How Can Estate Plan Documents Be Modified For An Incapacitated Spouse?

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Bush Estate Tax Cuts expire December 31, 2025 – Here is what you need to know.

In 2001 and 2003 under President Bush temporary tax cuts were enacted through through two pieces of legislation: the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (EGTRRA) and the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (JGTRRA). Both measures were renewed in 2012 and 2017. Some of these tax cuts that have been enacted over the past 20 plus years are set to expire December 31, 2025, such as the Estate and Gift provision from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017.

Estate and gift taxes – current law

The estate and gift provision in the TCJA of 2017 had a major impact on many people who may have a taxable estate in the future. The TCJA doubled the federal lifetime gift tax exemption amount, from $5.49 million in 2017 to $11.18 million in 2018 per individual. Under the TCJA, this higher exemption amount was then indexed for inflation in each subsequent each year.

In 2024, each individual has a combined federal estate and gift tax exemption of $13,610,000 (less any prior gifts made during life). This means that for federal tax purposes, in 2024 an individual can make lifetime gifts totaling up to $13,610,000 to anyone or transfer at death up to $13,610,000 (less any gifts made during life) to anyone without triggering the imposition of the federal estate and/or gift taxes. Married couples have a combined exemption, allowing them to make gifts during their lifetimes totaling $27,220,000. Any gifts during life or transfers at death with a value in excess of the available exemption amount will be subject to a federal estate and/or gift tax at a rate of 40%.

Estate and gift taxes – consequence of expiration of current law

After December 31, 2025 exemptions from estate and gift taxes will revert to pre-TCJA levels of around $5 million, adjusted for inflation. The lifetime gift and estate tax exemption, which was more than doubled by the 2017 tax reform bill, will go up with inflation in January 2025, then go down to near-2017 levels in January 2026 unless and until Congress steps in. If no action is taken by Congress by the end of 2025, then under the current law, on January 1, 2026, the federal lifetime exemption amount will be reduced to approximately one-half of the current value. Based on the rate of inflation, the exemption as of January 1, 2026 will be approximately $7 million per person.

We recommend that you review your assets, income and living expenses, then project those numbers out for your expected lifetime. Any excess assets remaining after your projected lifetime expenses is what you should consider to include in a revised estate plan that will not be burdened by a decrease in the estate and gift tax exemption.  Not taking full advantage of the gift tax exemption before it drops in two years could result in a much smaller estate for your heirs.

Leverage 2024 gifting limits

Based on the 2024 gifting limits a direct gift of cash, securities or other assets with a value up to the lifetime exemption is a simple was to gift money or part of inheritance. Furthermore, you can use the annual gift tax exclusion — $18,000 in 2024, $36,000 for couples — to make yearly gifts to as many people as you like. For example, you can make a payment directly to a school to cover a child’s or grandchild’s tuition, or to a medical provider for health expenses, without incurring taxes. Neither “free” nor annual exclusion gifts count toward your lifetime gifting limit, and these rules are not slated to change in 2026.

Family Limited Partnerships or LLC’s

For estates that have substantial real estate holdings, it is beneficial to have such real estate owned by a limited liability company (“LLC”) and then all of the LLC interests owned by a Family Limited Partnership (“FLP”).  As the owner of an FLP, you can then make gifts of limited partner interests in the FLP to family members at gift tax values that are discounted for lack of marketability and minority interests.  These discounts essentially provide a great mechanism by which you can leverage your gift tax exemption to reduce your taxable estate.  As the general partner of the FLP, you still control the management of the LLC’s.

Irrevocable Trusts

Rather than gifting cash or assets, alternatively, an irrevocable trust permits withdrawals based upon a schedule and conditions that you determine. This allows you to maintain a level of control over how and when the beneficiaries will receive distributions. When choosing which assets to gift or place in a trust it is important to look at what assets or gifts you expect will keep growing. When you gift assets using your lifetime gift tax exemption, the assets are transferred at today’s value, and there’s no tax to the beneficiaries. You can gift these assets using your lifetime gift tax exemption, allow heirs to have the current benefit and the gift or asset may experience appreciation in future years. It is important to have a skilled trusts and estates attorney draft documents, such as trust, so there are no issues with your estate.

How Can You Modify Estate Plan Documents For An Incapacitated Spouse?

If you have an incapacitated spouse who has not done any estate planning including not having executed a will or a revocable living trust or his or her documents are outdated, getting his or her estate in order is extremely important. In California, there is a special law available in regard to setting up an estate plan for an incapacitated spouse. Under California Probate Code §3100, a petition can be filed with the Courts to authorize a particular transaction involving spouse or domestic partner who lacks legal capacity, of unsound mind and unable to sign a power of attorney and has no conservator. This proceeding may be brought to authorize a particular transaction when both spouses or domestic partners have conservators, as well as when one has capacity and the other does not, or does not have a conservator. For example, this probate tool can be used if a husband and wife have all their assets as community property and they want to make gifts to their children and grandchildren to reduce their taxable estates, but one spouse lacks capacity (i.e. dementia) to make financial or testamentary decisions.

The effectiveness of a California Probate Code §3100 petition depends on the character of the subject assets being community property.  If a proposed transaction involves mixed community and separate property, then for good cause the court may still include that separate property in the transaction. If some of the incapacitated spouse’s assets are exclusively his or her own separate property alone — such as, bank accounts from before their marriage or real property assets acquired as an inheritance during their marriage — then this approach probably will not work, unless the court is willing to be flexible and to see the bigger estate picture which is mainly community property assets.

With any separate property assets, commencing a conservatorship court proceeding may be necessary.  A conservatorship must be opened in order to then make a substituted judgment petition asking the court to authorize estate planning. The California Probate Code §3100 petition and the court conservatorship petition are court proceedings that each require the following:  (1) a determination of incapacity with respect to spouse with diminished capacity; (2) notification to the relatives within the 2nd degree of the spouse with diminished capacity regarding the hearing; (3) representation of the interests of the spouse with diminished capacity; and (4) service of a citation to appear at the court hearing on the spouse with diminished capacity.

Under California Probate Code §3100, the community property will be transferred to the well spouse as sole and separate property and then with the complete ownership of the assets, the well spouse can then engage in estate planning for the couple’s best interests.

What Should You Do?

When it comes to being ready for changes in the tax laws – two years may seem like a lot of time to adjust your estate plans, however, unless you’re simply making large cash gifts, developing a new plan will involve detailed conversations and analysis. Whether your existing estate plan was created recently or a while ago having a conversation with your estate attorney now can help you make better-educated decisions about your family’s future. Furthermore, drafting of documents and trusts can be done by a professional tax and estate attorney who can guide you through the complexities, nuances, and changes in estate and gift tax law.

That is why it is worth reaching out to a Trusts and Estates and/or Probate Attorney such as the at the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. We are always thinking of ways that our clients can save on taxes, trusts and estates planning, and probate matters. Whether or not a will exists, the expertise of a skilled lawyer at the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. is needed to help protect the interests of the parties involved. The tax attorneys at the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. located in Orange County (Irvine), Los Angeles and elsewhere in California are highly skilled in handling tax and probate matters and can effectively represent at all levels with the IRS and State Tax Agencies including criminal tax investigations and attempted prosecutions, undisclosed foreign bank accounts and other foreign assets, and unreported foreign income. Also, if you are involved in cannabis, check out what our cannabis tax attorney can do for you. Additionally, if you are involved in cryptocurrency, check out what a bitcoin tax attorney can do for you.

How Can Estate Plan Documents Be Modified For An Incapacitated Person?

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Bush Estate Tax Cuts expire December 31, 2025 – Here is what you need to know.

In 2001 and 2003 under President Bush temporary tax cuts were enacted through through two pieces of legislation: the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (EGTRRA) and the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (JGTRRA). Both measures were renewed in 2012 and 2017. Some of these tax cuts that have been enacted over the past 20 plus years are set to expire December 31, 2025, such as the Estate and Gift provision from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017.

Estate and gift taxes – current law

The estate and gift provision in the TCJA of 2017 had a major impact on many people who may have a taxable estate in the future. The TCJA doubled the federal lifetime gift tax exemption amount, from $5.49 million in 2017 to $11.18 million in 2018 per individual. Under the TCJA, this higher exemption amount was then indexed for inflation in each subsequent each year.

In 2024, each individual has a combined federal estate and gift tax exemption of $13,610,000 (less any prior gifts made during life). This means that for federal tax purposes, in 2024 an individual can make lifetime gifts totaling up to $13,610,000 to anyone or transfer at death up to $13,610,000 (less any gifts made during life) to anyone without triggering the imposition of the federal estate and/or gift taxes. Married couples have a combined exemption, allowing them to make gifts during their lifetimes totaling $27,220,000. Any gifts during life or transfers at death with a value in excess of the available exemption amount will be subject to a federal estate and/or gift tax at a rate of 40%.

Estate and gift taxes – consequence of expiration of current law

After December 31, 2025 exemptions from estate and gift taxes will revert to pre-TCJA levels of around $5 million, adjusted for inflation. The lifetime gift and estate tax exemption, which was more than doubled by the 2017 tax reform bill, will go up with inflation in January 2025, then go down to near-2017 levels in January 2026 unless and until Congress steps in. If no action is taken by Congress by the end of 2025, then under the current law, on January 1, 2026, the federal lifetime exemption amount will be reduced to approximately one-half of the current value. Based on the rate of inflation, the exemption as of January 1, 2026 will be approximately $7 million per person.

We recommend that you review your assets, income and living expenses, then project those numbers out for your expected lifetime. Any excess assets remaining after your projected lifetime expenses is what you should consider to include in a revised estate plan that will not be burdened by a decrease in the estate and gift tax exemption.  Not taking full advantage of the gift tax exemption before it drops in two years could result in a much smaller estate for your heirs.

Leverage 2024 gifting limits

Based on the 2024 gifting limits a direct gift of cash, securities or other assets with a value up to the lifetime exemption is a simple was to gift money or part of inheritance. Furthermore, you can use the annual gift tax exclusion — $18,000 in 2024, $36,000 for couples — to make yearly gifts to as many people as you like. For example, you can make a payment directly to a school to cover a child’s or grandchild’s tuition, or to a medical provider for health expenses, without incurring taxes. Neither “free” nor annual exclusion gifts count toward your lifetime gifting limit, and these rules are not slated to change in 2026.

Family Limited Partnerships or LLC’s

For estates that have substantial real estate holdings, it is beneficial to have such real estate owned by a limited liability company (“LLC”) and then all of the LLC interests owned by a Family Limited Partnership (“FLP”).  As the owner of an FLP, you can then make gifts of limited partner interests in the FLP to family members at gift tax values that are discounted for lack of marketability and minority interests.  These discounts essentially provide a great mechanism by which you can leverage your gift tax exemption to reduce your taxable estate.  As the general partner of the FLP, you still control the management of the LLC’s.

Irrevocable Trusts

Rather than gifting cash or assets, alternatively, an irrevocable trust permits withdrawals based upon a schedule and conditions that you determine. This allows you to maintain a level of control over how and when the beneficiaries will receive distributions. When choosing which assets to gift or place in a trust it is important to look at what assets or gifts you expect will keep growing. When you gift assets using your lifetime gift tax exemption, the assets are transferred at today’s value, and there’s no tax to the beneficiaries. You can gift these assets using your lifetime gift tax exemption, allow heirs to have the current benefit and the gift or asset may experience appreciation in future years. It is important to have a skilled trusts and estates attorney draft documents, such as trust, so there are no issues with your estate.

How Can You Modify Estate Plan Documents For An Incapacitated Person?

