IRS extends tax filing deadline to May 11 [directly affecting RI, MA]

The Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday extended until May 11 the deadline for filing federal income tax returns, a move that will give people affected by the floods nearly a month longer than usual to get their taxes done.

The extension applies to all of Rhode Island, except Bristol County, which accounts for 5 percent of the state’s population, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures.

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation will also extend its filing deadline to May 11 for all counties in Rhode Island without exception, state Tax Administrator David M. Sullivan said. “We will do the whole state,” he said.

The extensions granted by the IRS and by the state tax agency are far-reaching, establishing May 11 as the new deadline for:

•All individual income tax returns filed on any Form 1040, whether on paper or electronically.

•Contributions that a taxpayer makes to an IRA with the intention of having it count for 2009.

In addition, those who want to deduct a loss for tax purposes related to the recent storms and floods now have the option to claim the loss on either their 2009 or 2010 returns, Sullivan and IRS spokeswoman Peggy Riley said.

Taken together, the changes represent a break for people hard-pressed by the floods, said Mary F. Bernard, former president of the Rhode Island Society of Certified Public Accountants.

“It will help all those people who are underwater right now” and who may need extra time to gather or reconstruct their financial records for tax purposes, said Bernard, director of state and local tax services at Kahn Litwin Renza & Co., Ltd., a CPA firm, which has its headquarters in Providence.

“It just takes one piece of stress off their minds at this point,” she said. “For people who have lost everything, the last thing on their minds” is taxes, she said.

For those who normally must make an estimated tax payment by April 15, the extension “gives people an extra month to come up with the money,” Bernard said.

And those who already have the funds for the estimated-tax installment will have use of their money longer, which could help in dealing with storm-related damage, said Patricia A. Thompson, vice chairwoman of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ national tax executive committee.

U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., who earlier on Wednesday had urged the IRS to extend the deadline, said that the IRS decision will provide “a small measure of relief” to those who are affected by the floods. “Tax season can be stressful, and this short-term extension will give Rhode Island families one less thing to worry about as they begin the daunting task of rebuilding their homes and businesses.” Reed said in a statement.

Thompson and Bernard said they could not recall another occasion in which the normal April 15 filing deadline was extended for a disaster affecting Rhode Island.

Those who take advantage of the extension will not have to make any special arrangements, Riley said.

IRS computers will recognize that the return is from someone in Providence, Kent, Washington or Newport counties, based on the ZIP code listed on the return, and will apply automatic relief from late-payment and late-filing penalties and interest that would otherwise apply, she said.

(A taxpayer who nevertheless receives a penalty notice in such a situation should call the IRS disaster hot line at 1-866-562-5227 to request relief, Riley said.)

Bristol County, R.I., was excluded from the IRS’ deadline extension because it was not listed in the portion of the federal government’s recent disaster declaration dealing with individual relief, Riley said. “But keep in mind that these things can be amended as time goes on,” she said.

For some taxpayers, the extensions could cause confusion. For example, as things stand now, a taxpayer in Bristol County, R.I., must file a federal return by April 15, but will have until May 11 to file a Rhode Island return, said Thompson, who is also tax partner at Piccerelli Gilstein & Co. LLP, a CPA firm in Providence.

In Massachusetts, the May 11 federal filing deadline applies to Bristol, Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk and Worcester counties, Riley said.

The Massachusetts Department of Revenue said Wednesday night that the deadline for filing Massachusetts state income tax returns for taxpayers in those seven counties will be extended to May 11.

I hope your sister didn’t lose a lot of her stuff in the basement flooding!

Owing to Herculean efforts over the past three weeks, she has managed to escape this fate! She had the prudence to put up such things as heating systems and appliances (freezer, hot water heater, etc.) on risers some foot above the basement floor. This helped a lot. But she's still pumping away, with a rotating 12-hour "sentry" at post to ensure the pump is always engaging properly against the need....

I gather that, what with the entire neighborhood pumping out their basements, and the water table so high, the pumped-out water has no place to go, no way to be diverted away from the neighborhood. So it just sits there, waiting to creep back into the neighbors' basements again....

This is a rare occurrence for this town. It's not like it's built in the middle of a recognized flood plain....

It's said, here in Massachusetts, that this was a "200-year flood"....

Anyhoot, I was pretty high and dry on my hill. And being perfectly footloose and fancy free these days, was perfectly content just to stay at home and weather the storm. Alas, that was not possible: I have to visit my elderly parents, who live 15 miles away, on a frequent basis nowadays. With so many local and state roads closed due to flooding, this was no easy business. The few possible detours were killing, resulting in traffic gridlock almost everywhere. (BTW, no police officers that I could see were on hand anywhere to order the resulting vehicular pandemonium.) A 15-mile trip took two hours to execute, one-way.

That was the worst of my suffering. My sister had it worse. And Rhode Island, worst of all. Compared to Rhode Island's sufferings — frank, outright devastation/destruction of property on a massive scale — Massachusetts had it easy.

I'm sort of writing from my "diary" here. So I might as well toss in an anecdote from my diary's "local knowledge" reports.

I say "local knowledge," because as far as I know, nothing about the following has been published in the media — national or even local.

As the story goes, President Obama — at a time when Eastern Massachusetts was in full flood-stage (~10 days ago) — paid an unannounced visit to Framingham, MA, to conduct an inspection of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Authority ("MEMA") headquarters facility located there; and then from hence went on to a fundraiser in nearby Marlborough.

Meanwhile, all the major east–west thoroughfares in the state within a ~25-mile radius and all their tributaries went into instant gridlock. This included the Massachusetts Turnpike, and Route 9 — in this particular region a major commercial venue. Traffic didn't move for hours. And people mainly didn't know why....

Then again, there is poor Rhode Island. It seems it would have been easy for the Prez to cop a 'copter out of MEMA for the short hop (~100 miles) to Providence, RI — there to have an opportunity to grab yet another microphone.

But the president was silent, in both cases — MA and RI.

What was that all about?

If this "local knowledge" is true — and indeed, the news media have not reported it as far as I know — then the main question I have is why President Obama, what with his affinity for grabbing the microphone wherever possible, should show up in a state, some of whose counties were already on the federal disaster list — and not make a big speech.
Then again, there is poor Rhode Island. It seems it would have been easy for the Prez to cop a 'copter out of MEMA for the short hop (~100 miles) to Providence, RI — there to have an opportunity to grab yet another microphone.
But the president was silent, in both cases — MA and RI.
What was that all about?

Forgot to pack his teleprompter?

Two hours to go 15 miles to get your elderly parents' house is mind-boggling. Thank God they were o.k. through all of it.

And I pray all the traffic problems - and your sister's basement flooding - will be resolved very soon.

Thank you "taking us there," dearest sister in Christ!

I find that very hard to believe...the silent part.

I find that very curious, too, Cyber Liberty. It's so unlike TOTUS, the eternal self-promoter.

Why did he stiff MA and RI? Why did the White House not announce his trip? And most intriguingly, why didn't any of this get picked up by the local media?

It's enough to make one think it didn't happen. Except from the "local knowledge" reports, it seems that it did. My husband's business is located perhaps two miles from MEMA. He saw the traffic gridlock with his own eyes — from there he could see both the Mass Pike and Route 9. And then, when customers eventually started trickling back into the business, they were telling their stories about what happened to them, and their understanding (however formed) of the cause....

Talk about the "silent part!" [I.e., the news media.] All of this is just too weird.

Thanks so much for writing, Cyber Liberty!

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