Hurricane Irene Extends Some Deadlines - 1.5 Cheers from Tax Preparers

Originally Published on forbes.com on September 1st,2011

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An IRS new release (IR-2011-87)  announces that various deadline extensions and other relief will be granted to taxpayers affected by Hurricane Irene

IR-2011-87, Sept. 1, 2011

WASHINGTON –– The Internal Revenue Service is providing tax relief to individual and business taxpayers impacted by Hurricane Irene.

The IRS announced today that certain taxpayers in North Carolina, New Jersey, New York and Puerto Rico will receive tax relief, and other locations are expected to be added in coming days following additional damage assessments by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The tax relief postpones certain tax filing and payment deadlines to Oct. 31, 2011. It includes corporations and businesses that previously obtained anextension until Sept. 15, 2011, to file their 2010 returns and individuals and businesses that received a similar extension until Oct. 17. It also includes the estimated tax payment for the third quarter of 2011, which would normally be due Sept. 15.

Full details, including the start date for the relief in various locations and information on how to claim a disaster loss by amending a prior-year tax return, can be found in tax relief announcements for individual states on the IRS website, www.IRS.gov.

The tax relief is part of a coordinated federal response to the damage caused by the hurricane and is based on local damage assessments by FEMA. For information on disaster recovery, individuals should visitdisasterassistance.gov.

Tax Relief Available So Far

Filing and payment relief is currently available to taxpayers in federal disaster areas declared in North Carolina, New Jersey, New York State and Puerto Rico. The IRS expects to announce tax relief for taxpayers in other areas as damage assessments continue. The IRS encourages taxpayers and tax practitioners to monitor Tax Relief in Disaster Situations on IRS.gov for updates.

So far, IRS filing and payment relief applies to the following counties and municipalities:

• In North Carolina: Beaufort, Carteret, Craven, Dare, Hyde, Pamlico and Tyrell;
• In New Jersey: Bergen, Essex, Morris, Passaic and Somerset;
• In New York: Albany, Delaware, Dutchess, Essex, Greene, Schenectady, Schoharie and Ulster; and
• In Puerto Rico: Caguas, Canovanas, Carolina, Cayey, Loiza, Luquillo and San Juan.

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Tax Preparer Viewpoint

My first reaction is – “That makes sense.”  My second reaction is “Something I can’t say in Forbes without violating the content standards”.  The effect of the ruling is to extend what we now call second tax season.  Most sophisticated clients go on extension.  If they are in hedge funds they have to.  The hedge funds put their partnership returns on extension. The partnership information (Form K-1) which tends to run twenty pages or more is fiendishly complex.Hedge funds seem to be in every business everywhere in the world.  Recently the extended due date for flow through entitities was pulled back to September 15 rather than having it coincide with the individual extended due date on October 15.  That was a good idea, since putting the most complicated K-1′s into individual returns on the very day that the returns are due was difficult.

The annoncement at least as it relates to those counties where it is effective now makes it October 31 for both, apparently.  It seens like there are enough affected areas that exteding the due date for flow throughs in those areas will affect individuals throughout the country.  I don’t know about some of the places but Bergen County is where I grew up and there is a lot going on there, likewise Essex County.  Hedge funds, which are partnerships, tend to be partners in other partnerships, generally all over the place.  My guess is that we will all be finishing second tax season on Halloween this year.

Trick or Treat anyone.