If you have an incapacitated parent who has not done any estate planning including not having executed a will or a revocable living trust or his or her documents are outdated, getting his or her estate in order is extremely important. In California, there is a special law available in regard to setting up an estate plan for an incapacitated parent. Under California Probate Code §2580, the Courts have the power to create a “Substituted Judgment”.  Under such law, an interested party may file a petition to take a proposed action to: (1) benefit the conservatee or the estate, (2) minimize taxes or expenses of administration of the conservatorship estate or of the estate upon the death of the conservatee, or (3) make gifts to likely donees if the conservatee had capacity. Using this law could help avoid probate and save heirs on estate taxes when one’s incapacitated parent dies.

There are many factors for the Court to consider when determining whether to approve a petition for substituted judgment.  California Probate Code §2583 lists some factors, but the Court may consider other factors not listed in the Probate Code.  Some of these factors include whether the conservatee has capacity to carry out the proposed transaction, the wishes of the conservatee, prior estate planning documents, changes in the law that the conservatee may have considered in making changes to his estate plan, and the likelihood that the conservatee would have taken the proposed action.  The petition has to address all of the relevant factors listed in the Probate Code and any others that it is believed the court may consider. Furthermore, any trust created under a substituted judgment order is subject to the California Rules of Court that govern court created trusts. These rules include the trustee obtaining a bond, filing accountings with the court just like in a conservatorship of the estate, and requiring court approval of any modification or amendment.

What Should You Do?

When it comes to being ready for changes in the tax laws – two years may seem like a lot of time to adjust an estate plans, however, unless you’re simply making large cash gifts, developing a new plan will involve detailed conversations and analysis. Whether your existing estate plan was created recently or a while ago having a conversation with your estate attorney now can help you make better-educated decisions about your family’s future. Furthermore, drafting of documents and trusts can be done by a professional tax and estate attorney who can guide you through the complexities, nuances, and changes in estate and gift tax law.

That is why it is worth reaching out to a Trusts and Estates and/or Probate Attorney such as the at the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. We are always thinking of ways that our clients can save on taxes, trusts and estates planning, and probate matters. Whether or not a will exists, the expertise of a skilled lawyer at the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. is needed to help protect the interests of the parties involved. The tax attorneys at the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. located in Orange County (Irvine), Los Angeles and elsewhere in California are highly skilled in handling tax and probate matters and can effectively represent at all levels with the IRS and State Tax Agencies including criminal tax investigations and attempted prosecutions, undisclosed foreign bank accounts and other foreign assets, and unreported foreign income. Also, if you are involved in cannabis, check out what our cannabis tax attorney can do for you. Additionally, if you are involved in cryptocurrency, check out what a bitcoin tax attorney can do for you.

It’s Time to Review Your Estate Plan Given Uncertainty In The Tax Law.

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Bush Estate Tax Cuts expire December 31, 2025 – Here is what you need to know.

In 2001 and 2003 under President Bush temporary tax cuts were enacted through through two pieces of legislation: the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (EGTRRA) and the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (JGTRRA). Both measures were renewed in 2012 and 2017. Some of these tax cuts that have been enacted over the past 20 plus years are set to expire December 31, 2025, such as the Estate and Gift provision from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017.

Estate and gift taxes – current law

The estate and gift provision in the TCJA of 2017 had a major impact on many people who may have a taxable estate in the future. The TCJA doubled the federal lifetime gift tax exemption amount, from $5.49 million in 2017 to $11.18 million in 2018 per individual. Under the TCJA, this higher exemption amount was then indexed for inflation in each subsequent each year.

In 2024, each individual has a combined federal estate and gift tax exemption of $13,610,000 (less any prior gifts made during life). This means that for federal tax purposes, in 2024 an individual can make lifetime gifts totaling up to $13,610,000 to anyone or transfer at death up to $13,610,000 (less any gifts made during life) to anyone without triggering the imposition of the federal estate and/or gift taxes. Married couples have a combined exemption, allowing them to make gifts during their lifetimes totaling $27,220,000. Any gifts during life or transfers at death with a value in excess of the available exemption amount will be subject to a federal estate and/or gift tax at a rate of 40%.

Estate and gift taxes – consequence of expiration of current law

After December 31, 2025 exemptions from estate and gift taxes will revert to pre-TCJA levels of around $5 million, adjusted for inflation. The lifetime gift and estate tax exemption, which was more than doubled by the 2017 tax reform bill, will go up with inflation in January 2025, then go down to near-2017 levels in January 2026 unless and until Congress steps in. If no action is taken by Congress by the end of 2025, then under the current law, on January 1, 2026, the federal lifetime exemption amount will be reduced to approximately one-half of the current value. Based on the rate of inflation, the exemption as of January 1, 2026 will be approximately $7 million per person.

We recommend that you review your assets, income and living expenses, then project those numbers out for your expected lifetime. Any excess assets remaining after your projected lifetime expenses is what you should consider to include in a revised estate plan that will not be burdened by a decrease in the estate and gift tax exemption.  Not taking full advantage of the gift tax exemption before it drops in two years could result in a much smaller estate for your heirs.

Leverage 2024 gifting limits

Based on the 2024 gifting limits a direct gift of cash, securities or other assets with a value up to the lifetime exemption is a simple was to gift money or part of inheritance. Furthermore, you can use the annual gift tax exclusion — $18,000 in 2024, $36,000 for couples — to make yearly gifts to as many people as you like. For example, you can make a payment directly to a school to cover a child’s or grandchild’s tuition, or to a medical provider for health expenses, without incurring taxes. Neither “free” nor annual exclusion gifts count toward your lifetime gifting limit, and these rules are not slated to change in 2026.

Family Limited Partnerships or LLC’s

For estates that have substantial real estate holdings, it is beneficial to have such real estate owned by a limited liability company (“LLC”) and then all of the LLC interests owned by a Family Limited Partnership (“FLP”).  As the owner of an FLP, you can then make gifts of limited partner interests in the FLP to family members at gift tax values that are discounted for lack of marketability and minority interests.  These discounts essentially provide a great mechanism by which you can leverage your gift tax exemption to reduce your taxable estate.  As the general partner of the FLP, you still control the management of the LLC’s.

Irrevocable Trusts

Rather than gifting cash or assets, alternatively, an irrevocable trust permits withdrawals based upon a schedule and conditions that you determine. This allows you to maintain a level of control over how and when the beneficiaries will receive distributions. When choosing which assets to gift or place in a trust it is important to look at what assets or gifts you expect will keep growing. When you gift assets using your lifetime gift tax exemption, the assets are transferred at today’s value, and there’s no tax to the beneficiaries. You can gift these assets using your lifetime gift tax exemption, allow heirs to have the current benefit and the gift or asset may experience appreciation in future years. It is important to have a skilled trusts and estates attorney draft documents, such as trust, so there are no issues with your estate.

What Should You Do?

Two years may seem like a lot of time to adjust your estate plans, however, unless you’re simply making large cash gifts, developing a new plan will involve detailed conversations and analysis. Whether your existing estate plan was created recently or a while ago having a conversation with your estate attorney now can help you make better-educated decisions about your family’s future. Furthermore, drafting of documents and trusts can be done by a professional tax and estate attorney who can guide you through the complexities, nuances, and changes in estate and gift tax law.

That is why it is worth reaching out to a Trusts and Estates and/or Probate Attorney such as the at the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. We are always thinking of ways that our clients can save on taxes, trusts and estates planning, and probate matters. Whether or not a will exists, the expertise of a skilled lawyer at the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. is needed to help protect the interests of the parties involved. The tax attorneys at the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. located in Orange County (Irvine), Los Angeles and elsewhere in California are highly skilled in handling tax and probate matters and can effectively represent at all levels with the IRS and State Tax Agencies including criminal tax investigations and attempted prosecutions, undisclosed foreign bank accounts and other foreign assets, and unreported foreign income. Also, if you are involved in cannabis, check out what our cannabis tax attorney can do for you. Additionally, if you are involved in cryptocurrency, check out what a bitcoin tax attorney can do for you.

IRS provides tax relief for Alaska flood victims in Juneau.

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On October 25, 2024 the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced tax relief for individuals and businesses in the Juneau area of Alaska, affected by flooding that began on August 5, 2024. These taxpayers now have until May 1, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The tax relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred from August 5, 2024, through May 1, 2025 (postponement period). As a result, affected individuals and businesses will have until May 1, 2025, to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period.

This means, for example, that the May 1, 2025, deadline will now apply to:

  • Any individual or business that has a 2024 return normally due during March or April 2025.
  • Any individual, business or tax-exempt organization that has a valid extension to file their 2023 federal return. However, that payments on these returns are not eligible for the extra time because they were due last spring before the flooding occurred.
  • 2024 quarterly estimated income tax payments normally due on September 16, 2024, January 15, 2025, and 2025 estimated tax payments normally due on April 15, 2025.
  • Quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on October 31, 2024, and January 31, 2025 and April 30, 2025.

In addition, penalties for failing to make payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after August 5, 2024, and before August 20, 2024, will be abated, as long as the deposits were made by August 20, 2024.

Other Areas Having Extended Deadlines:

The IRS announced (Kentucky) announced (West Virginia) on May 31, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, flooding, landslides and mudslides that began on April 2, 2024 in Kentucky and West Virginia now have until November 1, 2024, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 12, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in 25 Minnesota counties affected by severe storms and flooding that began on June 16, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 9, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in four states (South Carolina, Florida, North Carolina and Georgia) and on August 13, 2024 the IRS announced tax relief for individuals and businesses in the state of Vermont affected by Hurricane Debby now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 23, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in Puerto Rico affected by Tropical Storm Ernesto that began on August 13, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 23, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in South Dakota affected severe storms, straight-line winds and flooding that began on June 16, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 28, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in the U.S. Virgin Islands affected Tropical Storm Ernesto that began on August 13, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on September 10, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in Connecticut and New York affected by severe storms and flooding from torrential rainfalls that began on August 18, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on September 13, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in Louisiana affected by Tropical Storm Francine that began on September 10, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on September 18, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in Pennsylvania affected by Tropical Storm Debby now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on October 1, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in parts of Illinois affected by severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds and flooding that began on July 13, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on October 1, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses affected by Hurricane Helene, including the entire states of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina and parts of Florida, Tennessee and Virginia now have until May 1, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on October 3, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses affected by wildfires that began on June 22, 2024 to the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation in Washington state now have February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on October 11, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses affected by wildfires that began on July 10, 2024 to the San Carlos Apache Tribe in the State of Arizona now have February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on October 11, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses affected by Hurricane Milton, including the entire states of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina and parts of Florida, Tennessee and Virginia now have until May 1, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

IRS Tax Relief Details

The IRS is offering this relief to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as qualifying for individual assistance.

For Alaska – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in the Juneau area.

For Arizona – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in the San Carlos Apache Tribe.

For Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in the state.

For Florida – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in the state.

For Tennessee – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in the following 8 counties: Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Hawkins, Johnson, Unicoi and Washington counties.

For Virginia – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in the following 6 counties:  Grayson, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise and Wythe counties; and the City of Galax.

For Washington State – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation.

For Illinois – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Cook, Fulton, Henry, St. Clair, Washington, Will and Winnebago counties

For Pennsylvania – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Lycoming, Potter, Tioga and Union counties.

For Louisiana – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in the entire state.

For Connecticut – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Fairfield, Litchfield, and New Haven counties.

For New York – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Suffolk County.

For the U.S. Virgin Islands – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in any of the U.S. Virgin Islands’ four islands.

