IR-2024-94, April 4, 2024 WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service announced today tax relief for individuals and businesses in parts of Rhode Island that were affected by severe storms and flooding that began on Dec. 17, 2023, and Jan. 9, 2024. These taxpayers now have until July 15, 2024, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments. The IRS is offering relief to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Currently, individuals and households that reside or have a business in Kent, Providence and Washington counties qualify for tax relief. The same relief will be available to any counties added later to the disaster areas. The current list of eligible localities is always available on the Tax relief in disaster situations page on IRS.gov. Among other things, this means that 2023 individual and business tax returns and tax payments are now due on July 15, 2024. For more information on filing and payment relief for these two incidents, please refer to RI-2024-05 and RI-2024-06. The Disaster assistance and emergency relief for individuals and businesses page has details on other returns, payments and tax-related actions qualifying for relief during the postponement period. The IRS automatically provides filing and penalty relief to any taxpayer with an IRS address of record located in the disaster area. These taxpayers do not need to contact the agency to get this relief. It is possible an affected taxpayer may not have an IRS address of record located in the disaster area, for example, because they moved to the disaster area after filing their return. In these kinds of unique circumstances, the affected taxpayer could receive a late filing or late payment penalty notice from the IRS for the postponement period. The taxpayer should call the number on the notice to have the penalty abated. In addition, the IRS will work with any taxpayer who lives outside the disaster area but whose records necessary to meet a deadline occurring during the postponement period are located in the affected area. Taxpayers qualifying for relief who live outside the disaster area need to contact the IRS at 866-562-5227. This also includes workers assisting the relief activities who are affiliated with a recognized government or philanthropic organization. Disaster area tax preparers with clients located outside the disaster area can choose to use the Bulk Requests from Practitioners for Disaster Relief option, described on IRS.gov. The tax relief is part of a coordinated federal response to the damage caused by these storms and is based on local damage assessments by FEMA. For information on disaster recovery, visit DisasterAssistance.gov. Reminder about tax return preparation options Eligible individuals or families can get free help preparing their tax return at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) or Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) sites. To find the closest free tax help site, use the VITA Locator Tool or call 800-906-9887. Note that normally, VITA sites cannot help claim disaster losses. To find an AARP Tax-Aide site, use the AARP Site Locator Tool or call 888-227-7669. Any individual or family whose adjusted gross income (AGI) was $79,000 or less in 2023 can use IRS Free File’s Guided Tax Software at no cost. There are products in English and Spanish. Another Free File option is Free File Fillable Forms. These are electronic federal tax forms, equivalent to a paper 1040 and are designed for taxpayers who are comfortable filling out IRS tax forms. Anyone, regardless of income, can use this option. MilTax, a Department of Defense program, offers free return preparation software and electronic filing for federal tax returns and up to three state income tax returns. It’s available for all military members and some veterans, with no income limit.
