Individuals and businesses in parts of West Virginia that were affected by severe storms, flooding landslides and mudslides that began on Aug. 28, 2023, now have until June to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.
The Internal Revenue Service is offering relief to any disaster area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which currently includes Boone, Calhoun, Clay, Harrison and Kanawha Counties. Individuals and households that reside or have a business in these localities qualify for relief.
The same relief will be available to any other West Virginia localities that are added later to the disaster area. The current list of eligible localities is on the
The relief postpones various filing and payment deadlines that occurred from Aug. 28, 2023, through June 17, 2024. Affected individuals and businesses will therefore have have until June 17 to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period.
The June 17 deadline applies to:
- Individual income tax returns and payments 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 partnerships and S corps that had a valid tax-year 2022 extension that ran out on Sept. 15, 2023, or that 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-exempts 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.
Individuals and businesses that had an extension to file their 2022 returns will also have until this June 17 to file them. Tax-year 2022 tax payments are ineligible for this relief because they were originally due last spring, before the disasters occurred.
In addition, penalties for failing to make payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after Aug. 28, 2023, and before Sept. 12, 2023, will be abated if the deposits were made by Sept. 12, 2023.
The IRS automatically provides filing and penalty relief to any taxpayer with an address of record located in the disaster area. It is possible that an affected taxpayer may not have an address of record located in the disaster area — for example, because they moved to the disaster area after filing their return. Should 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 service 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 in the affected area. Taxpayers qualifying for relief who live outside the disaster area need to call (866) 562-5227. This includes workers assisting the relief activities who are affiliated with a recognized government or philanthropic organization.
The IRS urges anyone who needs an additional tax-filing extension beyond June 17 for their 2023 federal income tax return to request it electronically by April 15. Requests filed by a disaster-area taxpayer between April 15 and June 17 can only be submitted on paper. Whether requested electronically or on paper, the taxpayer then has until Oct. 15, 2024, to file, though payments are still due on June 17.
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 2023 return normally filed this year), or the return for the prior year (2022).
Taxpayers have 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, 2024. Write the FEMA declaration number — 4756-DR — on any return claiming a loss.