For South Dakota – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Aurora, Bennett, Bon Homme, Brule, Buffalo, Charles Mix, Clay, Davison, Douglas, Gregory, Hand, Hanson, Hutchinson, Jackson, Lake, Lincoln, McCook, Miner, Minnehaha, Moody, Sanborn, Tripp, Turner, Union and Yankton counties

For Puerto Rico – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in any of Puerto Rico’s 78 municipalities.

For Minnesota – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Blue Earth, Carver, Cass, Cook, Cottonwood, Faribault, Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue, Itasca, Jackson, Lake, Le Sueur, Mower, Murray, Nicollet, Nobles, Pipestone, Rice, Rock, St. Louis, Steele, Wabasha, Waseca and Watonwan counties.

For North Carolina – Individuals and businesses and the following 66 counties: Alamance, Anson, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen , Brunswick, Camden, Carteret, Caswell, Chatham, Chowan, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Currituck, Dare, Davie, Davidson, Duplin, Durham, Edgecombe, Forsyth, Franklin, Gates, Granville, Greene, Guilford, Halifax, Harnett, Hertford, Hoke, Hyde, Johnston, Jones, Lee, Lenoir, Martin, Montgomery, Moore, Nash, New Hanover, Northampton, Onslow, Orange, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Pender, Perquimans, Person, Pitt, Randolph, Richmond, Robeson, Rockingham, Sampson, Scotland, Stokes, Surry, Tyrrell, Vance, Wake, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Wilson and Yadkin.

For South Carolina – Individuals and businesses in all 46 counties.

For Georgia – Individuals and businesses in the following 55 counties: Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brantley, Brooks, Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Camden, Candler, Charlton, Chatham, Clinch, Coffee, Colquitt, Cook, Crisp, Decatur, Dodge, Echols, Effingham, Emanuel, Evans, Glynn, Grady, Irwin, Jeff Davis, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Lanier, Laurens, Liberty, Long, Lowndes, McIntosh, Mitchell, Montgomery, Pierce, Richmond, Screven, Tattnall, Telfair, Thomas, Tift, Toombs, Treutlen, Turner, Ware, Wayne, Wheeler, Wilcox and Worth.

For Vermont – Individuals and businesses in all 14 counties.

For Kentucky – Currently, relief is available to affected taxpayers who live or have a business in Boyd, Carter, Fayette, Greenup, Henry, Jefferson, Jessamine, Mason, Oldham, Union and Whitley counties.

For West Virginia – Currently, relief is available to affected taxpayers who live or have a business in Boone, Brooke, Cabell, Fayette, Hancock, Kanawha, Lincoln, Marshall, Nicholas, Ohio, Preston, Putnam, Tyler, Wayne and Wetzel counties.

The current list of eligible localities is always available on the disaster relief page on IRS.gov.  The declaration permits the IRS to postpone certain deadlines for taxpayers who reside or have a business in the disaster area.

Tax Planning Tip

Individuals and businesses in a federally declared disaster area who suffered uninsured or unreimbursed disaster-related losses can choose to claim them on either the return for the year the loss occurred (in this instance, the 2024 return normally filed next year), or the return for the current year (2023).

Be sure to write the FEMA declaration number on any return claiming a loss.  That number being: “4782-DR“ for Kentucky or “4783-DR” for West Virginia or “3605-EM” for Florida or “3606-EM” for South Carolina or “3607-EM” for Georgia or “3608-EM” for North Carolina or “3609-EM” for Vermont or “4797-DR” for Minnesota or “3610-EM” for Puerto Rico or “4807-DR” for South Dakota or “3611-EM” for the U.S. Virgin Islands or “3612-EM” for Connecticut or “3613-EM” for New York or “3614-EM” for Louisiana or “4815-DR” for Pennsylvania or “4819-DR” for Illinois or “3615-EM” for Hurricane Helene victims or “4823-DR” for Washington State or “3622-EM” for Hurricane Milton victims or “4833-DR” for Arizona or “4836-DR” for Alaska.

Qualified disaster relief payments are generally excluded from gross income. In general, this means that affected taxpayers can exclude from their gross income 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.

Additional relief may be available to affected taxpayers who participate in a retirement plan or individual retirement arrangement (IRA). For example, a taxpayer 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.

Importance To Preserve Records

Keep in mind that the IRS has up to three years to select a tax return for audit. The FTB has up to four years to select a tax return for audit. In some cases this period is extended to six years. When a taxpayer is selected for audit, the taxpayer has the burden of proof to show that expenses claimed are properly deductible. Having the evidence handy and organized makes meeting this burden of proof much easier.

Essential Records to Have for a Tax Audit

If you are getting ready for a tax audit, one of the most important things to do is gather and organize your tax records and receipts. There’s a good chance that you have a large amount of documents and receipts in your possession. No matter how organized you are, it can be a daunting task to collect the right pieces and make sure that you have them organized and handy for the audit conference.

We have seen many tax audits that hinge on whether or not the taxpayer can provide proper documentation for their previous tax filings. A tax lawyer in Orange County or elsewhere can make sure that the documentation is complete and proper.  By submitting this to your tax attorney in advance of the audit, your tax attorney can review your documentation and determine if there are any gaps that need to be addressed before starting the dialogue with the IRS agent.

So what are the most essential tax records to have ahead of your audit? Here are a few must-have items:

  • Any W-2 forms from the previous year. This can include documents from full-time and part-time work, large casino and lottery winnings and more.
  • Form 1098 records from your bank or lender on mortgage interest paid from the previous year.
  • Records of any miscellaneous money you earned and reported to the IRS including work done as an independent contractor or freelancer, interest from savings accounts and stock dividends.
  • Written letters from charities confirming your monetary donations from the previous year.
  • Receipts for business expenses you claimed.
  • Mileage Logs for business use of vehicle.
  • Entertainment and Travel Logs for business

Tips On Reconstructing Records

Reconstructing records after a disaster is important for several reasons including insurance reimbursement and taxes. Most importantly, records can help people prove their disaster-related losses. More accurately estimated losses can help people get more recovery assistance like loans or grants.

Whether it’s personal or business property that has been lost or destroyed, here are some steps that can help people reconstruct important records.

Tax records

Get free tax return transcripts immediately using the Get Transcript on IRS.gov or through the IRS2Go app.  Tax return transcripts show line-by-line the entries made on your Federal income tax returns.  The most three recent tax years are available.

 Financial statements

People can gather past statements from their credit card company or bank. These records may be available online. People can also contact their bank to get paper copies of these statements.

Property records

  • To get documents related to property, homeowners can contact the title company, escrow company or bank that handled the purchase of their home or other property.
  • Taxpayers who made home improvements can get in touch with the contractors who did the work and ask for statements to verify the work and cost. They can also get written descriptions from friends and relatives who saw the house before and after any improvements.
  • For inherited property, taxpayers can check court records for probate values. If a trust or estate existed, taxpayers can contact the attorney who handled the trust.
  • When no other records are available, people should check the county assessor’s office for old records that might address the value of the property.
  • Car owners can research the current fair-market value for most vehicles. Resources are available online and at most libraries. These include Kelley’s Blue Book, the National Automobile Dealers Association and Edmunds.

Develop And Implement Your Backup Plan

Do not wait for the next disaster to come for then it may be too late to retrieve your important records for a tax audit or for that matter any legal or business matter. And if you do get selected for audit and do not have all the records to support what was claimed on your tax returns, you should contact an experienced tax attorney who can argue the application of your facts and circumstances to pursue the least possible changes in an audit.

The tax attorneys at the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. located in Orange County (Irvine), Los Angeles and elsewhere in California are highly skilled in handling tax matters and can effectively represent at all levels with the IRS and State Tax Agencies including criminal tax investigations and attempted prosecutions, undisclosed foreign bank accounts and other foreign assets, and unreported foreign income.  Also if you are involved in cannabis, check out what a cannabis tax attorney can do for you.  And if you are involved in cryptocurrency, check out what a bitcoin tax attorney can do for you.

Excessive FBAR Penalties stopped by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court

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Historic ruling that can impact challenging large penalties in the future.

In recent years the IRS has made the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) penalty enforcement a top priority and this is alarming the taxpayers worldwide. Even during every routine domestic IRS audit, IRS agents are looking for undisclosed foreign bank accounts.

This is what happened to Alexandru Bittner, a Romanian–American dual citizen who was audited by IRS and failed to report his foreign accounts. Neither he nor the IRS has ever suggested that his failure to report funds held in foreign bank accounts was willful. Nevertheless, in calculating the “non-willful delinquent FBAR filing penalty,” IRS came up with $2.72 million and Mr. Bittner’s representative contended it should be $50,000.

This dispute was appealed up to the U.S. Supreme Court who issued its ruling on February 28, 2023 (See Bittner v. United States, U.S. Supreme Court No. 21-1195) concluded that the correct calculation of the “non-willful delinquent FBAR filing penalty” is $50,000.

The FBAR Penalty

The Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) requires that a Form FinCEN 114 (formerly Form TDF 90-22.1), Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), be filed if the aggregate balances of such foreign accounts exceed $10,000 at any time during the year. This form is used as part of the IRS’s enforcement initiative against abusive offshore transactions and attempts by U.S. persons to avoid taxes by hiding money offshore.

The penalties for FBAR noncompliance are stiffer than the civil tax penalties ordinarily imposed for delinquent taxes. A taxpayer who non-willfully fails to timely file an FBAR can be assessed a penalty of at least $10,000.00 per year of non-compliance. The IRS has taken the position that this non-willful penalty is assessed on an account-by-account basis. For example, a person whose failure to file an FBAR form is non-willful and has three accounts totaling $50,000 could potentially be assessed the maximum $10,000 penalty for each account, for a total of $30,000 per year, while a person with one account with a balance of $300,000 would pay only one $10,000 penalty per year.

More Federal Courts Applying FBAR Penalty Reductions

11th U.S. Circuit Court held that FBAR penalties fall under protection from the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment

In the appeal of United States v. Isac Schwarzbaum, the taxpayer appealed a lower court ruling that he had failed to report foreign bank accounts to the IRS for 2007 to 2009 and had “violated the FBAR statutes recklessly.”

Isac Schwarzbaum is a U.S. citizen who held “significant wealth” in bank accounts in Switzerland and Costa Rica. U.S. Tax Law requires U.S. taxpayers to report foreign bank accounts with an FBAR, which U.S. taxpayers file annually for any foreign accounts with an aggregate balance exceeding $10,000. Mr. Schwarzbaum knew of the FBAR filing requirements and had accountants help him with his filings but nevertheless he did not report his foreign accounts to the IRS for tax years 2007 to 2009. The contended that Mr. Schwarzbaum willfully violated the FBAR reporting requirements and that the penalty for each tax year for each unreported bank account was the greater of $100,000 or half of the account balance at the time of the violation (June 30th of the year after the tax year being reported). However, in calculating the FBAR penalties, the IRS erroneously used the highest aggregate balance for each account for each year instead of determining the balance in each account as of June 30th of each following year. Thus, the IRS arrived at an initial aggregate penalty of $35.4 million dollars. The IRS then reduced the penalty by taking the penalties for the highest year and spreading the aggregate penalty for that year across all the years, but still arriving at an aggregate penalty of $13,729,591 which Mr. Schwarzbaum contended constitutes overly punitive civil “fines.”

The lower court ruled that Mr. Schwarzbaum had violated FBAR reporting requirements in 2007, 2008 and 2009, with “willful blindness” or “recklessness” because, after reading the FBAR instructions and self-preparing his own FBAR in 2007, he “was aware, or should have been aware, of a high probability of tax liability with respect to his unreported accounts.” Furthermore, the court concluded that the IRS miscalculated Mr. Schwarzbaum’s FBAR penalties when it used the incorrect base amounts for each account and held that the penalties were not in line with the law. The court rejected Mr. Schwarzbaum’s argument that the penalties were subject to review under the Eighth Amendment Excessive Fines Clause and instead entered judgment in favor of the IRS for $12,907,952.

