Don't Mess With Taxes

Major flooding in Hazard, Kentucky, in February led to Perry County being declared a major disaster area. It’s just one of the counties in the Bluegrass State where residents are now eligible for tax relief. You can watch the video from which the screenshot above was taken at Live Storms Media's YouTube channel.

We’re just more than a month away from the April 15 filing deadline, but some taxpayers will have until Nov. 3 to finish their 2024 returns.

They live in areas of Kentucky and West Virginia that were pummeled in mid-February by a severe winter storm that move across the United States. Residents and businesses in both states sustained damages in the deadly storms that produced straight-line winds, flooding, landslides, and mudslides.

The affected taxpayers now have until Nov. 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and pay accompanying taxes.

Following Federal Emergency Management Agency Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assessments, the White House issued major disaster declarations for the affected areas of the two states.

Then, as also is standard procedure, the Internal Revenue Service provided tax relief. Since the disasters were earlier this year, the tax considerations including relief for various 2025 deadlines, including the main Tax Day due date for 2024 returns.

Bluegrass State storms, tax relief: FEMA’s initial assessment of Kentucky storm damages led to the White House major disaster declaration for 10 of the states’ counties on Feb. 24. That declaration was amended on March 13.

The Kentucky counties now in the FEMA major disaster declaration area are Adair, Allen, Ballard, Barren, Bell, Boyd, Breathitt, Butler, Caldwell, Carlisle, Clay, Crittenden, Cumberland, Elliott, Estill, Floyd, Green, Hancock, Hart, Harlan, Hickman, Johnson, Knott, Knox, Lee, Letcher, Livingston, Marshall, Martin, McLean, Metcalfe, Monroe, Morgan, Muhlenberg, Ohio, Owsley, Perry, Pike, Rockcastle, Simpson, Spencer, Union, and Wayne.

The IRS’ tax relief announcement for Kentucky was issued before this week’s additions. But as it notes in all disaster related decisions, when FEMA later adds other counties to its original disaster area, those taxpayers will receive the same tax relief.

Kentucky tax filing and payment specifics: For Kentucky taxpayers, the severe winter storm tax relief postpones certain tax-filing and tax-payment deadlines for individual and business taxpayers in the disaster area. That generally means that certain deadlines falling on or after Feb. 14, 2025, and before Nov. 3, 2025, are granted additional time — until the Nov. 3 end of the postponement period — to file.

The major deadline shift for most individuals is Tax Day. Instead of April 15, Kentuckians in the disaster areas have until this Nov. 3rd to file their individual income tax returns and pay any tax due with those filings.

Nov. 3 also is the new deadline for 2025 tax year estimated income tax payments normally due on April 15, June 16, and Sept. 15, 2025.

The early November date also applies to 2024 contributions to IRAs and health savings accounts for eligible taxpayers.

For disaster area businesses, the Nov. 3, 2025, deadline also applies to —

• Quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on April 30, July 31, and Oct. 31, 2025;
• Calendar-year partnership and S corporation returns normally due on March 17, 2025; and
• Calendar-year corporation and fiduciary returns and payments normally due on April 15, 2025.

Business filers get some relief from penalties on payroll and excise tax deposits. If those amounts due on or after Feb. 14, 2025, and before March 3, 2025, are deposited by March 3, the penalties will be abated.

Returns from calendar-year tax-exempt organizations in Kentucky that normally are due on May 15, 2025, also are postponed until Nov. 3.

If the IRS makes further adjustments to the Kentucky disaster tax relief, you can find the updates and details at IRS.gov’s special tax relief in disaster situations web page.

Mountain State storms, tax relief: Like Kentucky residents in the winter storm’s path, its neighbor West Virginia also was struck last month by severe storms, straight-line winds, flooding, landslides, and mudslides.

The catastrophic weather began in the Mountain State on Feb. 15, a day later as the system moved across the country. But West Virginia individual and business filers in areas declared major disasters also have until Nov. 3, 2025, to file various tax returns and make tax payments.

The West Virginia disaster tax relief is available to individual and business taxpayers in in Logan, McDowell, Mercer, Mingo, Wayne, and Wyoming counties.

And, as with the Bluegrass State situation, if the IRS makes further adjustments to this disaster tax relief for West Virginians, such as adding more counties, you can find the updates and details at IRS.gov’s special tax relief in disaster situations web page.

