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September 7, 2011
Hurricane Irene Tax Relief Update
This morning, the Internal Revenue Service updated the announcement ("IRS Provides Tax Relief to Victims of Hurricane Irene") on IRS.gov to reflect that all 21 New Jersey counties have been declared federal disaster areas, ensuring that individuals and businesses in those counties now qualify for tax relief, specifically an extension of the September 15, 2011 filing deadline to October 31, 2011. See the complete announcements:
Additionally, many of you have asked about the definition of an "affected taxpayer." According to the IRS announcement, "taxpayers considered to be affected taxpayers eligible for the postponement of time to file returns, pay taxes and perform other time-sensitive acts listed in Treas. Reg. § 301.7508A-1(d)(1), and include individuals who live, and businesses whose principal place of business is located, in the covered disaster area. Taxpayers not in the covered disaster area, but whose records necessary to meet a deadline listed in Treas. Reg. § 301.7508A-1(c) are in the covered disaster area, are also entitled to relief."
To put it more simply, if your firm is in New Jersey but you have a client located outside the disaster area in New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware or elsewhere, that client is eligible for an extension of the September 15, 2011 filing deadline to October 31, 2011 if that business's records are with you in the disaster area. If that client's records are not with you in the disaster area, then that business is only eligible for a one-week filing extension, from September 15 to September 22.
We understand that many of you are still recovering from the storm both personally and professionally and that it will be difficult if not impossible for you meet the September 22 deadline in those cases when the client doesn't qualify for the October 31, 2011 extension. We have requested that the IRS consider an additional extension beyond one week. We'll keep you posted on the IRS response.
The IRS will automatically identify taxpayers located in the covered disaster area and applies automatic filing and payment relief. But affected taxpayers who reside or have a business located outside the covered disaster area must call the IRS disaster hotline at 1-866-562-5227 to request this tax relief.
The IRS also recommends these resources:
Thank you for your patience during this difficult time. We will do our best to keep you informed as the situation warrants. For all the latest updates, visit the Hurricane Irene Tax Relief Resources page on the NJSCPA website.
Sincerely,
Ralph Albert Thomas
Executive Director
rthomas@njscpa.org
973-226-4494 x232
This message has been sent by the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants. If you no longer wish to receive email from the NJSCPA, reply to this message or contact us at: 425 Eagle Rock Avenue | Roseland, NJ 07068 | 973-226-4494 | njscpa@njscpa.org.
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