Texas taxpayers in Hurricane Beryl’s path get new Feb. 3, 2025, tax deadline

UPDATE, Aug. 2, 2024: The The Internal Revenue Service also has granted the delayed Feb. 3, 2025, deadline to taxpayers in separate disaster areas in Kentucky and Missouri.  Tax relief for Kentucky applies to those in 58 Blue Grass State counties who were affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, landslides, and mudslides that began on May 21. Similar tax relief is provided Missouri residents in 15 Show Me State counties that sustained damages from severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, and flooding that began on May 19. The bold-faced links earlier in this update will take you to the official IRS announcements for details for each disaster area.

Flooding in Houston, Texas, after Hurricane Beryl came ashore. (Photo credit: FEMA)

Hurricane Beryl, the second named storm of the 2024 tropical storm season, did a lot of damage to the Texas Gulf Coast, particularly the Houston area, when she made landfall as a category 1 on July 8.

Now the Internal Revenue Service is providing millions of my affected Texas neighbors some tax relief.

They have until Feb. 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make associated tax payments.

All Texas coast and more: The covered areas, per the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) official designation, are the following 67 Lone Star State counties listed below.

If FEMA later includes other locales to the disaster area, the IRS will provide those additions will receive the same relief.

I’ll update this post if there are changes. You also can check with FEMA, as well as the IRS’ online tax relief in disaster situations page.

Available relief: So, what exactly is the tax relief?

For most who were in Beryl’s deadly path, both as a land-falling hurricane or as is weakened somewhat as it moved inland, the relief is new, later tax deadlines.

Various tax filing and payment deadlines will be delayed until Feb. 3, 2025. These are those with filing and payment due dates from July 5, 2024, when Beryl approached landfall, through the new deadline next February.

This means that the Feb. 3, 2025, deadline will now apply to —

• Any individual, business, or tax-exempt organization that has a valid extension to file their 2023 federal return. The IRS noted, however, that payments on these returns are not eligible for the extra time because they were due last spring before the hurricane occurred.
• Quarterly estimated income tax payments normally due on Sept. 16, 2024, and Jan. 15, 2025.
• Quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on July 31 and Oct. 31, 2024, and Jan. 31, 2025.

For businesses, penalties for failing to make payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after July 5, 2024, and before July 22, 2024, also will be abated, as long as the deposits are made by July 22, 2024.

Claiming a disaster tax deduction: The Texas taxpayers who now have a Feb. 3, 2025, deadline also may be able, as do taxpayers in all major disaster areas, to claim uninsured disaster losses as an itemized tax deduction.

They also get the option to choose the tax year in which to make the claim, either the tax year in which you sustain the loss, which is generally in the year the casualty occurred, or for the prior tax year.

Filing a prior-year disaster claim could get you a tax refund now, providing money you can use toward storm recovery efforts. But run the numbers to see which filing year will get you more tax relief.

You can find more about potential disaster tax deductions, including the option to choose which tax year in which to make the claim (the year of the disaster or the prior tax year) in my post Considerations in making a major disaster tax claim.

You also might find these items of interest:

• Resources to help deal with major natural disasters
• A pre-disaster inventory can pay off when filing insurance or tax claims
• Hurricane season 2024 looks to be fulfilling its most-active forecast. Get ready now.
• Storm Warnings: Preparing for, recovering from, and helping those affected by natural disasters

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