IRS Offers Filing Relief to Florida and South Carolina Taxpayers Impacted by Hurricane Idalia

September 28, 2023

At a glance

The main takeaway: The IRS announced it will extend the deadlines for tax filing and payment of any returns after September 1, 2023 for taxpayers located in areas impacted by Hurricane Idalia. The new filling deadline for those eligible is February 15, 2024.
Impact on taxpayers: Returns eligible for filing relief include individual and entity taxpayers who requested automatic extensions of tax return filing deadlines, as well as taxpayers owing tax originally due during the period covered under the notice but does not extend to tax payments due as of the original required filing date.
Next steps: Contact your Aprio Tax Adviser to determine whether this relief is available for your individual or business tax situation.

Are you ready to learn more? Schedule a conversation with our team.

The full story:

The IRS issued an update to notice IR-2023-159 on September 6, 2023, which original provided tax filing and payment relief for counties in Florida affected by Hurricane Idalia, to include all 46 counties in South Carolina. On September 13, 2023, FEMA expanded the list of counties covered by the disaster declaration to include several counties in Southern and Coastal Georgia. Taxpayers residing or doing business in those counties also are covered by the filing postponement relief.

Under the revised relief guidance, any individual or business taxpayer (including fiduciaries) impacted by Hurricane Idalia has until February 15, 2024 to file income tax returns which would have been due during the period from September 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023. This includes all returns for taxpayers who claimed automatic extensions for their individual, corporate, S corporation, or partnership income tax returns, as well as fiscal year taxpayers with extension deadlines falling within the covered period.

In addition to covering residents of the affected areas, the relief also applies to “taxpayers not in the covered disaster area, but whose records necessary to meet a deadline listed…are in the covered disaster area.” The impacted areas include:

The entire state of South Carolina.
Any taxpayers in Idalia-impacted localities designated by FEMA in Florida.
Florida counties included in the filing relief are: Alachua, Baker, Bay, Bradford, Brevard, Calhoun, Charlotte, Citrus, Clay, Collier, Columbia, DeSoto, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Hardee, Hernando, Hillsborough, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Lee, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Manatee, Marion, Nassau, Orange, Osceola, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns, Sumter, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, Volusia and Wakulla.
Taxpayers residing or doing business in these Georgia counties are also included in the filing postponement relief: Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Berrien, Brantley, Brooks, Bulloch, Camden, Candler, Charlton, Clinch, Coffee, Colquitt, Cook, Echols, Emanuel, Glynn, Jeff Davis, Jenkins, Lanier, Lowndes, Pierce, Screven, Tattnall, Thomas, Tift, Ware, and Wayne counties

How Hurricane Idalia relief, announced by the Treasury Department, may affect your tax situation

1. Extension of deadline to file

If you live in one of the affected areas in Florida or South Carolina or have your tax records located in an affected area, and you previously and timely requested an extension to file your income tax return, you now have until February 15, 2024 to file your federal income tax return without late-filing penalties. This includes individual, corporate, S Corp and partnership tax returns, as well as tax-exempt organizations with an extended deadline of November 15, 2023.

According to the IRS guidance, the February 15, 2024 deadline will now apply to:

Individuals who had a valid extension to file their 2022 return due to run out on October 16, 2023.
The IRS noted, however, that because tax payments related to these 2022 returns were due on April 18, 2023, those payments are not eligible for this relief.
Calendar-year partnerships and S corporations whose 2022 extensions run out on September 15, 2023.
Calendar-year corporations whose 2022 extensions run out on October 16, 2023.
Calendar-year tax-exempt organizations whose extensions run out on November 15, 2023.

2. Extension of deadline to pay third quarter estimated payments originally due September 15, 2024, but not tax payments due with the original filing of the return

The bulletins offer extensions on payment deadlines of certain taxes originally due during the covered period. Taxpayers in the affected areas who have estimated tax payments due on September 15, 2023 and January 31, 2024 may extend the payment date on those estimates until February 15, 2024.

This relief is also granted to quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on October 31, 2023 and January 31, 2024. Those payments are now due on February 15, 2024.

However, the payment extension does not apply to taxpayers who requested a filing extension on their income tax return but did not pay the entire balance due by the original filing date as required.

3. At least two Idalia-affected states have followed the IRS lead in granting filing deadline relief

Both the South Carolina Department of Revenue and the Florida Department of Revenue have issued guidance confirming that they will follow the IRS Notice in extending filing relief for taxpayers in the Hurricane Idalia-affected counties.

If your business is located in one of the Florida counties or localities listed in the FEMA designation and is subject to Florida Corporate Income Tax (CIT), the deadline for filing your Florida corporate income tax return is March 1, 2024.

The bottom line

Taxpayers who either live in the listed counties affected by Hurricane Idalia, or who have documentation necessary to complete their tax returns located in those areas, can get relief from filing and even some payment deadlines.

If you are an Aprio client who resides, has a business location, or has tax records located in those counties listed by FEMA as eligible for filing relief, please reach out to your Aprio Tax Adviser to determine whether you are eligible for filing and/or payment deadline postponement. Remember, Aprio remains committed to helping you obtain tax filing relief resulting from this natural disaster.