May 31 is the new 2012 tax deadline for those in the 21 Kentucky counties affected by the February 29 storms
After the severe storms, tornadoes, strong winds, and flooding that hit parts of Kentucky on February 29, 2012, President Obama declared 21 counties in the state Presidential Disaster Areas. The IRS has responded with relief in the form of a delayed tax day 2012.
Taxpayers who either live or own a business in the disaster area have a little over a month longer than normal to file their returns and take care of other tax-related business. The new deadline for these taxpayers to file both their federal return with the IRS and their state return with the Kentucky Department of Revenue is May 31, 2012.
Multiple tax deadlines falling between February 29, 2012 and May 31, 2012 have been pushed back to May 31, including the deadlines for filing an individual income tax return, making income tax payments, and making contributions to IRAs for the 2011 tax year. Both failure-to-file and failure-to-pay penalties that would normally go into effect during the postponement period will be waived until May 31.
The Kentucky Department of Revenue will match for state taxes all of the extensions made by the IRS for federal taxes.
The counties included in the federal disaster area are Bath, Campbell, Carroll, Grant, Grayson, Johnson, Kenton, Larue, Laurel, Lawrence, Magoffin, Martin, Menifee, Montgomery, Morgan, Ohio, Pendleton, Rowan, Russell, Trimble, and Wolfe.
The IRS will automatically identify the taxpayers who live in the disaster zone and apply the delayed 2012 tax deadline to them. You only need to call the IRS disaster hotline at 1-866-562-5227 you were affected by the storms and believe you deserve to benefit from the tax relief, but do not live or run a business in one of the counties listed above.
If after the original deadline you do get a penalty notice from the IRS, call them at 1-800-829-1040 to let them know that you reside in the disaster relief zone and that all penalties should be abated.
For more information, consult the news release from the IRS.