Mr. Schwarzbaum then appealed to the 11th Circuit Court which ruled that “After careful consideration of the historical development of the Excessive Fines Clause and the FBAR’s text, structure, and history, we … hold that FBAR penalties are in substantial measure punitive in nature. Therefore, under controlling Supreme Court precedent, they are subject to review under the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause.” The U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment states, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” Even though Mr. Schwarzbaum had a long history of non-compliance with FBAR requirements this did not prevent the 11th Circuit Court from limiting his penalties under constitutional principles.

Texas and Connecticut District Courts Providing Relief

In two recent cases, Federal District Courts held that the $10,000 was assessed per form, not per account. See Bittner, 469 FSupp3d 709 (E.D. Tex./2020) and Kaufman, 2021 WL 83478 (Conn. 2021).

Bittner involved non-willful FBAR assessments totaling $2.72 million against the taxpayer for 2007 through 2011. Mr. Bittner is a Romanian-born naturalized U.S. citizen who returned to Romania in 1990, where he became a very successful businessman and had an interest in or signatory authority over more than 50 foreign accounts. He returned to the United States in 2011. Because he had not filed timely FBARs for 2007 through 2011, the IRS assessed the non-willful FBAR penalties. The Government sued to collect the penalties. The Government moved for partial summary judgment as to the penalty assessed for those accounts Bittner admitted to having a financial interest in. The non-willful penalties assessed for those accounts were $1.77 million. Bittner filed a cross-motion for partial summary judgment, claiming that no more than one $10,000 non-willful penalty can be assessed per annual form.

Kaufman, involved similar non-willful FBAR assessments as Bittner.  Mr. Kaufman is a U.S. citizen who has resided in Israel since 1979, where he had multiple financial accounts. His U.S. tax returns were prepared by an American accounting firm. Each year, the accountants would ask if he had any foreign accounts and would advise him that if he did, he may need to file FBAR forms. Each year he told his accountants he did not have any foreign accounts. When asked how he paid his bills, he claimed it was out of a U.S. brokerage account, so they checked the “no” box to the question on the return whether he had foreign accounts. Notwithstanding this evidence, Mr. Kaufman claimed he did not learn of the FBAR filing requirement until September 2011. He also claimed that he suffered a heart attack in late 2010 and was involved in an auto accident in 2011 and that these affected his cognitive abilities.

The Court analyzed the text of the FBAR statute (Code Sec. 5321(a)(5)(A)) recognizing that this provision provides for a penalty “on any person who violates, or causes any violation of, any provision of § 5314”. Query then, what is a “violation” of the statute?

The language of the willful penalty, which bases the amount of the penalty “in the case of a violation involving a failure to report the existence of an account or any identifying information required to be provided with respect to an account, the balance in the account at the time of the violation” infers that Congress intended the willful penalty to be applied on an account-by-account basis.

However, the Court then looked at the language of the non-willful penalty and the reasonable cause exception. While the reasonable cause exception to the non-willful penalty was related to the “balance in the account,” the non-willful penalty itself did not contain any reference to “account” or “balance in the account.” The Court presumed that Congress acted intentionally when it drafted the non-willful penalty language without these references. Further, because the BSA aimed “to avoid burdening unreasonably a person making a transaction with a foreign financial agency,” an individual required to file an FBAR form was only required to file one report for each year. As a result, “it stands to reason that a ‘violation’ of the statute would attach directly to the obligation that the statute creates—the filing of a single report—rather than attaching to each individual foreign financial account maintained.” Additionally, no matter how many foreign accounts a person has, the requirement to file an FBAR is only triggered if the aggregate balance in the accounts is over $10,000. It thus made no sense “to impose per-account penalties for non-willful FBAR violations when the number of foreign financial accounts an individual maintains has no bearing whatsoever on that individual’s obligation to file an FBAR in the first place.”

The Court rejected the government’s arguments that since the reasonable cause exception relates to the “balance in the account” the penalty must apply per account and that since the willful penalty applies on a per-account basis, so must the non-willful penalty. While Congress may have had good reason to assess the willful penalty on a per-account basis, looking to the balance in the account to determine the applicability of the reasonable cause exception did not support the conclusion that Congress meant for the non-willful penalty to apply for a per-account basis given the statutory language.

Take-away From These Judicial Decisions

The U.S. Supreme Court has made it clear that the non-willful penalty is applied on a “per form basis.”  Additionally, when considering these recent lower court rulings, they serve as a blueprint for challenging very large IRS FBAR penalties in the future and should be viewed as potentially a powerful tool against IRS aggressive penalties – particularly when they are disproportionate to the actual value of the unreported accounts or transactions. Penalties related to other areas of international tax compliance such as, failing to file Form 3520, reporting foreign gifts and foreign trusts, amongst others, could also be potential issues in the future where a court may use the 11th Circuit Court analysis regarding penalties.

What You Must Know About IRS FBAR Penalty Negotiations

  1. The penalties for noncompliance in FBAR enforcement are staggering.

FBAR penalties can be unfair as the penalties are based on the account size and not on how much tax you avoided. This is a stark contrast to other IRS penalties which are based on how much additional tax is owed.  Given this difference you will always have a bigger risk and more to lose when dealing with FBAR penalties.

  1. The two types of FBAR penalties.

The “get off gently FBAR penalty” – If the IRS feels that you made an innocent mistake and “not willfully” ignored to file your FBAR, your “get off gently penalty” will be $10,000 per overseas account per year not reported. To illustrate, if you have five foreign accounts that you failed to report on your FBAR in each of five years, the IRS can penalize you $50,000 per form (as supported by the Bittner and Kaufman cases) or $250,000 if imposed by account regardless of whether you even have that amount sitting in your foreign accounts.

The “disastrous FBAR penalty” – If the IRS can show that you “intentionally” avoided filing your FBAR’s, your minimum “disastrous FBAR penalty” will be 50% of your account value.   Additionally, the IRS may also press for criminal charges and if convicted of a willful violation, this can also lead to jail time. The “disastrous FBAR penalty” can also be assessed multiple times thus wiping out your entire savings.

Under both willful and non-willful penalties “the violation flows from the failure to file a timely and accurate FBAR.

  1. The taxpayer’s burden of proving “reasonable cause”

You are obligated to pay the penalty the IRS deems necessary. The IRS can assume the “disastrous FBAR penalty” and they are not required to prove willfulness. It will be the taxpayer that bears the heavy burden of proving that the taxpayer’s failure to comply was due to reasonable cause and not from “willful neglect.”

  1. Your appeal option.

Having exhausted all administrative remedies within the IRS first, you can then appeal the proposed FBAR penalties to a Federal District Court but for that court to have jurisdiction you must pay the assessments in full and then sue the IRS in a district court for refund. Since coming up with the money may be impossible for most taxpayers, consider hiring an experienced tax attorney to make the most of the IRS appeals process and perhaps avoid the need for litigation.  Keep in mind that in the appeals process, you do not have to pay any FBAR penalty until the end. Second, you can be successful if IRS remedies itself thus making court filings unnecessary. And third, even if the administrative remedies do not yield you success, your tax attorney can attempt to negotiate with the IRS to lower your FBAR penalties without going for a trial.

  1. The Voluntary Disclosure Route.

The streamlined filing compliance procedures are available to taxpayers certifying that their failure to report foreign financial assets and pay all tax due in respect of those assets did not result from willful conduct on their part. The streamlined procedures are designed to provide to taxpayers in such situations (1) a streamlined procedure for filing amended or delinquent returns and (2) terms for resolving their tax and penalty obligations.

Taxpayers will be required to certify that the failure to report all income, pay all tax, and submit all required information returns, including FBARs (FinCEN Form 114, previously Form TD F 90-22.1), was due to non-willful conduct.

If the IRS has initiated a civil examination of a taxpayer’s returns for any taxable year, regardless of whether the examination relates to undisclosed foreign financial assets, the taxpayer will not be eligible to use the streamlined procedures. Similarly, a taxpayer under criminal investigation by IRS Criminal Investigation is also ineligible to use the streamlined procedures.

Taxpayers eligible to use the streamlined procedures who have previously filed delinquent or amended returns to address U.S. tax and information reporting obligations with respect to foreign financial assets (so-called “quiet disclosures”) may still use the streamlined procedures.

What Should You Do?

If you have never reported your foreign investments on your U.S. Tax Returns, you should seriously consider making a voluntary disclosure to the IRS. Once the IRS contacts you, you cannot get into this program and would be subject to the maximum penalties (civil and criminal) under the tax law. The tax attorneys at the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. located in Orange County (Irvine), San Diego County (Carlsbad) and elsewhere in California are highly skilled in handling tax matters and can effectively represent at all levels with the IRS and State Tax Agencies including criminal tax investigations and attempted prosecutions, undisclosed foreign bank accounts and other foreign assets, and unreported foreign income. Also, if you are involved in cannabis, check out what a cannabis tax attorney can do for you.  And if you are involved in crypto currency, check out what a bitcoin tax attorney can do for you.

IRS provides expanded tax relief for Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton victims.

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On October 11, 2024 the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced tax relief for individuals and businesses affected by Hurricane Milton, including the entire states of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina and parts of Florida, Tennessee and Virginia. These taxpayers now have until May 1, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The tax relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred from October 5, 2024, through May 1, 2025 (postponement period). As a result, affected individuals and businesses will have until May 1, 2025, to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period.

This means, for example, that the May 1, 2025, deadline will now apply to:

  • Any individual or business that has a 2024 return normally due during March or April 2025.
  • Any individual, business or tax-exempt organization that has a valid extension to file their 2023 federal return. However, that payments on these returns are not eligible for the extra time because they were due last spring before the hurricane occurred.
  • 2024 quarterly estimated income tax payments normally due on January 15, 2025, and 2025 estimated tax payments normally due on April 15, 2025.
  • Quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on October 31, 2024, and January 31, 2025 and April 30, 2025.

In addition, for localities affected by Hurricane Milton, penalties for failing to make payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after October 5, 2024, and before October 21, 2024, will be abated, as long as the deposits are made by October 21, 2024. Localities eligible for this relief are: Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Citrus, Clay, Collier, Columbia, DeSoto, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, Glades, Hamilton, Hardee, Hendry, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lafayette, Lake, Lee, Levy, Madison, Manatee, Marion, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Nassau, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putman, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Sumter, Suwannee, Taylor, Union and Volusia counties.

FinCEN also extends 2023 FBAR filing deadline to May 1, 2025

On October 11, 2024 the U.S. Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced that victims of Hurricane Milton have until May 1, 2025 to file Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBARs) for the 2023 calendar year. FBAR filings for calendar year 2023 would otherwise be due on or before October 15, 2024.

Florida Department Of Revenue extends filing dealine to May 16, 2025

The Florida Department of Revenue (DOR) on October 2, 2024 announced filing extensions for taxpayers affected by Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Debby and the severe storms that caused damage to counties in the Big Bend region of Florida in 2024.

