The IRS has extended until Feb. 1, 2013, the deadlines for most income tax returns, income tax payments and other time-sensitive actions (see detailed list below) for taxpayers affected by Hurricane Sandy in federally declared disaster areas in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York (see list of counties below). In addition, the IRS is waiving failure-to-deposit penalties for federal payroll and excise tax deposits until Nov. 26, 2012.

The IRS relief applies to taxpayers who reside in or have a principal place of business in one of the counties listed below, but other counties may be added as FEMA assesses damages. The IRS pledged to work with taxpayers who reside outside the disaster area but whose books, records or tax professionals are located in an affected area. The relief applies to deadlines on or after Oct. 27, 2012, for New York and Connecticut taxpayers, and to deadlines on or after Oct. 26 for New Jersey taxpayers. It includes individual estimated tax payments due Jan. 15, payroll and excise tax returns for the third and fourth quarters of 2012, and Form 990s for tax-exempt organizations.

The IRS automatically identifies taxpayers located in covered disaster areas and applies the administrative relief. Taxpayers whose residence or principal place of business is outside of an identified county must call the IRS disaster hotline at 1.866.562.5227 to be included.

Identified counties (as of Nov. 2, 2012):

  • Connecticut (starting Oct. 27): Fairfield, Middlesex, New Haven and New London counties; the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and Mohegan Tribal Nation located in New London County 
  • New Jersey (starting Oct. 26): Atlantic, Bergen, Cape May, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Somerset and Union
  • New York (starting Oct. 27): Bronx, Kings, Nassau, New York, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk and Westchester

Applicable actions

The extended deadline of Feb. 1, 2013, applies to all of the tax returns, tax payments and time-sensitive actions listed Section 7508A, Treas. Reg. Sec. 301.7508A-1(c)(1) and Rev. Proc. 2007-56, which includes:

  • filing any income, estate, gift, employment or excise tax return EXCEPT for the firearms tax, harbor maintenance tax, and alcohol and tobacco taxes;
  • paying any income, estate, gift, generation-skipping tax or excise tax EXCEPT for the firearms tax, harbor maintenance tax, and alcohol and tobacco taxes;
  • filing of Form 5500 series returns;
  • making contributions to qualified retirement accounts (including a rollover or reversing a rollover);
  • deadlines related to like-kind exchanges;
  • filing a petition with the Tax Court;
  • allowance of a credit or refund of any tax;
  • filing a claim for credit or refund of any tax;
  • bringing suit upon a claim for credit or refund of any tax;
  • giving or making any notice or demand for the payment of any tax, or regarding any liability to the United States in respect of any tax;
  • collection by levy or otherwise of any outstanding tax liability; and
  • bringing suit by the United States or any officer on its behalf, in respect of any liability in respect of any tax.

The deadlines for excise tax and federal payroll deposits that are not covered under the relief listed above are extended to Nov. 26, 2012.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.