Special tax law provisions may help
taxpayers recover financially from the impact of a disaster, especially
when the President declares their location to be a major disaster area.
Depending on the circumstances, the IRS may grant additional time to
file returns and pay taxes. Both individuals and businesses in a
presidentially-declared disaster area can get a faster refund by
claiming losses related to the disaster on the tax return for the
previous year, usually by filing an amended return.
Tax
Topic 515 gives an overview of tax relief for
presidentially-declared disaster areas.
Our
state news links have local news releases announcing tax relief for
specific disasters.
Relief Related to Terrorist Actions
features links for individuals, businesses, the New York Liberty Zone
and other matters pertaining to the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks.
Publication 547, Casualties, Disasters and Thefts, has
details on how to figure and claim a disaster loss. Download it (PDF
125K), or read
Pub. 547
online.
Publications 2194, Disaster Losses Kit for Individuals
(PDF 1982K),
and 2194B, Disaster Losses Kit for Businesses (PDF
1885K), contain various IRS publications and forms related to
claiming disaster losses.
Publication 3833, Disaster Relief: Providing
Assistance through Charitable Organizations, explains how the public can
use charitable organizations to help victims of disasters, and how new
organizations may obtain tax-exempt status (PDF
507K).
Additional Reading:
Home and Personal
Property Disaster Loans
Physical
Disaster Business Loans
This IRS Publication can be found
HERE