The announcement extends the September 2024 and October 2024 reporting periods for sales and use tax, reemployment tax, and several other tax types to November 22, 2024, for the 17 counties in Florida where Hurricane Helene made landfall: Charlotte, Citrus, Dixie, Franklin, Hernando, Hillsborough, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lee, Levy, Madison, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Sarasota, Taylor, and Wakulla.  Eligible taxpayers that file Florida corporate income/franchise tax returns with original due dates or extended due dates falling on or after September 23, 2024, and before May 16, 2025, will now have a due date of May 16, 2025. This means that affected taxpayers with returns and payments with due dates postponed until February 18, 2025, due to Hurricane Debby in Florida will also now have until May 16, 2025, to file. The same holds true for affected taxpayers in counties that had due dates postponed for the Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, and Tornadoes in May of 2024.  The DOR also stated it will follow the relief granted by the IRS for affected taxpayers regarding tax return due dates so given the more widespread impact from Hurricane Milton, it is possible that the DOR will issue an announcement expanding relief to a level consistent with IRS.

Other Areas Having Extended Deadlines:

The IRS announced (Kentucky) announced (West Virginia) on May 31, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, flooding, landslides and mudslides that began on April 2, 2024 in Kentucky and West Virginia now have until November 1, 2024, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 12, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in 25 Minnesota counties affected by severe storms and flooding that began on June 16, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 9, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in four states (South Carolina, Florida, North Carolina and Georgia) and on August 13, 2024 the IRS announced tax relief for individuals and businesses in the state of Vermont affected by Hurricane Debby now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 23, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in Puerto Rico affected by Tropical Storm Ernesto that began on August 13, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 23, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in South Dakota affected severe storms, straight-line winds and flooding that began on June 16, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 28, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in the U.S. Virgin Islands affected Tropical Storm Ernesto that began on August 13, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on September 10, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in Connecticut and New York affected by severe storms and flooding from torrential rainfalls that began on August 18, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on September 13, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in Louisiana affected by Tropical Storm Francine that began on September 10, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on September 18, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in Pennsylvania affected by Tropical Storm Debby now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on October 1, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in parts of Illinois affected by severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds and flooding that began on July 13, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on October 1, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses affected by Hurricane Helene, including the entire states of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina and parts of Florida, Tennessee and Virginia now have until May 1, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on October 3, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses affected by wildfires that began on June 22, 2024 to the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation in Washington state now have February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

IRS Tax Relief Details

The IRS is offering this relief to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as qualifying for individual assistance.

For Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in the state.

For Florida – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in the state.

For Tennessee – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in the following 8 counties: Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Hawkins, Johnson, Unicoi and Washington counties.

For Virginia – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in the following 6 counties:  Grayson, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise and Wythe counties; and the City of Galax.

For Washington State – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation.

For Illinois – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Cook, Fulton, Henry, St. Clair, Washington, Will and Winnebago counties

For Pennsylvania – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Lycoming, Potter, Tioga and Union counties.

For Louisiana – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in the entire state.

For Connecticut – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Fairfield, Litchfield, and New Haven counties.

For New York – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Suffolk County.

For the U.S. Virgin Islands – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in any of the U.S. Virgin Islands’ four islands.

For South Dakota – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Aurora, Bennett, Bon Homme, Brule, Buffalo, Charles Mix, Clay, Davison, Douglas, Gregory, Hand, Hanson, Hutchinson, Jackson, Lake, Lincoln, McCook, Miner, Minnehaha, Moody, Sanborn, Tripp, Turner, Union and Yankton counties

For Puerto Rico – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in any of Puerto Rico’s 78 municipalities.

For Minnesota – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Blue Earth, Carver, Cass, Cook, Cottonwood, Faribault, Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue, Itasca, Jackson, Lake, Le Sueur, Mower, Murray, Nicollet, Nobles, Pipestone, Rice, Rock, St. Louis, Steele, Wabasha, Waseca and Watonwan counties.

For North Carolina – Individuals and businesses and the following 66 counties: Alamance, Anson, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen , Brunswick, Camden, Carteret, Caswell, Chatham, Chowan, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Currituck, Dare, Davie, Davidson, Duplin, Durham, Edgecombe, Forsyth, Franklin, Gates, Granville, Greene, Guilford, Halifax, Harnett, Hertford, Hoke, Hyde, Johnston, Jones, Lee, Lenoir, Martin, Montgomery, Moore, Nash, New Hanover, Northampton, Onslow, Orange, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Pender, Perquimans, Person, Pitt, Randolph, Richmond, Robeson, Rockingham, Sampson, Scotland, Stokes, Surry, Tyrrell, Vance, Wake, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Wilson and Yadkin.

For South Carolina – Individuals and businesses in all 46 counties.

For Georgia – Individuals and businesses in the following 55 counties: Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brantley, Brooks, Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Camden, Candler, Charlton, Chatham, Clinch, Coffee, Colquitt, Cook, Crisp, Decatur, Dodge, Echols, Effingham, Emanuel, Evans, Glynn, Grady, Irwin, Jeff Davis, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Lanier, Laurens, Liberty, Long, Lowndes, McIntosh, Mitchell, Montgomery, Pierce, Richmond, Screven, Tattnall, Telfair, Thomas, Tift, Toombs, Treutlen, Turner, Ware, Wayne, Wheeler, Wilcox and Worth.

For Vermont – Individuals and businesses in all 14 counties.

For Kentucky – Currently, relief is available to affected taxpayers who live or have a business in Boyd, Carter, Fayette, Greenup, Henry, Jefferson, Jessamine, Mason, Oldham, Union and Whitley counties.

For West Virginia – Currently, relief is available to affected taxpayers who live or have a business in Boone, Brooke, Cabell, Fayette, Hancock, Kanawha, Lincoln, Marshall, Nicholas, Ohio, Preston, Putnam, Tyler, Wayne and Wetzel counties.

The current list of eligible localities is always available on the disaster relief page on IRS.gov.  The declaration permits the IRS to postpone certain deadlines for taxpayers who reside or have a business in the disaster area.

Tax Planning Tip

Individuals and businesses in a federally declared disaster area who suffered uninsured or unreimbursed disaster-related losses can choose to claim them on either the return for the year the loss occurred (in this instance, the 2024 return normally filed next year), or the return for the current year (2023).

Be sure to write the FEMA declaration number on any return claiming a loss.  That number being: “4782-DR“ for Kentucky or “4783-DR” for West Virginia or “3605-EM” for Florida or “3606-EM” for South Carolina or “3607-EM” for Georgia or “3608-EM” for North Carolina or “3609-EM” for Vermont or “4797-DR” for Minnesota or “3610-EM” for Puerto Rico or “4807-DR” for South Dakota or “3611-EM” for the U.S. Virgin Islands or “3612-EM” for Connecticut or “3613-EM” for New York or “3614-EM” for Louisiana or “4815-DR” for Pennsylvania or “4819-DR” for Illinois or “3615-EM” for Hurricane Helene victims or “4823-DR” for Washington State or “3622-EM” for Hurricane Milton victims.

Qualified disaster relief payments are generally excluded from gross income. In general, this means that affected taxpayers can exclude from their gross income 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.

Additional relief may be available to affected taxpayers who participate in a retirement plan or individual retirement arrangement (IRA). For example, a taxpayer 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.

Importance To Preserve Records

Keep in mind that the IRS has up to three years to select a tax return for audit. The FTB has up to four years to select a tax return for audit. In some cases this period is extended to six years. When a taxpayer is selected for audit, the taxpayer has the burden of proof to show that expenses claimed are properly deductible. Having the evidence handy and organized makes meeting this burden of proof much easier.

Essential Records to Have for a Tax Audit

If you are getting ready for a tax audit, one of the most important things to do is gather and organize your tax records and receipts. There’s a good chance that you have a large amount of documents and receipts in your possession. No matter how organized you are, it can be a daunting task to collect the right pieces and make sure that you have them organized and handy for the audit conference.

We have seen many tax audits that hinge on whether or not the taxpayer can provide proper documentation for their previous tax filings. A tax lawyer in Orange County or elsewhere can make sure that the documentation is complete and proper.  By submitting this to your tax attorney in advance of the audit, your tax attorney can review your documentation and determine if there are any gaps that need to be addressed before starting the dialogue with the IRS agent.

So what are the most essential tax records to have ahead of your audit? Here are a few must-have items:

  • Any W-2 forms from the previous year. This can include documents from full-time and part-time work, large casino and lottery winnings and more.
  • Form 1098 records from your bank or lender on mortgage interest paid from the previous year.
  • Records of any miscellaneous money you earned and reported to the IRS including work done as an independent contractor or freelancer, interest from savings accounts and stock dividends.
  • Written letters from charities confirming your monetary donations from the previous year.
  • Receipts for business expenses you claimed.
  • Mileage Logs for business use of vehicle.
  • Entertainment and Travel Logs for business

Tips On Reconstructing Records

Reconstructing records after a disaster is important for several reasons including insurance reimbursement and taxes. Most importantly, records can help people prove their disaster-related losses. More accurately estimated losses can help people get more recovery assistance like loans or grants.

Whether it’s personal or business property that has been lost or destroyed, here are some steps that can help people reconstruct important records.

Tax records

Get free tax return transcripts immediately using the Get Transcript on IRS.gov or through the IRS2Go app.  Tax return transcripts show line-by-line the entries made on your Federal income tax returns.  The most three recent tax years are available.

Financial statements

People can gather past statements from their credit card company or bank. These records may be available online. People can also contact their bank to get paper copies of these statements.

Property records

  • To get documents related to property, homeowners can contact the title company, escrow company or bank that handled the purchase of their home or other property.
  • Taxpayers who made home improvements can get in touch with the contractors who did the work and ask for statements to verify the work and cost. They can also get written descriptions from friends and relatives who saw the house before and after any improvements.
  • For inherited property, taxpayers can check court records for probate values. If a trust or estate existed, taxpayers can contact the attorney who handled the trust.
  • When no other records are available, people should check the county assessor’s office for old records that might address the value of the property.
  • Car owners can research the current fair-market value for most vehicles. Resources are available online and at most libraries. These include Kelley’s Blue Book, the National Automobile Dealers Association and Edmunds.

Develop And Implement Your Backup Plan

Do not wait for the next disaster to come for then it may be too late to retrieve your important records for a tax audit or for that matter any legal or business matter. And if you do get selected for audit and do not have all the records to support what was claimed on your tax returns, you should contact an experienced tax attorney who can argue the application of your facts and circumstances to pursue the least possible changes in an audit.

The tax attorneys at the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. located in Orange County (Irvine), Los Angeles and elsewhere in California are highly skilled in handling tax matters and can effectively represent at all levels with the IRS and State Tax Agencies including criminal tax investigations and attempted prosecutions, undisclosed foreign bank accounts and other foreign assets, and unreported foreign income.  Also if you are involved in cannabis, check out what a cannabis tax attorney can do for you.  And if you are involved in cryptocurrency, check out what a bitcoin tax attorney can do for you.

California Welcoming Cannabis Cafés

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Governor Gavin Newsom has signed into law the cannabis café bill (AB 1775), to allow licensed cannabis lounges to sell non-alcoholic food and drinks, as well as tickets to onsite concerts, with local government approval.

“Lots of people want to enjoy legal cannabis in the company of others,” said AB 1775’s author Asm. Matt Haney, Chair of the Select Committee on Downtown Recovery. “And many people want to do that while sipping coffee, eating a scone, or listening to music. There’s absolutely no good reason from an economic, health or safety standpoint that the state should make that illegal. If an authorized cannabis retail store wants to also sell a cup of coffee and a sandwich, we should allow cities to make that possible and stop holding back these small businesses.”

Key Points In AB 1775

AB 1775 does not allow coffee shops or restaurants to sell cannabis; instead, licensed retailers that operate cannabis lounges would be allowed to sell non-alcoholic drinks and food.

