax records are located in disaster areas. Businesses that are headquartered in the disaster areas are also eligible for an extension. All government and nonprofit relief workers as well as injured persons or families of individuals that died in the disaster are also eligible for the relief.
These covered disaster areas are in the parishes of Acadia, Ascension, Avoyelles, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Iberia, Iberville, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Livingston, Pointe Coupee, St. Helena, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Vermillion, Washington, and West Feliciana. Taxpayers should continue to check the IRS list of covered parishes as more parishes may be declared disaster areas.
If you are an individual who was affected by the severe storms and flooding throughout Louisiana, LaPorte's CPAs can step in and immediately provide guidance on all extension deadlines for both state and federal tax returns.