Friday, April 18, 2008

Additional Time to File

By now, most are aware that Bartow County has been declared presidential disaster area by the federal government. This gives residents until May 19th to file and pay their taxes. Some confusion was created the way the local media were reporting the additional time to file. The media reported that those affected by the tornadoes had additional time to file. This is correct. However, the regulations define an affected person more broadly than having your home destroyed.

Treasury Reg. §301.7508A-1(d)(1) identifies four ways in which taxpayers will be considered affected taxpayers eligible for postponement:

• Reside in a county that is a declared disaster area.
• Operate a business located in a county that is a declared disaster area.
• Maintain your books, records or use a tax professional whose office is in the covered disaster area.
• Relief workers affiliated with a recognized government or philanthropic organization assisting in the relief activities in the covered disaster area are eligible for postponement.

In addition to filing a tax return and paying any tax owed, the declaration provides additional time make a contribution to a qualified retirement account such as an IRA.

Here are the links for the Federal and Georgia announcements.

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