If you live in California and haven’t done your taxes yet, you may be able to breathe a sigh of relief.
Most of California's counties — including Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties — do not have to file by the April 18 deadline. That's because our winter storms, which included flooding, landslides and mudslides were were severe enough to be federally declared disasters dozens of the states' 58 counties.
October 16. The relief is offered automatically to anyone with addresses on file with the IRS in a designated disaster area. This includes individual income tax returns, various business returns and returns of tax-exempt organizations.
How do I know if I’m included?
You can check out the areas on this IRS relief list. Whenever the Federal Emergency Management Agency declares a disaster, those places are entitled to a longer filing and payment window.
And here's a list of the 51 California counties included, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom's office:
If you live elsewhere, you may still get a delayed deadline if you meet certain conditions. For example, if your tax records are inside the declared area, or your tax preparer is and they can’t file for you. You’ll have to call the IRS Disaster Hotline at 866-562-5227 and explain your situation. Make sure to have the correct FEMA Disaster Number for the area on hand.
