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Fixed Assets and UltraTax CS 2023 help is now on Help and Support. We're still moving articles, but you can find most content for the 2023 tax year there. Continue using the Help & How-To Center for tax years 2022 and older.

The IRS typically grants tax relief to taxpayers in presidentially declared disaster areas (e.g. areas affected by hurricane, fire, flood, tornado, or other disasters natural or otherwise). Tax relief may include postponed filing deadlines, postponed deadlines for administrative requests, abatement of penalties and interest, carryback of casualty losses, and waiver of certain administrative fees. The IRS issues a News Release for each presidentially declared disaster containing specific relief provisions. To see a full list of disaster area situations from the IRS, see Tax Relief in Disaster Situations. State agencies may or may not follow the IRS disaster relief provisions so refer to the applicable state agency for guidance.

Is my client affected?

The IRS automatically identifies taxpayers located in the covered disaster area and applies filing and payment relief based on their zip code. Affected taxpayers who reside or have a business located outside the covered disaster area must call the IRS disaster hotline at 866.562.5227 to request tax relief. 

Due date

For 1040 clients, go to the Payments folder, then the Pen screen. Enter the adjusted due date in the Disaster relief date field. The date entered in this field will be applied to the return due date, estimated tax payment due dates, penalty and interest calculations, and client documents.

For all other entities, you'll need to manually adjust the due date in the client documents. You'll also need to suppress penalties if any are calculating.

E-filing

All returns (whether affected by disaster or not) must be paper filed during the annual IRS MeF shutdown period.

You may not need to make any special arrangements or requests with the taxing authority. The IRS allows any tax return (for clients affected by a disaster or not) from the current year and two prior years to be e-filed; therefore a 2022 return could be e-filed through the end of 2025. Contact the taxing authority that will be processing the return if you have questions about e-filing for clients who qualify for disaster relief.

Electronic funds withdrawal (EFW)

Because returns affected by disasters are often filed after the original due date, there are some special considerations for EFW.

• If you file a return before the original due date and the disaster relief due date is after the original due date, the EFW requested payment date can't be later than the original due date.
• If you file a return after the original due date, the EFW requested payment date can't be later than the date you transmit the e-file to the IRS
• Electronic funds withdrawal information for estimated payments can't be included in the e-file for any estimate due dates that have already passed.

Clients may be able to set up alternate payments by visiting the IRS Make a Payment page.

Updates to UltraTax CS

UltraTax CS is not typically updated for disaster provisions because you can use data entry in the program to account for such provisions. See below for examples of data entry.

Mark a return as affected

Making a note on a return does not designate the taxpayer as qualifying for disaster relief. See "Is my client affected?" above for information about who qualifies.

You may not need to mark a return as affected by a disaster at all. Refer to IRS Publication 976 to determine if you need to indicate that the return is for a client affected by a disaster. Here are a few options for marking a return. 

• Go to the General input folder and open the General Footnote field. You can type any relevant information about the disaster here. This will go with the e-file, but will not be included if you paper file.
• Go to Help > Tax Subject Index. Choose Tax Subjects and search for Special processing. Go to that field and enter the name of the disaster there. For 1040 returns, you can only choose from the preloaded list of options. This will go with the e-file, but will not be included if you paper file.
• For paper filing, use attached text to print a note on the front page of the return. See Attaching text to a form for instructions on using attached text.

Penalties

For 1040 clients, penalties are automatically adjusted based on the Disaster relief date you enter on the Pen screen in the Payments folder.

For all other entities, you can stop the calculation of any penalties that the client is not required to pay. Generally, there is a checkbox to suppress penalties in the Payments folder on the Pen tab. For specific instructions on suppressing penalties, see the following topics:

Filing instructions and client letters

If the IRS changed the due date of the return, you can update the filing instructions to reflect the extension of time to file.For 1040 clients, the date will automatically update in your client documents with the date entered in the Disaster relief date field on the Pen screen in the Payments folder.

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