IRS Announces Expansive Federal Tax Relief for Victims of Hawaii Wildfires

The IRS tax relief for victims of Hawaii wildfires includes extending the tax filing deadline for those with original (or extended) deadlines between August 8 and Feb. 15, 2024. Now, the victims of Hawaii wildfires can file various individual and business tax returns, as well as pay taxes by February 15.

Specifically, the tax relief applies to taxpayers with the following tax deadlines:

• Those with individual income tax returns due on Oct. 16, 2023.
• Those with quarterly estimated tax payments due on Sept. 15, 2023, and Jan. 16, 2024.
• Relief is also available for those with quarterly payroll and excise tax returns due on Oct. 31, 2023, and Jan. 31, 2024.
• Businesses, including calendar-year partnerships and S corporations that have an original or extended due date of September 15, and calendar-year corporations with 2022 extensions running out on October 16, also qualify for relief.

It must be noted that the tax relief won’t apply to the tax payments related to 2022 returns, as these were due on April 18, 2023. You can view the list of eligible localities on the IRS disaster relief page.

How To Apply For The Relief

Taxpayers don’t need to apply for tax relief; rather the agency will automatically apply relief to eligible people and businesses. However, affected taxpayers who live or have business outside the covered disaster area, need to call the disaster hotline at 866-562-5227 to request tax relief.

If a taxpayer in the affected area receives any late filing or late payment penalty notice from the IRS regarding a due date that falls within the postponement period, they need to call the IRS telephone number mentioned on the notice.

In addition to the tax relief for victims of Hawaii wildfires, the IRS will also waive the “usual fees and requests for copies of previously filed tax returns for affected taxpayers.”

To get this additional relief, taxpayers need to put “Hawaii wildfires” in bold letters at the top of Form 4506 (Request for Copy of Tax Return), or Form 4506-T (Request for Transcript of Tax Return), and submit it to the IRS. It must be noted that qualified disaster relief payments are excluded from the taxpayers’ gross income.

Visit this link for more information on tax relief for victims of Hawaii wildfires.