Local nuisance ordinances governing cannabis lounges have properly restricted odors from other spaces, and AB 1775 was amended to require food preparation and smoking areas to be separated.

California is the 12th State to Allow cannabis consumption lounges.

Besides California, the other States that allow cannabis consumption lounges are: Alaska, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico and New York.

With entrepreneurs taking advantage of state legalization of cannabis, we are seeing more innovative approaches to adding cannabis consumption into entertainment and dining venues.  But despite these innovations, cannabis still remains illegal under Federal law.

The Anti-Federal U.S. Climate

The Federal Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”) 21 U.S.C. § 812 classifies cannabis as a Schedule 1 substance with a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use in treatment, and lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision. Although you can still face federal criminal charges for using, growing, or selling weed in a manner that is completely lawful under California law and other states that have legalized cannabis, the federal authorities in the past have pulled back from targeting individuals and businesses engaged in medical marijuana activities.

Risks Of Running A Cannabis Business

Higher Taxes Still Remain

It still remains to be seen when favorable changes will be made to the Internal Revenue Code which treats businesses in the marijuana industry differently resulting in such business paying at least 3-times as much in taxes as ordinary businesses.

Generally, businesses can deduct ordinary and necessary business expenses under I.R.C. §162. This includes wages, rent, supplies, etc. However, in 1982 Congress added I.R.C. §280E. Under I.R.C. §280E, taxpayers cannot deduct any amount for a trade or business where the trade or business consists of trafficking in controlled substances…which is prohibited by Federal law. Marijuana, including medical marijuana, is a controlled substance. What this means is that dispensaries and other businesses trafficking in marijuana have to report all of their income and cannot deduct rent, wages, and other expenses, making their marginal tax rate substantially higher than most other businesses.

Reporting Of Cash Payments Still Remain

The Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 (“BSA”) requires financial institutions in the United States to assist U.S. government agencies to detect and prevent money laundering. Specifically, the act requires financial institutions to keep records of cash purchases of negotiable instruments, and file reports of cash purchases of these negotiable instruments of more than $10,000 (daily aggregate amount), and to report suspicious activity that might signify money laundering, tax evasion, or other criminal activities. The BSA requires any business receiving one or more related cash payments totaling more than $10,000 to file IRS Form 8300, Report of Cash Payments Over $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business.

The minimum penalty for failing to file EACH Form 8300 is $25,000 if the failure is due to an intentional or willful disregard of the cash reporting requirements. Penalties may also be imposed for causing, or attempting to cause, a trade or business to fail to file a required report; for causing, or attempting to cause, a trade or business to file a required report containing a material omission or misstatement of fact; or for structuring, or attempting to structure, transactions to avoid the reporting requirements. These violations may also be subject to criminal prosecution which, upon conviction, may result in imprisonment of up to 5 years or fines of up to $250,000 for individuals and $500,000 for corporations or both.

Marijuana-related businesses operate in an environment of cash transactions as many banks remain reluctant to do business with many in the marijuana industry. Like any cash-based business the IRS scrutinizes the amount of gross receipts to report and it is harder to prove to the IRS expenses paid in cash. So it is of most importance that the proper facilities and procedures be set up to maintain an adequate system of books and records.

How Do You Know Which Cannabis Tax Attorney Is Best For You?

Given that cannabis is still illegal under existing Federal law you need to protect yourself and your marijuana business from all challenges created by the U.S. government.  While cannabis is legal in California, that is not enough to protect you.  It’s coming down that the biggest risk is TAXES.  Be proactive and engage an experienced Cannabis Tax Attorney in your area. Let the tax attorneys of the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. located in Orange County (Irvine), Metropolitan Los Angeles and other California locations protect you and maximize your net profits. And if you are involved in crypto currency, check out what a bitcoin tax attorney can do for you.

IRS provides relief to July 2024 storm victims in Illinois.

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On October 1, 2024 the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced tax relief for individuals and businesses in parts of Illinois affected by severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds and flooding that began on July 13, 2024. These taxpayers now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The tax relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred from July 13, 2024, through February 3, 2025 (postponement period). As a result, affected individuals and businesses will have until February 3, 2025, to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period.

This means, for example, that the February 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; however, that payments on these returns are not eligible for the extra time because they were due last spring before the storm occurred.
  • Quarterly estimated income tax payments normally due on September 16, 2024, and January 15, 2025.
  • Quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on July 31, 2024, October 31, 2024, and January 31, 2025.

In addition, penalties for failing to make payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after July 13, 2024, and before July 29, 2024, will be abated, as long as the deposits are made by July 29, 2024.

Other Areas Having Extended Deadlines:

The IRS announced (Kentucky) announced (West Virginia) on May 31, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, flooding, landslides and mudslides that began on April 2, 2024 in Kentucky and West Virginia now have until November 1, 2024, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 12, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in 25 Minnesota counties affected by severe storms and flooding that began on June 16, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 9, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in four states (South Carolina, Florida, North Carolina and Georgia) and on August 13, 2024 the IRS announced tax relief for individuals and businesses in the state of Vermont affected by Hurricane Debby now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 23, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in Puerto Rico affected by Tropical Storm Ernesto that began on August 13, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 23, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in South Dakota affected severe storms, straight-line winds and flooding that began on June 16, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 28, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in the U.S. Virgin Islands affected Tropical Storm Ernesto that began on August 13, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on September 10, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in Connecticut and New York affected by severe storms and flooding from torrential rainfalls that began on August 18, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on September 13, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in Louisiana affected by Tropical Storm Francine that began on September 10, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on September 18, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in Pennsylvania affected by Tropical Storm Debby now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

IRS Tax Relief Details

The IRS is offering this relief to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as qualifying for individual assistance.

For Illinois – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Cook, Fulton, Henry, St. Clair, Washington, Will and Winnebago counties

For Pennsylvania – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Lycoming, Potter, Tioga and Union counties.

For Louisiana – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in the entire state.

For Connecticut – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Fairfield, Litchfield, and New Haven counties.

For New York – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Suffolk County.

For the U.S. Virgin Islands – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in any of the U.S. Virgin Islands’ four islands.

For South Dakota – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Aurora, Bennett, Bon Homme, Brule, Buffalo, Charles Mix, Clay, Davison, Douglas, Gregory, Hand, Hanson, Hutchinson, Jackson, Lake, Lincoln, McCook, Miner, Minnehaha, Moody, Sanborn, Tripp, Turner, Union and Yankton counties

For Puerto Rico – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in any of Puerto Rico’s 78 municipalities.

For Minnesota – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Blue Earth, Carver, Cass, Cook, Cottonwood, Faribault, Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue, Itasca, Jackson, Lake, Le Sueur, Mower, Murray, Nicollet, Nobles, Pipestone, Rice, Rock, St. Louis, Steele, Wabasha, Waseca and Watonwan counties.

For North Carolina – Individuals and businesses and the following 66 counties: Alamance, Anson, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen , Brunswick, Camden, Carteret, Caswell, Chatham, Chowan, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Currituck, Dare, Davie, Davidson, Duplin, Durham, Edgecombe, Forsyth, Franklin, Gates, Granville, Greene, Guilford, Halifax, Harnett, Hertford, Hoke, Hyde, Johnston, Jones, Lee, Lenoir, Martin, Montgomery, Moore, Nash, New Hanover, Northampton, Onslow, Orange, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Pender, Perquimans, Person, Pitt, Randolph, Richmond, Robeson, Rockingham, Sampson, Scotland, Stokes, Surry, Tyrrell, Vance, Wake, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Wilson and Yadkin.

For South Carolina – Individuals and businesses in all 46 counties.

For Georgia – Individuals and businesses in the following 55 counties: Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brantley, Brooks, Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Camden, Candler, Charlton, Chatham, Clinch, Coffee, Colquitt, Cook, Crisp, Decatur, Dodge, Echols, Effingham, Emanuel, Evans, Glynn, Grady, Irwin, Jeff Davis, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Lanier, Laurens, Liberty, Long, Lowndes, McIntosh, Mitchell, Montgomery, Pierce, Richmond, Screven, Tattnall, Telfair, Thomas, Tift, Toombs, Treutlen, Turner, Ware, Wayne, Wheeler, Wilcox and Worth.

For Florida – Individuals and businesses in the following 61 counties: Alachua, Baker, Bay, Bradford, Brevard, Calhoun, Charlotte, Citrus, Clay, Collier, Columbia, DeSoto, Dixie, Duval, Escambia, Flagler, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Glades, Gulf, Hamilton, Hardee, Hendry, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Lee, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Manatee, Marion, Monroe, Nassau, Okaloosa, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Santa Rosa, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns, Sumter, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, Volusia, Walton, Wakulla and Washington.

For Vermont – Individuals and businesses in all 14 counties.

For Kentucky – Currently, relief is available to affected taxpayers who live or have a business in Boyd, Carter, Fayette, Greenup, Henry, Jefferson, Jessamine, Mason, Oldham, Union and Whitley counties.

For West Virginia – Currently, relief is available to affected taxpayers who live or have a business in Boone, Brooke, Cabell, Fayette, Hancock, Kanawha, Lincoln, Marshall, Nicholas, Ohio, Preston, Putnam, Tyler, Wayne and Wetzel counties.

The current list of eligible localities is always available on the disaster relief page on IRS.gov.  The declaration permits the IRS to postpone certain deadlines for taxpayers who reside or have a business in the disaster area.

Tax Planning Tip

Individuals and businesses in a federally declared disaster area who suffered uninsured or unreimbursed disaster-related losses can choose to claim them on either the return for the year the loss occurred (in this instance, the 2024 return normally filed next year), or the return for the current year (2023).

Be sure to write the FEMA declaration number on any return claiming a loss.  That number being: “4782-DR“ for Kentucky or “4783-DR” for West Virginia or “3605-EM” for Florida or “3606-EM” for South Carolina or “3607-EM” for Georgia or “3608-EM” for North Carolina or “3609-EM” for Vermont or “4797-DR” for Minnesota or “3610-EM” for Puerto Rico or “4807-DR” for South Dakota or “3611-EM” for the U.S. Virgin Islands or “3612-EM” for Connecticut or “3613-EM” for New York or “3614-EM” for Louisiana or “4815-DR” for Pennsylvania or “4819-DR” for Illinois.

Qualified disaster relief payments are generally excluded from gross income. In general, this means that affected taxpayers can exclude from their gross income 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.

Additional relief may be available to affected taxpayers who participate in a retirement plan or individual retirement arrangement (IRA). For example, a taxpayer 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.

Importance To Preserve Records

Keep in mind that the IRS has up to three years to select a tax return for audit. The FTB has up to four years to select a tax return for audit. In some cases this period is extended to six years. When a taxpayer is selected for audit, the taxpayer has the burden of proof to show that expenses claimed are properly deductible. Having the evidence handy and organized makes meeting this burden of proof much easier.

Essential Records to Have for a Tax Audit

If you are getting ready for a tax audit, one of the most important things to do is gather and organize your tax records and receipts. There’s a good chance that you have a large amount of documents and receipts in your possession. No matter how organized you are, it can be a daunting task to collect the right pieces and make sure that you have them organized and handy for the audit conference.

We have seen many tax audits that hinge on whether or not the taxpayer can provide proper documentation for their previous tax filings. A tax lawyer in Orange County or elsewhere can make sure that the documentation is complete and proper.  By submitting this to your tax attorney in advance of the audit, your tax attorney can review your documentation and determine if there are any gaps that need to be addressed before starting the dialogue with the IRS agent.

