With just hours to spare, the Internal Revenue Service and the Franchise Tax Board on Monday, Oct. 16 pushed the federal and state filing deadlines for most California taxpayers to Nov. 16.
Neither agency offered a reason for the last-minute extension.
State and federal tax filing deadlines were extended this spring to Oct. 16 after winter storms and mudslides prompted three different FEMA disaster declarations across much of the state.
Now, taxpayers filers have another month to file.
The IRS issued its extension early Monday while the FTB released a statement at 6 p.m. signaling it also would push the deadline out to November.
“FTB generally conforms to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) postponement periods for presidentially declared disasters,” the FTB said in a statement.
Per the IRS, most individuals and businesses in California have until Nov. 16 to file their 2022 federal returns and pay any tax due.
This extension covers 55 of California’s 58 counties. Taxpayers in Lassen, Modoc and Shasta counties were excluded.
The IRS extension is based on three different FEMA disaster declarations covering winter storms, flooding, landslides and mudslides over a period of several months.
Some common questions:
Do tax filers need to do anything? The agency noted Monday that it “automatically provides filing and penalty relief to any taxpayer with an IRS address of record located in the disaster area. Therefore, taxpayers do not need to contact the agency to get this relief.”
What if you moved? If an affected taxpayer didn’t have “an IRS address of record” located in the disaster area because they moved to the disaster area after filing their return, they could receive a late filing or late payment penalty notice from the IRS.
Taxpayers should call the number on the notice to have the penalty abated, the IRS said.
More on the filing deadline: Tax filing deadline, for most Californians, shifts to October
The IRS said the extension includes most 2022 individual and business returns originally due April 18. Other business returns, normally due on March 15 and April 18, and returns of tax-exempt organizations typically due on May 15, also were extended to Oct. 16 and now Nov. 16.
The IRS and the state are offering relief to residents living in areas designated as disaster zones by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The list of counties includes Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside in addition to 37 others.
More on the extension: Why did my accountant insist I file before Oct. 16?
The Franchise Tax Board said taxpayers who suffered financial losses to storm damage also could be eligible to claim those losses on their tax returns.
The other counties that qualify for tax relief include Alameda, Colusa, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Humboldt, Kings, Lake, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Mono, Monterey, Napa, Placer, Sacramento, San Benito, San Diego, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Tulare, Ventura, Yolo, and Yuba counties.
If you’re a taxpayer who resides or has a business located outside the disaster area, be sure to call the IRS disaster hotline at 866-562-5227 to request the extension.
