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Alaska flood victims get IRS tax relief

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Individuals and businesses in the Juneau, Alaska, area affected by flooding from last Aug. 5 now have until May 1, 2025, to file various federal individual and business returns and make tax payments.   

The IRS offers relief to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and this currently includes the City and Borough of Juneau. Individuals and households that reside or have a business in this locality qualify for tax relief.

The same relief will apply to other localities later added to the disaster area. The current list of eligible localities is on the Tax Relief in Disaster Situations page on IRS.gov. 

IRS headquarters

Bloomberg via Getty Images

The relief postpones various filing and payment deadlines from last Aug. 5 through next May 1. Affected individuals and businesses will have until May 1, 2025, to file returns and pay any taxes originally due during this period.

This means, for example, that the May deadline now applies to: 

  • Any 2024 individual or business tax return normally due during March or April 2025.
  • Any individual, business or tax-exempt organization that has a valid extension to file their 2023 federal return. Payments on these returns are not eligible for the extra time because they were due last spring, before the flooding. 
  • 2024 quarterly estimated income tax payments normally due on Sept. 16, 2024, and Jan. 15, 2025, and 2025 quarterly estimated tax payments normally due on April 15, 2025.
  • Quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on Oct. 31, 2024, and Jan. 31 and April 30, 2025. 

Penalties for failing to make payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after Aug. 5, 2024, and before Aug. 20, 2024, will also be abated if the deposits were made by Aug. 20, 2024. 

The IRS 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 address of record in the disaster area. If an affected taxpayer does not have an address in the area (because, for example, they moved to the area after filing their return), and they receive a late-filing or late-payment penalty notice from the IRS for the postponement period, they should call the number on the notice to have the penalty abated.

The agency will work with any taxpayer who lives outside the disaster area but has records necessary to meet a deadline occurring during the postponement period in the affected area. Qualifying taxpayers who live outside the disaster area should call the IRS at (866) 562-5227, including workers assisting the relief activities who are with a recognized government or philanthropic organization.

Tax preparers in the disaster area with clients who are outside the disaster area can use the Bulk Requests From Practitioners for Disaster Relief option described on IRS.gov.

Individuals and businesses in a federally declared disaster area who suffered uninsured or unreimbursed disaster-related losses can choose to claim them on either the return for the year the loss occurred (in this instance, the 2024 return normally filed next year), or the return for the prior year (2023, filed this year). 

Taxpayers have up to six months after the due date of the taxpayer’s federal income tax return for the disaster year (without regard to any extension of time to file) to make the election. For individual taxpayers, this means Oct. 15, 2025. 

Taxpayers and tax preparers should write the FEMA declaration number, 4836-DR, on any return claiming a loss.

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Accounting

In the blogs: Just in time

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BOI is back; phantom stocks; continuous compliance; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Just in time

  • Tax Vox (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox): Who benefits and who loses from extending major provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act?
  • Taxing Subjects (https://www.drakesoftware.com/blog): The Republican party can shape legislative priorities for the next two years, setting the stage for long-term policy changes. A downloadable resource offers a breakdown of key policy areas and action steps for tax pros and small businesses. 
  • AICPA & CIMA Insights (https://www.aicpa-cima.com/blog): How the IRS and tax pros can both start prepping for any government shutdown.
  • Eide Bailly (https://www.eidebailly.com/taxblog): “Just in time for the holidays,” a federal appeals court has restored the Corporate Transparency Act requirement for businesses to disclose their beneficial owners.
  • Taxable Talk (http://www.taxabletalk.com/): And just like that, yet again, with an injunction’s stay, course is reversed.
  • Current Federal Tax Developments (https://www.currentfederaltaxdevelopments.com/): At least they extended the deadlines a whisker.
  • The Tax Times (https://www.thetaxtimes.com): The IRS continues to claw back from non-filers, to the tune of 10 figures and counting.
  • The National Association of Tax Professionals (https://blog.natptax.com/): Favorite headline of the week: “The best gifts for the tax pro in your life this holiday season.”
  • National Taxpayer Advocate (https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/taxnews-information/blogs-nta/): “‘Twas the night before tax season, and all through the land; Tax professionals were working, each with pen in hand; The forms were all sorted with numbers just right; who says tax accounting can’t thrill and excite?”

2025

Continuity

Size matters

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H&R Block releases Santa Claus’s tax return

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That doesn’t look like a 1040 … .

H&R Block has given the world just what it wants to see this holiday season: Santa Claus’s tax return.

Santa has a lot of itemizations to consider. Eight tiny reindeer depend on him for food and shelter, for instance, but are they dependents? How much can you give to one person before reporting it? Does Santa keep good mileage records for his 41.5 million miles? Santa isn’t an employee, so compensation (even in cookie form) over the threshold may create a 1099-NEC.

Old St. Nick, who files MFJ with Mrs. Claus, did all right on 1040 Line 34, but some of his numbers do bear examination: 6.3 million cookies and 2 million gallons of milk means a third of a gallon of milk per cookie. Will the deduction of coal, magic dust and sleighbells stand up to audit? At least Santa has plenty of time on his hands between January and April to find a good preparer.

Santa's tax return

“Even the jolly man in red takes time to report taxes,” reads the announcement from the tax prep giant. “He’s probably the world’s most famous small-business owner, running a gift-giving workshop and distribution network across the globe … Santa is giving us the first ever peek at his tax return and showing us how he used H&R Block Online and AI Tax Assist to get his maximum refund.”

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Accounting

5 changes coming to IRAs and 401(k)s in 2025

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The SECURE 2.0 Act contained several changes to traditional and Roth individual retirement accounts and 401(k) plans that are being phased in over the coming years, with several notable changes coming in 2025. The Illinois CPA Society highlighted five changes coming to IRAs and 401(k)s in 2025:

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