In consideration of the continuing impact of Hurricane Katrina, the Internal Revenue Service has further postponed filing and payment requirements for businesses until Oct. 16, 2006, which is the same deadline established earlier for certain individual income tax return filers.The postponement now applies to individual, corporation, partnership, estate, trust, S corporation, generation-skipping, employment and certain excise tax returns with original or extended due dates that fall on or after Aug. 29, 2005, but before Oct. 16, 2006.
Business taxpayers in seven Louisiana parishes and three Mississippi counties will automatically qualify for this postponement. In addition, taxpayers in other locations -- covering 11 Alabama counties, 31 Louisiana parishes and 48 Mississippi counties -- can also obtain the filing and payment postponements by self-identifying themselves to the IRS.
To ensure that they receive the relief to which they are entitled, affected taxpayers whose business, home or tax professional were in the disaster areas should mark "Hurricane Katrina" in red ink on the top of their returns. In addition, affected taxpayers may identify themselves as eligible for relief by calling the IRS Disaster Hotline at (866) 562-5277.
The extra time to make payments applies to tax payments, including estimated tax payments, due on or after Aug. 29, 2005, but before Oct. 16, 2006. In addition, the failure to deposit penalty will be waived for affected taxpayers who are unable to make their deposits during this time period.
The IRS is not authorized to grant additional interest and failure-to-pay penalty relief beyond Aug. 29, 2005. Taxpayers that need such relief can request it if the failure to pay is due to reasonable cause, and not due to willful neglect.