West Virginia tax filing and payment specifics: The tax relief for West Virginia taxpayers in the severe winter storm’s path  tax relief postpones until Nov. 3, 2025, certain tax-filing and tax-payment deadlines for affected taxpayers.

The tax relief generally applies to tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred from Feb. 15, 2025, through the new Nov. 3 deadline.

That gives individual taxpayers until Nov. 3 to file their personal income tax returns for 2024 that normally would be due on April 15. Now they have until early November to file their returns and pay any due tax.

The Nov. 3 delayed deadline for disaster area West Virginia taxpayers also applies to —

• Quarterly estimated tax payments normally due on April 15, June 16 and Sept. 15, 2025;
• 2024 contributions to IRAs and health savings accounts for eligible taxpayers.

For West Virginia business taxpayers, the new Nov. 3 due date applies to —

• Quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on April 30, July 31, and Oct. 31, 2025.
• Calendar-year partnership and S corporation returns normally due on March 17, 2025; and
• Calendar-year corporation and fiduciary returns and payments normally due on April 15, 2025.

In addition, penalties for businesses that fail to make payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after Feb. 15, 2025, and before March 3, 2025, will be abated as long as the deposits were made by March 3, 2025.

Nov. 3 also is the due date for calendar-year tax-exempt organizations in West Virginia whose returns normally are due on May 15, 2025.

No action needed: If you’re in either of these disaster areas, you don’t have to worry about asking for or confirming the IRS tax relief. The agency automatically provides filing and penalty relief to any taxpayer whose address of record in the IRS system is located in the disaster area.

However, the IRS might not have the correct disaster area address for some taxpayers. This could be the case where taxpayers moved into the area now declared a major disaster after they filed their last tax return.

These taxpayers who miss disaster postponement period deadlines could receive a late filing or late payment penalty notice. In these cases, the filers need to call the number on the notice to explain the situation and have the penalty abated.

In addition, the IRS says it 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.

These taxpayers who live outside the disaster area but qualify for relief need to contact the IRS toll free at (866) 562-5277.

Finally, individuals who are assisting with relief activities through a recognized government or philanthropic organization also are eligible for this disaster relief.

Deducting uninsured disaster losses: When disaster-affected taxpayers do get their lives back in some order and start thinking about taxes, the IRS reminds them that they may be able to deduct some disaster losses. This itemized claim is available for damaged or destroyed property not covered by insurance or other reimbursement.

Claiming the loss can result in a larger refund, particularly if you maximize it by choosing the best tax year in which to make the claim. When it comes to disaster casualty losses, taxpayers can choose to claim it on either the return for the year the loss occurred — in this instance, the 2025 tax year return normally filed next year — or on the return for the prior year, which is their 2024 return with the new November filing deadline.

However, because of special disaster area considerations, taxpayers also have even more extra time — 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 decide which in which tax year claim.

Since this is a 2025 disaster, that mean individual filers have until next Oct. 15, 2026, or six months after the 2026 Tax Day on April 15, to make the choice.

Regardless of when you make the claim, arriving at the decision is not one to be taken lightly. You need to run the numbers for each potential tax year filing to see which produces the more favorable tax result.

My post on considerations in making a major disaster tax claim has more. So does IRS Publication 547, Casualties, Disasters, and Thefts.

And whenever you do decide to make a disaster loss claim, be sure to write the FEMA declaration number — that’s DR-4860-KY for Kentucky taxpayers and DR-4861-WV for West Virginia filers — on your return.

Taxpayers with disaster-related tax questions also can call the agency’s toll-free disaster hotline at (866) 562-5227. And, of course, you can talk with a tax professional for help in making this decision and filing.

Additional resources: Finally, in devastating major disaster situations, the IRS has a variety of other resources, including FAQs for disaster victims; IRS.gov’s disaster assistance and emergency relief for individuals and businesses page; and Publication 584, Casualty, Disaster, and Theft Loss Workbook (Personal-Use Property), and its business companion Publication 584-B, Business Casualty, Disaster, and Theft Loss Workbook.

The Small Business Administration also provides disaster assistance for homeowners, renters, nonprofits, and businesses of all sizes affected by disasters.

You also might find these blog posts of interest:

• Biden signs disaster relief bill that took more than a year to clear Congress
• IRS and other government resources can help you deal with a natural disaster
• California wildfire victims granted federal AND state tax relief; includes Oct. 15, 2025, deadline
• Storm Warnings: Preparing for, recovering from, and helping those affected by natural disasters

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