Don't Mess With Taxes

Some of the March 14 tornado damage in Indian Lake, Logan County, Ohio. (Photo credit: Indian Lake Chamber via Facebook)

During the evening of March 14, supercell thunderstorms dropped numerous strong tornadoes across western and central Ohio. By the time things cleared, the deadly twisters also had left trails of destruction across the Buckeye State.

The National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed three EF1 twisters, two reaching EF2, and an EF3 across Ohio. The NWS office in Wilmington, just north of Cincinnati, reported a total of 145 miles of combined tornado tracks across the state.

Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) investigation of the area led to a major disaster declaration. The Internal Revenue Service has now announced tax relief for the affected Ohio taxpayers.

The most notable IRS relief is a new tax deadline of Sept. 3, 2024.

Delayed tax deadline: The tax relief is available for individuals and households that reside or have a business in the following Ohio counties: Auglaize, Crawford, Darke, Delaware, Hancock, Licking, Logan, Mercer, Miami, Richland, and Union.

The affected taxpayers now have until that new Sept. 3 due date to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments. This includes —

• Individual income tax returns 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 April 15 and June 17, 2024.

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

• Calendar-year partnership and S corporation 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.

In addition, penalties for failing to make payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after March 14, 2024, and before March 29, 2024, will be abated as long as the deposits were made by March 29, 2024.

If FEMA adds any other areas to this disaster declaration, those individual and business taxpayers will get the same relief.

Most don’t need to call IRS: As for those in the designated disaster, there’s no need to call the IRS. The agency automatically provides the disaster relief to any taxpayer with whose address of record at the IRS is the disaster area.

If, however, you moved to an Ohio area in this disaster since your last tax filing, you might get a late filing or late payment penalty notice. In that case, call the number on the notice to have the penalty abated.

The IRS also 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 should contact the IRS at (866) 562-5227. This also applies to workers affiliated with a recognized government or philanthropic organization and who are in the disaster area assisting with relief activities.

More time is available: Recovering from a major slap by Mother Nature is not easy. It can take much longer than you expect, especially when the disaster area covers a large area. I know from personal experience.

The hubby and I lived in South Florida in 2004, the year that state was hit from all sides by four hurricanes within six weeks. We were near landfall for two (Frances and Jeanne) that were just three weeks apart.

When we moved eight months later — and yes, I was the one who made us get the heck out of what seemed at that time hurricane central — we still had unfinished repairs to our home. There just weren’t enough people or supplies to take care of all the damages.

So some Ohio residents and business still might not be thinking about taxes when Sept. 3 rolls around. In that case, they can get more time by filing for an extension using Form 4868. This will get them until Oct. 15 to file their 2023 tax returns.

The extension seekers, however, will need to make any tax payments due by Sept. 3. Form 4868 is an extension to file your return, not an extension to pay.

Also these extensions must be submitted on paper. The IRS cannot accept electronically-filed extension requests made after April 15.

Claiming a disaster tax deduction: Now comes the too-often-repeated part of the post.

As long-time (or even recent) readers of the ol’ blog know, from my prior disaster tax relief posts, 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.

You also get the option of when to make the eligible claim. You can do so for the prior tax year, which would be the 2023 one for which the filing deadline has moved to Sept. 3, which is this weekend’s By the Numbers figure.

Or you can wait and claim disaster losses for the tax year, 2024 in this case, in which they occurred when you file that return the next year.

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
• Retirement plan tax rules when using the savings to recover from a disaster
• 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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