Debby victims in Pennsylvania get tax relief

Individuals and businesses in parts of Pennsylvania who were affected by Tropical Storm Debby now have until Feb. 3 to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments. 

This relief is comparable to that provided in other states impacted by Debby.

The Internal Revenue Service is offering relief to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The current list of eligible localities is always available on the Tax relief in disaster situations page on IRS.gov.

Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

As of now, relief is offered for Lycoming, Potter, Tioga and Union Counties in Pennsylvania, postponing various filing and payment deadlines that occurred beginning last Aug. 9 and ending on Feb. 3, 2025. Affected individuals and businesses will have until next Feb. 3 to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period.

This means, for example, that the February deadline applies to:

• Any individual, business or tax-exempt organization that has a valid extension to file their 2023 federal return. Payments on these returns are not eligible for the extra time because they were due last spring, before Debby occurred.
• Quarterly estimated income tax payments normally due on Sept. 16, 2024, and Jan. 15, 2025.
• Quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on Oct. 31, 2024, and Jan. 31, 2025.

Penalties for failing to make payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after Aug. 9, 2024, and before Aug. 26, 2024, will also be abated as long as the deposits were made by Aug. 26, 2024.

The IRS disaster assistance and emergency relief for individuals and businesses page has details on other returns, payments and tax-related actions qualifying for relief during the postponement period.  

The agency automatically provides filing and penalty relief to any taxpayer with an address of record in the disaster area. If an affected taxpayer does not have an address in the area (because, for example, they moved to the area after filing their return), and they receive a late-filing or late-payment penalty notice from the IRS for the postponement period, they should call the number on the notice to have the penalty abated.

The IRS 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 need to contact the IRS at (866) 562-5227. This also includes workers assisting the relief activities who are affiliated with a recognized government or philanthropic organization.

Disaster area tax preparers with clients located outside the disaster area can choose to use the bulk requests from practitioners for disaster relief option, described on IRS.gov.

Individuals and businesses in a federally declared disaster area who suffered uninsured or unreimbursed disaster-related losses can choose to claim them on either the return for the year the loss occurred (in this instance, the 2024 return normally filed next year), or the return for the prior year (the 2023 return filed this year). Taxpayers have 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 make the election. For individual taxpayers, this means Oct. 15, 2025.

Taxpayers should write the FEMA declaration number, 4815-DR, on any return claiming a loss.