So what are the most essential tax records to have ahead of your audit? Here are a few must-have items:

  • Any W-2 forms from the previous year. This can include documents from full-time and part-time work, large casino and lottery winnings and more.
  • Form 1098 records from your bank or lender on mortgage interest paid from the previous year.
  • Records of any miscellaneous money you earned and reported to the IRS including work done as an independent contractor or freelancer, interest from savings accounts and stock dividends.
  • Written letters from charities confirming your monetary donations from the previous year.
  • Receipts for business expenses you claimed.
  • Mileage Logs for business use of vehicle.
  • Entertainment and Travel Logs for business

Tips On Reconstructing Records

Reconstructing records after a disaster is important for several reasons including insurance reimbursement and taxes. Most importantly, records can help people prove their disaster-related losses. More accurately estimated losses can help people get more recovery assistance like loans or grants.

Whether it’s personal or business property that has been lost or destroyed, here are some steps that can help people reconstruct important records.

Tax records

Get free tax return transcripts immediately using the Get Transcript on IRS.gov or through the IRS2Go app.  Tax return transcripts show line-by-line the entries made on your Federal income tax returns.  The most three recent tax years are available.

Financial statements

People can gather past statements from their credit card company or bank. These records may be available online. People can also contact their bank to get paper copies of these statements.

Property records

  • To get documents related to property, homeowners can contact the title company, escrow company or bank that handled the purchase of their home or other property.
  • Taxpayers who made home improvements can get in touch with the contractors who did the work and ask for statements to verify the work and cost. They can also get written descriptions from friends and relatives who saw the house before and after any improvements.
  • For inherited property, taxpayers can check court records for probate values. If a trust or estate existed, taxpayers can contact the attorney who handled the trust.
  • When no other records are available, people should check the county assessor’s office for old records that might address the value of the property.
  • Car owners can research the current fair-market value for most vehicles. Resources are available online and at most libraries. These include Kelley’s Blue Book, the National Automobile Dealers Association and Edmunds.

Develop And Implement Your Backup Plan

Do not wait for the next disaster to come for then it may be too late to retrieve your important records for a tax audit or for that matter any legal or business matter. And if you do get selected for audit and do not have all the records to support what was claimed on your tax returns, you should contact an experienced tax attorney who can argue the application of your facts and circumstances to pursue the least possible changes in an audit.

The tax attorneys at the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. located in Orange County (Irvine), Los Angeles and elsewhere in California are highly skilled in handling tax matters and can effectively represent at all levels with the IRS and State Tax Agencies including criminal tax investigations and attempted prosecutions, undisclosed foreign bank accounts and other foreign assets, and unreported foreign income.  Also if you are involved in cannabis, check out what a cannabis tax attorney can do for you.  And if you are involved in cryptocurrency, check out what a bitcoin tax attorney can do for you.

IRS provides relief to victims of Tropical Storm Debby in Pennsylvania.

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On September 18, 2024 the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced tax relief for individuals and businesses in Pennsylvania affected by Tropical Storm Debby. These taxpayers now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The tax relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred from August 9, 2024, through February 3, 2025 (postponement period). As a result, affected individuals and businesses will have until February 3, 2025, to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period.

This means, for example, that the February 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; however, that payments on these returns are not eligible for the extra time because they were due last spring before the storm occurred.
  • Quarterly estimated income tax payments normally due on September 16, 2024, and January 15, 2025.
  • Quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on October 31, 2024, and January 31, 2025.

In addition, penalties for failing to make payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after August 9, 2024, and before August 26, 2024, will be abated, as long as the deposits are made by August 26, 2024.

Other Areas Having Extended Deadlines:

The IRS announced (Kentucky) announced (West Virginia) on May 31, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, flooding, landslides and mudslides that began on April 2, 2024 in Kentucky and West Virginia now have until November 1, 2024, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 12, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in 25 Minnesota counties affected by severe storms and flooding that began on June 16, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 9, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in four states (South Carolina, Florida, North Carolina and Georgia) and on August 13, 2024 the IRS announced tax relief for individuals and businesses in the state of Vermont affected by Hurricane Debby now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 23, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in Puerto Rico affected by Tropical Storm Ernesto that began on August 13, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 23, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in South Dakota affected severe storms, straight-line winds and flooding that began on June 16, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 28, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in the U.S. Virgin Islands affected Tropical Storm Ernesto that began on August 13, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on September 10, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in Connecticut and New York affected by severe storms and flooding from torrential rainfalls that began on August 18, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on September 13, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in Louisiana affected by Tropical Storm Francine that began on September 10, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

IRS Tax Relief Details

The IRS is offering this relief to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as qualifying for individual assistance.

For Pennsylvania – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Lycoming, Potter, Tioga and Union counties.

For Louisiana – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in the entire state.

For Connecticut – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Fairfield, Litchfield, and New Haven counties.

For New York – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Suffolk County.

For the U.S. Virgin Islands – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in any of the U.S. Virgin Islands’ four islands.

For South Dakota – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Aurora, Bennett, Bon Homme, Brule, Buffalo, Charles Mix, Clay, Davison, Douglas, Gregory, Hand, Hanson, Hutchinson, Jackson, Lake, Lincoln, McCook, Miner, Minnehaha, Moody, Sanborn, Tripp, Turner, Union and Yankton counties

For Puerto Rico – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in any of Puerto Rico’s 78 municipalities.

For Minnesota – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Blue Earth, Carver, Cass, Cook, Cottonwood, Faribault, Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue, Itasca, Jackson, Lake, Le Sueur, Mower, Murray, Nicollet, Nobles, Pipestone, Rice, Rock, St. Louis, Steele, Wabasha, Waseca and Watonwan counties.

For North Carolina – Individuals and businesses and the following 66 counties: Alamance, Anson, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen , Brunswick, Camden, Carteret, Caswell, Chatham, Chowan, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Currituck, Dare, Davie, Davidson, Duplin, Durham, Edgecombe, Forsyth, Franklin, Gates, Granville, Greene, Guilford, Halifax, Harnett, Hertford, Hoke, Hyde, Johnston, Jones, Lee, Lenoir, Martin, Montgomery, Moore, Nash, New Hanover, Northampton, Onslow, Orange, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Pender, Perquimans, Person, Pitt, Randolph, Richmond, Robeson, Rockingham, Sampson, Scotland, Stokes, Surry, Tyrrell, Vance, Wake, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Wilson and Yadkin.

For South Carolina – Individuals and businesses in all 46 counties.

For Georgia – Individuals and businesses in the following 55 counties: Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brantley, Brooks, Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Camden, Candler, Charlton, Chatham, Clinch, Coffee, Colquitt, Cook, Crisp, Decatur, Dodge, Echols, Effingham, Emanuel, Evans, Glynn, Grady, Irwin, Jeff Davis, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Lanier, Laurens, Liberty, Long, Lowndes, McIntosh, Mitchell, Montgomery, Pierce, Richmond, Screven, Tattnall, Telfair, Thomas, Tift, Toombs, Treutlen, Turner, Ware, Wayne, Wheeler, Wilcox and Worth.

For Florida – Individuals and businesses in the following 61 counties: Alachua, Baker, Bay, Bradford, Brevard, Calhoun, Charlotte, Citrus, Clay, Collier, Columbia, DeSoto, Dixie, Duval, Escambia, Flagler, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Glades, Gulf, Hamilton, Hardee, Hendry, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Lee, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Manatee, Marion, Monroe, Nassau, Okaloosa, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Santa Rosa, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns, Sumter, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, Volusia, Walton, Wakulla and Washington.

For Vermont – Individuals and businesses in all 14 counties.

For Kentucky – Currently, relief is available to affected taxpayers who live or have a business in Boyd, Carter, Fayette, Greenup, Henry, Jefferson, Jessamine, Mason, Oldham, Union and Whitley counties.

For West Virginia – Currently, relief is available to affected taxpayers who live or have a business in Boone, Brooke, Cabell, Fayette, Hancock, Kanawha, Lincoln, Marshall, Nicholas, Ohio, Preston, Putnam, Tyler, Wayne and Wetzel counties.

The current list of eligible localities is always available on the disaster relief page on IRS.gov.  The declaration permits the IRS to postpone certain deadlines for taxpayers who reside or have a business in the disaster area.

Tax Planning Tip

Individuals and businesses in a federally declared disaster area who suffered uninsured or unreimbursed disaster-related losses can choose to claim them on either the return for the year the loss occurred (in this instance, the 2024 return normally filed next year), or the return for the current year (2023).

Be sure to write the FEMA declaration number on any return claiming a loss.  That number being: “4782-DR“ for Kentucky or “4783-DR” for West Virginia or “3605-EM” for Florida or “3606-EM” for South Carolina or “3607-EM” for Georgia or “3608-EM” for North Carolina or “3609-EM” for Vermont or “4797-DR” for Minnesota or “3610-EM” for Puerto Rico or “4807-DR” for South Dakota or “3611-EM” for the U.S. Virgin Islands or “3612-EM” for Connecticut or “3613-EM” for New York or “3614-EM” for Louisiana or “4815-DR” for Pennsylvania.

Qualified disaster relief payments are generally excluded from gross income. In general, this means that affected taxpayers can exclude from their gross income 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.

Additional relief may be available to affected taxpayers who participate in a retirement plan or individual retirement arrangement (IRA). For example, a taxpayer 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.

Importance To Preserve Records

Keep in mind that the IRS has up to three years to select a tax return for audit. The FTB has up to four years to select a tax return for audit. In some cases this period is extended to six years. When a taxpayer is selected for audit, the taxpayer has the burden of proof to show that expenses claimed are properly deductible. Having the evidence handy and organized makes meeting this burden of proof much easier.

Essential Records to Have for a Tax Audit

If you are getting ready for a tax audit, one of the most important things to do is gather and organize your tax records and receipts. There’s a good chance that you have a large amount of documents and receipts in your possession. No matter how organized you are, it can be a daunting task to collect the right pieces and make sure that you have them organized and handy for the audit conference.

We have seen many tax audits that hinge on whether or not the taxpayer can provide proper documentation for their previous tax filings. A tax lawyer in Orange County or elsewhere can make sure that the documentation is complete and proper.  By submitting this to your tax attorney in advance of the audit, your tax attorney can review your documentation and determine if there are any gaps that need to be addressed before starting the dialogue with the IRS agent.

So what are the most essential tax records to have ahead of your audit? Here are a few must-have items:

  • Any W-2 forms from the previous year. This can include documents from full-time and part-time work, large casino and lottery winnings and more.
  • Form 1098 records from your bank or lender on mortgage interest paid from the previous year.
  • Records of any miscellaneous money you earned and reported to the IRS including work done as an independent contractor or freelancer, interest from savings accounts and stock dividends.
  • Written letters from charities confirming your monetary donations from the previous year.
  • Receipts for business expenses you claimed.
  • Mileage Logs for business use of vehicle.
  • Entertainment and Travel Logs for business

Tips On Reconstructing Records

Reconstructing records after a disaster is important for several reasons including insurance reimbursement and taxes. Most importantly, records can help people prove their disaster-related losses. More accurately estimated losses can help people get more recovery assistance like loans or grants.

Whether it’s personal or business property that has been lost or destroyed, here are some steps that can help people reconstruct important records.

Tax records

Get free tax return transcripts immediately using the Get Transcript on IRS.gov or through the IRS2Go app.  Tax return transcripts show line-by-line the entries made on your Federal income tax returns.  The most three recent tax years are available.

Financial statements

People can gather past statements from their credit card company or bank. These records may be available online. People can also contact their bank to get paper copies of these statements.

