In the almost ten years since we relocated from the Arkansas Ozarks to Florida’s Nature Coast, there have been a number of hurricanes that were so disruptive that IRS postponed filing deadlines as a result. The official postponements applied to taxpayers living and working in the affected areas, as well as tax preparers in those areas.

As we prepared over the past week for the incoming Hurricane Idalia, which had our location directly in the middle of its projected path, it sounded like it would have a large enough impact to warrant another IRS filing delay.

Usually, it takes IRS a few days to a week to issue their formal announcements of the disaster related delays. To my surprise, IRS acted faster on this matter than I have ever seen. The hurricane made landfall North of us this Wednesday morning. By this afternoon, IRS had already issued the following news release.

Those impacted by Idalia qualify for tax relief; Oct. 16 deadline, other dates postponed to Feb. 15

Basically, it says that for any person or business in one of the 46 Florida counties that were affected by Idalia, any original and extended tax returns that are due between 8/27/2023 and 2/15/2024, their new deadline is now February 15, 2024.

The main types of tax returns that this will affect are 2022 Individual (1040) returns with the extended due date of 10/16/2023, partnerships (1065) and S-corps (1120-S) with extended due dates of 9/15/2023. Filing those returns by the new postponed deadline of Feb 15, 2024 will incur no late penalties, which are usually applicable when taxes are due.

The list of the actual 46 counties that qualify for this postponed deadline currently consists of:
Alachua, Baker, Bay, Bradford, Calhoun, Charlotte, Citrus, Clay, Collier, Columbia, DeSoto, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Hardee, Hernando, Hillsborough, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Lee, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Manatee, Marion, Nassau, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns, Sumter, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, Volusia and Wakulla.

Source: IRS announces tax relief for those impacted by Idalia in Florida

As we saw earlier this years with the names of counties in California that qualified for postponed tax deadlines due to their massive storms, the list can grow as more details come in about the effects of this hurricane.

Also, as Idalia works its way up through Georgia and other states, we can probably expect similar IRS announcements for taxpayers and preparers in those locations.

Considering that we still have three more months in this year’s Hurricane Season, we may see even longer filing deadline delays if we get clobbered some more.

[Update 9/9/23] IRS has granted the same deadline postponement – until Feb 15, 2024 – for taxpayers and preparers in all 46 counties of South Carolina. IRS News Release