The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced tax relief for individuals and businesses in southern California affected by the wildfires and straight-line winds that began on January 7, 2025. This relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines to October 15, 2025.

Who Qualifies for Relief?

Taxpayers who reside or have a business in Los Angeles County qualify for tax relief.
The same relief will be available to taxpayers in any other counties that are later added to the disaster area. The current list of eligible localities is available on the IRS website.
The IRS automatically provides relief to any taxpayer with an IRS address of record located in the disaster area. These taxpayers do not need to contact the agency to get this relief.
Taxpayers who do not have an IRS address of record in the disaster area (for example, if they moved there after filing their return) can call the number on any late filing or late payment penalty notice to have the penalty abated.
Taxpayers who live outside the disaster area but whose records necessary to meet a deadline are located in the affected area can contact the IRS at 866-562-5227.
This also includes workers assisting the relief activities who are affiliated with a recognized government or philanthropic organization.
Tax preparers with clients located outside the disaster area can choose to use the bulk requests from practitioners for disaster relief option, described on IRS.gov.

Filing and Payment Deadlines Postponed

The tax relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred from January 7, 2025, through October 15, 2025. As a result, affected individuals and businesses will have until October 15, 2025, to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period. Specifically, the following deadlines are extended to October 15, 2025:

Individual income tax returns and payments normally due on April 15, 2025
2024 contributions to IRAs and health savings accounts for eligible taxpayers
2024 quarterly estimated income tax payments normally due on January 15, 2025, and estimated tax payments normally due on April 15, June 16 and September 15, 2025
Quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on January 31, April 30 and July 31, 2025
Calendar-year partnership and S corporation returns normally due on March 17, 2025
Calendar-year corporation and fiduciary returns and payments normally due on April 15, 2025
Calendar-year tax-exempt organization returns normally due on May 15, 2025
Penalties for failing to make payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after January 7, 2025, and before January 22, 2025, will be abated as long as the deposits are made by January 22, 2025.

Additional Tax Relief

Taxpayers who suffered uninsured or unreimbursed disaster-related losses can choose to claim them on either the 2025 return or the 2024 return. Taxpayers have up to six months after the due date of the taxpayer’s federal income tax return for the disaster year (without regard to any extension of time to file), which for individual taxpayers means October 15, 2026 to make the election. Be sure to write the FEMA declaration number – 4856-DR – on any return claiming a loss. Refer to Publication 547, Casualties, Disasters, and Thefts for details.
Qualified disaster relief payments are generally excluded from gross income. This includes amounts received from a government agency for reasonable and necessary personal, family, living or funeral expenses, as well as for the repair or rehabilitation of their home, or for the repair or replacement of its contents. See Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income, for details.
Affected taxpayers who participate in a retirement plan or individual retirement arrangement (IRA) may be eligible to take a special disaster distribution that would not be subject to the additional 10% early distribution tax and allows the taxpayer to spread the income over three years. Taxpayers may also be eligible to make a hardship withdrawal. Each plan or IRA has specific rules and guidance for their participants to follow.

Other Important Information

The tax relief is part of a coordinated federal response to the damage caused by these storms and is based on local damage assessments by FEMA.
Eligible individuals or families can get free help preparing their tax return at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) or Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) sites. To find the closest free tax help site, use the VITA Locator Tool or call 800-906-9887. Note that normally, VITA sites cannot help claim disaster losses.
To find an AARP Tax-Aide site, use the AARP Site Locator Tool or call 888-227-7669.
Any individual or family whose adjusted gross income (AGI) was $84,000 or less in 2024 can use IRS Free File’s Guided Tax Software at no cost.
Another Free File option is Free File Fillable Forms.
MilTax, a Department of Defense program, offers free return preparation software and electronic filing for federal tax returns and up to three state income tax returns.

This information is based on the IRS announcement made on January 10, 2025. The IRS may provide additional disaster relief in the future. For information on disaster recovery, visit DisasterAssistance.gov.

Information compiled with the assistance of NotebookLM.

IRS news release can be read at: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-california-wildfire-victims-qualify-for-tax-relief-various-deadlines-postponed-to-oct-15