The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Thursday issued a reminder to millions of Americans that they face a mid-June deadline to file their taxes.
Tax deadlines for counties in seven states were extended to June 17 after the Federal Emergency Management Agency declared disasters due to natural disasters or similar incidents.
The June 17 deadline applies to San Diego County, California; New London County, as well as the Tribal Nations of Mohegan and Mashantucket, in Connecticut; and Eaton, Ingham, Ionia, Kent, Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, and Wayne counties in Michigan, the IRS said.
The agency said the same deadline applies for taxpayers in Androscoggin, Franklin, Kennebec, Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, and Somerset counties in Maine; Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Gibson, Montgomery, Robertson, Stewart, Sumner, and Weakley counties in Tennessee; and Boone, Calhoun, Clay, Harrison, Kanawha, and Roane in West Virginia.
Disaster declarations were issued by FEMA due to various incidents in the past tax year, prompting the delay.
“Affected individual taxpayers who need more time to file beyond the June 17 deadline must file their extension requests on paper using Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return. That’s because e-file options for requesting an extension are not available after April 15,” the IRS wrote in its Thursday release.
People filing for a tax extension still have to pay their taxes on June 17. Their requirements for filing their tax paperwork are only extended to Oct. 15.
Meanwhile, certain other counties and tribal areas in Maine, Rhode Island, and Alaska have until July 15 to file their taxes. They include the Wrangell Cooperative Association of Alaska Tribal Nation in Alaska; Cumberland, Hancock, Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc, Waldo, Washington, and York counties in Maine; and Kent, Newport, Providence, and Washington counties in Rhode Island, according to the IRS.
Meanwhile, Hawaii wildfire victims in Hawaii and Maui counties have an Aug. 7 deadline to pay their taxes, according to the IRS. Tornado victims in Auglaize, Crawford, Darke, Delaware, Hancock, Licking, Logan, Mercer, Miami, Richland, and Union counties in Ohio have a Sept. 3 deadline, it added.
While the IRS noted it “automatically provides filing and penalty relief to any taxpayer with an IRS address of record located in the disaster area,” some taxpayers may get a late filing notice or penalty notice.
“If an affected taxpayer receives a late filing or late payment penalty notice from the IRS that has an original or extended filing, payment or deposit due date falling within the postponement period, the taxpayer should call the number on the notice to have the penalty abated,” it said.
It comes as the IRS earlier this month warned that thousands of taxpayers could face jail time if they filed false tax returns that include artificially high refunds. The agency said that tax scams and inaccurate social media claims lead to inflated refunds, it said.
Taxpayers were warned by the tax revenue agency not to fall for scams targeting the Fuel Tax Credit, the Sick and Family Leave Credit, and household employment taxes, according to an agency release. The fuel credit namely applies to farming use and off-highway businesses, while the sick leave credit was only available to workers in 2020 and 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it noted.
The IRS said in a release that so far, it’s “seen thousands of dubious claims come in where it appears taxpayers are claiming credits for which they are not eligible, leading to refunds being delayed and the need for taxpayers to show they have legitimate documentation to support these claims.”
“Scam artists and social media posts have perpetuated a number of false and misleading claims that have tricked well-meaning taxpayers into believing they’re entitled to big, windfall tax refunds,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in the mid-May news release. “These bad claims have been caught during our fraud review process. Taxpayers who filed these claims should realize they’ve been tricked, and they face an extensive review process and a long potential wait if they’re owed a refund for other things.”