Property records

  • To get documents related to property, homeowners can contact the title company, escrow company or bank that handled the purchase of their home or other property.
  • Taxpayers who made home improvements can get in touch with the contractors who did the work and ask for statements to verify the work and cost. They can also get written descriptions from friends and relatives who saw the house before and after any improvements.
  • For inherited property, taxpayers can check court records for probate values. If a trust or estate existed, taxpayers can contact the attorney who handled the trust.
  • When no other records are available, people should check the county assessor’s office for old records that might address the value of the property.
  • Car owners can research the current fair-market value for most vehicles. Resources are available online and at most libraries. These include Kelley’s Blue Book, the National Automobile Dealers Association and Edmunds.

Develop And Implement Your Backup Plan

Do not wait for the next disaster to come for then it may be too late to retrieve your important records for a tax audit or for that matter any legal or business matter. And if you do get selected for audit and do not have all the records to support what was claimed on your tax returns, you should contact an experienced tax attorney who can argue the application of your facts and circumstances to pursue the least possible changes in an audit.

The tax attorneys at the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. located in Orange County (Irvine), Los Angeles and elsewhere in California are highly skilled in handling tax matters and can effectively represent at all levels with the IRS and State Tax Agencies including criminal tax investigations and attempted prosecutions, undisclosed foreign bank accounts and other foreign assets, and unreported foreign income.  Also if you are involved in cannabis, check out what a cannabis tax attorney can do for you.  And if you are involved in cryptocurrency, check out what a bitcoin tax attorney can do for you.

IRS provides relief to victims of Tropical Storm Francine in Louisiana.

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On September 13, 2024 the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced tax relief for individuals and businesses in Louisiana affected by Tropical Storm Francine that began on September 10, 2024. These taxpayers now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The tax relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred from June 16, 2024, through February 3, 2025 (postponement period). As a result, affected individuals and businesses will have until February 3, 2025, to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period.

This means, for example, that the February 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; however, that payments on these returns are not eligible for the extra time because they were due last spring before the storm occurred.
  • Quarterly estimated income tax payments normally due on September 16, 2024, and January 15, 2025.
  • Quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on October 31, 2024, and January 31, 2025.

In addition, penalties for failing to make payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after September 10, 2024, and before September 25, 2024, will be abated, as long as the deposits are made by September 25, 2024.

Other Areas Having Extended Deadlines:

The IRS announced (Kentucky) announced (West Virginia) on May 31, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, flooding, landslides and mudslides that began on April 2, 2024 in Kentucky and West Virginia now have until November 1, 2024, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 12, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in 25 Minnesota counties affected by severe storms and flooding that began on June 16, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 9, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in four states (South Carolina, Florida, North Carolina and Georgia) and on August 13, 2024 the IRS announced tax relief for individuals and businesses in the state of Vermont affected by Hurricane Debby now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 23, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in Puerto Rico affected by Tropical Storm Ernesto that began on August 13, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 23, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in South Dakota affected severe storms, straight-line winds and flooding that began on June 16, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on August 28, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in the U.S. Virgin Islands affected Tropical Storm Ernesto that began on August 13, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

The IRS announced on September 10, 2024 tax relief for individuals and businesses in Connecticut and New York affected by severe storms and flooding from torrential rainfalls that began on August 18, 2024 now have until February 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

IRS Tax Relief Details

The IRS is offering this relief to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as qualifying for individual assistance.

For Louisiana – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in the entire state.

For Connecticut – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Fairfield, Litchfield, and New Haven counties.

For New York – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Suffolk County.

For the U.S. Virgin Islands – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in any of the U.S. Virgin Islands’ four islands.

For South Dakota – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Aurora, Bennett, Bon Homme, Brule, Buffalo, Charles Mix, Clay, Davison, Douglas, Gregory, Hand, Hanson, Hutchinson, Jackson, Lake, Lincoln, McCook, Miner, Minnehaha, Moody, Sanborn, Tripp, Turner, Union and Yankton counties

For Puerto Rico – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in any of Puerto Rico’s 78 municipalities.

For Minnesota – Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Blue Earth, Carver, Cass, Cook, Cottonwood, Faribault, Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue, Itasca, Jackson, Lake, Le Sueur, Mower, Murray, Nicollet, Nobles, Pipestone, Rice, Rock, St. Louis, Steele, Wabasha, Waseca and Watonwan counties.

For North Carolina – Individuals and businesses and the following 66 counties: Alamance, Anson, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen , Brunswick, Camden, Carteret, Caswell, Chatham, Chowan, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Currituck, Dare, Davie, Davidson, Duplin, Durham, Edgecombe, Forsyth, Franklin, Gates, Granville, Greene, Guilford, Halifax, Harnett, Hertford, Hoke, Hyde, Johnston, Jones, Lee, Lenoir, Martin, Montgomery, Moore, Nash, New Hanover, Northampton, Onslow, Orange, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Pender, Perquimans, Person, Pitt, Randolph, Richmond, Robeson, Rockingham, Sampson, Scotland, Stokes, Surry, Tyrrell, Vance, Wake, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Wilson and Yadkin.

For South Carolina – Individuals and businesses in all 46 counties.

For Georgia – Individuals and businesses in the following 55 counties: Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brantley, Brooks, Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Camden, Candler, Charlton, Chatham, Clinch, Coffee, Colquitt, Cook, Crisp, Decatur, Dodge, Echols, Effingham, Emanuel, Evans, Glynn, Grady, Irwin, Jeff Davis, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Lanier, Laurens, Liberty, Long, Lowndes, McIntosh, Mitchell, Montgomery, Pierce, Richmond, Screven, Tattnall, Telfair, Thomas, Tift, Toombs, Treutlen, Turner, Ware, Wayne, Wheeler, Wilcox and Worth.

For Florida – Individuals and businesses in the following 61 counties: Alachua, Baker, Bay, Bradford, Brevard, Calhoun, Charlotte, Citrus, Clay, Collier, Columbia, DeSoto, Dixie, Duval, Escambia, Flagler, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Glades, Gulf, Hamilton, Hardee, Hendry, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Lee, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Manatee, Marion, Monroe, Nassau, Okaloosa, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Santa Rosa, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns, Sumter, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, Volusia, Walton, Wakulla and Washington.

For Vermont – Individuals and businesses in all 14 counties.

For Kentucky – Currently, relief is available to affected taxpayers who live or have a business in Boyd, Carter, Fayette, Greenup, Henry, Jefferson, Jessamine, Mason, Oldham, Union and Whitley counties.

For West Virginia – Currently, relief is available to affected taxpayers who live or have a business in Boone, Brooke, Cabell, Fayette, Hancock, Kanawha, Lincoln, Marshall, Nicholas, Ohio, Preston, Putnam, Tyler, Wayne and Wetzel counties.

The current list of eligible localities is always available on the disaster relief page on IRS.gov.  The declaration permits the IRS to postpone certain deadlines for taxpayers who reside or have a business in the disaster area.

Tax Planning Tip

Individuals and businesses in a federally declared disaster area who suffered uninsured or unreimbursed disaster-related losses can choose to claim them on either the return for the year the loss occurred (in this instance, the 2024 return normally filed next year), or the return for the current year (2023).

Be sure to write the FEMA declaration number on any return claiming a loss.  That number being: “4782-DR“ for Kentucky or “4783-DR” for West Virginia or “3605-EM” for Florida or “3606-EM” for South Carolina or “3607-EM” for Georgia or “3608-EM” for North Carolina or “3609-EM” for Vermont or “4797-DR” for Minnesota or “3610-EM” for Puerto Rico or “4807-DR” for South Dakota or “3611-EM” for the U.S. Virgin Islands or “3612-EM” for Connecticut or “3613-EM” for New York or “3614-EM” for Louisiana.

Qualified disaster relief payments are generally excluded from gross income. In general, this means that affected taxpayers can exclude from their gross income 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.

Additional relief may be available to affected taxpayers who participate in a retirement plan or individual retirement arrangement (IRA). For example, a taxpayer 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.

Importance To Preserve Records

Keep in mind that the IRS has up to three years to select a tax return for audit. The FTB has up to four years to select a tax return for audit. In some cases this period is extended to six years. When a taxpayer is selected for audit, the taxpayer has the burden of proof to show that expenses claimed are properly deductible. Having the evidence handy and organized makes meeting this burden of proof much easier.

Essential Records to Have for a Tax Audit

If you are getting ready for a tax audit, one of the most important things to do is gather and organize your tax records and receipts. There’s a good chance that you have a large amount of documents and receipts in your possession. No matter how organized you are, it can be a daunting task to collect the right pieces and make sure that you have them organized and handy for the audit conference.

We have seen many tax audits that hinge on whether or not the taxpayer can provide proper documentation for their previous tax filings. A tax lawyer in Orange County or elsewhere can make sure that the documentation is complete and proper.  By submitting this to your tax attorney in advance of the audit, your tax attorney can review your documentation and determine if there are any gaps that need to be addressed before starting the dialogue with the IRS agent.

So what are the most essential tax records to have ahead of your audit? Here are a few must-have items:

  • Any W-2 forms from the previous year. This can include documents from full-time and part-time work, large casino and lottery winnings and more.
  • Form 1098 records from your bank or lender on mortgage interest paid from the previous year.
  • Records of any miscellaneous money you earned and reported to the IRS including work done as an independent contractor or freelancer, interest from savings accounts and stock dividends.
  • Written letters from charities confirming your monetary donations from the previous year.
  • Receipts for business expenses you claimed.
  • Mileage Logs for business use of vehicle.
  • Entertainment and Travel Logs for business

Tips On Reconstructing Records

Reconstructing records after a disaster is important for several reasons including insurance reimbursement and taxes. Most importantly, records can help people prove their disaster-related losses. More accurately estimated losses can help people get more recovery assistance like loans or grants.

Whether it’s personal or business property that has been lost or destroyed, here are some steps that can help people reconstruct important records.

Tax records

Get free tax return transcripts immediately using the Get Transcript on IRS.gov or through the IRS2Go app.  Tax return transcripts show line-by-line the entries made on your Federal income tax returns.  The most three recent tax years are available.

Financial statements

People can gather past statements from their credit card company or bank. These records may be available online. People can also contact their bank to get paper copies of these statements.

Property records

  • To get documents related to property, homeowners can contact the title company, escrow company or bank that handled the purchase of their home or other property.
  • Taxpayers who made home improvements can get in touch with the contractors who did the work and ask for statements to verify the work and cost. They can also get written descriptions from friends and relatives who saw the house before and after any improvements.
  • For inherited property, taxpayers can check court records for probate values. If a trust or estate existed, taxpayers can contact the attorney who handled the trust.
  • When no other records are available, people should check the county assessor’s office for old records that might address the value of the property.
  • Car owners can research the current fair-market value for most vehicles. Resources are available online and at most libraries. These include Kelley’s Blue Book, the National Automobile Dealers Association and Edmunds.

Develop And Implement Your Backup Plan

Do not wait for the next disaster to come for then it may be too late to retrieve your important records for a tax audit or for that matter any legal or business matter. And if you do get selected for audit and do not have all the records to support what was claimed on your tax returns, you should contact an experienced tax attorney who can argue the application of your facts and circumstances to pursue the least possible changes in an audit.

The tax attorneys at the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. located in Orange County (Irvine), Los Angeles and elsewhere in California are highly skilled in handling tax matters and can effectively represent at all levels with the IRS and State Tax Agencies including criminal tax investigations and attempted prosecutions, undisclosed foreign bank accounts and other foreign assets, and unreported foreign income.  Also if you are involved in cannabis, check out what a cannabis tax attorney can do for you.  And if you are involved in cryptocurrency, check out what a bitcoin tax attorney can do for you.