Individuals and businesses in Massachusetts affected by storms and flooding that occurred last September now have until July 31 to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.
The Internal Revenue Service is offering relief to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Bristol and Worcester Counties qualify for this filing relief.
The same relief will be available to any other counties added later to the disaster area. The current list of eligible localities is on the
The relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred from Sept. 11, 2023, through July 31. Affected individuals and businesses will have until this July 31 to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period.
The late-July deadline now 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 that were due Sept. 15, 2023, and on Jan. 16, April 15 and June 17 of this year;
- Quarterly payroll and excise tax returns that were normally due on Oct. 31, 2023, and on Jan. 31 and April 30 of 2024;
- Calendar-year partnership and S corporation returns due on March 15, 2024;
- Calendar-year corporation and fiduciary returns and payments due on April 15, 2024; and
- Calendar-year tax-exempt organization returns due on May 15, 2024.
Penalties for failing to make payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after Sept. 11, 2023, and before Sept. 26, 2023, will be abated if the deposits were made by Sept. 26, 2023.
Individuals who had an extension to file their 2022 return will also have until July 31, 2024, to file, though payments on these returns are ineligible for the extra time because they were due before the disaster occurred.
The
The IRS 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 of record in the disaster area (because, for example, they moved to the disaster area after filing their return), and they receive a late-filing or late-payment penalty notice 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 has records necessary to meet a deadline occurring during the postponement period in the affected area. Qualifying taxpayers who live outside the disaster area should call the IRS at (866) 562-5227, including workers assisting the relief activities who are with a recognized government or philanthropic organization.
A taxpayer needing an extension beyond this July 31 should file a
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 next year), or the return for the prior year (2022).
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 — 4780-DR — on any return claiming a loss.
