Tax season is well underway, but as with every year, some territories have been negatively impacted by weather phenomena and natural disasters, preventing residents from filing taxes on time.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently announced tax relief for individuals and businesses in West Virginia affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, flooding, landslides, and mudslides that began on February 15, 2025.
Greenbrier, Lincoln, Logan, McDowell, Mercer, Mingo, Monroe, Summers, Wayne, and Wyoming counties are affected, and residents and business owners will be given an automatic extension until November 3, 2025 to file their taxes.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has designated these counties as receiving the extension based on the damage that has occurred thus far, but additional counties may be added later as situations develop.
The IRS’s guidelines for the relief
Not all IRS filings have the same deadlines, so there is a long list of tax filing and payment deadlines that have been postponed, beginning with deadlines set for Feb. 15, 2025, through Nov. 3, 2025, which is the new due date for the returns. This deadline now applies to:
- Individual income tax returns and payments normally due on April 15, 2025.
- 2024 contributions to IRAs and health savings accounts for eligible taxpayers.
- Quarterly estimated tax payments normally due on April 15, June 16 and Sept. 15, 2025.
- Quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on April 30, July 31 and Oct. 31, 2025.
- Calendar-year partnership and S corporation returns normally due on March 17, 2025.
- Calendar-year corporation and fiduciary returns and payments normally due on April 15, 2025.
- Calendar-year tax-exempt organization returns normally due on May 15, 2025.
- In addition, penalties for failing to make payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after Feb. 15, 2025, and before March 3, 2025, will be abated as long as the deposits were made by March 3, 2025.
If you live in one of the aforementioned counties, you should not be concerned about receiving an extension because the IRS will automatically apply the new deadline to your filings without requiring you to notify them.
However, if you live in one of the neighboring counties and were also affected by the disaster, you must notify the authorities of your inability to file by the deadline.
By doing so, you will avoid incurring any additional fines or late penalties that would have applied in less dire circumstances, and because the more severe areas will have received automatic assistance, the rest of the affected areas will be able to file their extension requests much faster because the system will not be overloaded.
Those who believe they are eligible for relief even though they are outside of the designated area should call the IRS Special Services toll-free number at 866-562-5227.
According to the IRS website, this includes more than just residents and businesses: “Workers assisting relief activities who are affiliated with a recognized government.”
People and businesses affected by a federally declared disaster who have uninsured or unreimbursed losses can choose whether to claim them on their tax return for the year the disaster occurred (filed the following year) or the previous year’s return.
In this case, 2025 losses can be reported on either the 2025 tax return (due in 2026) or the 2024 return.
Taxpayers can make this decision up to six months after the standard filing deadline for the disaster year’s federal tax return (excluding any filing extensions). For individuals, the deadline is October 15, 2026.
When claiming a disaster-related loss, be sure to include the FEMA declaration number 4861-DR on your return. Publication 547 contains additional information on how to handle casualty, disaster, and theft-related losses.
