Don't Mess With Taxes

Photo by Chandler Cruttenden on Unsplash

Last August, parts of Michigan were struck by severe storms, tornadoes, and flooding, prompting the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to issue this month a major disaster declaration for nine counties.

The Internal Revenue Service subsequently announced tax relief for those individual residents and business owners. One of the tax considerations is a new June 17 filing and payment deadline for the affected Michigan taxpayers.

The Great Lakes State is the sixth to be granted the new mid-June Tax Day due to disasters. Some Michigan residents join those who were ill-treated by Mother Nature in Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and West Virginia. 

Michigan extra tax time: The IRS' announce tax relief applies to Michigan individuals who live in Eaton, Ingham, Ionia, Kent, Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, and Wayne counties. Owners of businesses in those nine counties also qualify.

If FEMA adds any other Michigan localities to the disaster area, taxpayers in those places will be eligible for the same relief.

This includes a June 17 deadline for a variety of individual and business tax tasks. They include —

• Individual income tax return filings and payments normally due on April 15, 2024.

• 2023 contributions to IRAs and health savings accounts for eligible taxpayers.

• Quarterly estimated income tax payments normally due on Sept. 15, 2023, Jan. 16, 2024, and April 15, 2024.

• Quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on Oct. 31, 2023, Jan. 31, 2024, and April 30, 2024.

• Calendar-year partnership and S corporations that had a valid tax-year 2022 extension that ran out on Sept. 15, 2023, or have a 2023 return normally due on March 15, 2024

• Calendar-year corporations and fiduciaries that had a valid tax-year 2022 extension that ran out on Oct. 16, 2023, or have a 2023 return and payment normally due on April 15, 2024.

• Calendar-year tax-exempt organizations that had a valid tax-year 2022 extension that ran out on Nov. 15, 2023, or have a 2023 return normally due on May 15, 2024.

In addition, the IRS says individuals and businesses that had an extension to file their 2022 returns will also have until June 17, 2024, to file them. Note however, that any taxes due in connection with the extended 2002 tax-year returns are not eligible for this relief because those tax amounts should have been sent last spring when the extension was requested, before the disaster occurred.

Also, the IRS is providing businesses additional relief in connection with certain payroll and excise tax deadlines. The tax agency will abate penalties for failing to make payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after Aug. 24, 2023 (the date the storms started), and before Sept. 8, 2023, as long as the deposits were made by Sept. 8, 2023.

Claiming a disaster tax deduction: All of the taxpayers covered by the relief provided in FEMA/IRS major disaster actions are eligible for a variety of relief. The assorted links in the state names earlier in this post have more disaster area discussions, as well as details on those areas' specific disaster-related tax relief.

Individuals and business owners in any disaster area also should check with their state tax department about any relief available at that level.

Finally, I want to emphasize that federal tax law also provides those who've endured a major disaster the option to claim any uninsured losses as a tax deduction on the tax returns they send to the IRS.

As long-time readers know, I've discussed this option in the all-too-frequent disaster declaration posts here on the ol' blog. You can find more about potential disaster tax deductions in my post Considerations in making a major disaster tax claim.

You also can find more on taxes and major disasters in the following posts.

• Picking up the pieces after a major disaster (after Tennessee info)
• Document your property for tax, insurance claims before storms hit
• IRS and other government resources can help you deal with a natural disaster
• Storm Warnings: Preparing for, recovering from, and helping those affected by natural disasters

Want even more? Then peruse the ol' blog's posts in the disaster category.

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