The Internal Revenue Service is providing additional time -- through Oct. 16 -- to file 2004 and 2005 individual income tax returns for taxpayers hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina.
Earlier this year, the IRS granted a postponement through Aug. 28, for victims in the most severely damaged parishes and counties of Louisiana and Mississippi. The IRS is now offering extensions for filing individual income tax returns to taxpayers in 31 Louisiana parishes, 49 Mississippi counties and 11 Alabama counties.
The additional time is available for the following individual tax returns:
- 2004 returns, originally due on April 15, 2005, for which taxpayers obtained an extension of time to file until Oct. 15, 2005, and for which the previous grant of disaster relief postponed the due date to Aug. 28, 2006; and,
- 2005 individual income tax returns, originally due on April 15, 2006, previously postponed until Aug. 28, 2006.
Affected taxpayers can mark "Hurricane Katrina" in red ink on the top of their returns and can also identify themselves as eligible for relief by calling the IRS Disaster Hotline at (866) 562-5227.The agency also issued guidance to assist victims of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma in claiming casualty and theft losses on their individual income tax returns. Outlined in Revenue Procedure 2006-32, the guidance provides information on several safe harbor methods that individual taxpayers may use in determining their casualty and theft loss deductions under section 165 of the Internal Revenue Code.
Information on both announcements is available at
Previously on WebCPA:
