Due to the lingering effects of Hurricane Helene, the Internal Revenue Service has further postponed until Sept. 25, 2025, a wide range of tax deadlines for taxpayers throughout North Carolina. Previously, the deadline had been May 1, 2025, for Form 1040 filers, among many others.   

According to a IRS media relations spokes person, taxpayers in all 100 North Carolina counties qualify for this automatic federal tax filing/paying extension to Sept. 25, 2025, due to federal disaster relief.

The IRS is offering this additional relief to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). This means that individuals and households that reside or have a business anywhere in North Carolina qualify for tax relief. The current list of eligible localities is always available on the Tax Relief in Disaster Situations page on IRS.gov.

Filing and payment relief

The tax relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred from Sept. 25, 2024, through Sept. 25, 2025 (postponement period). As a result, affected individuals and businesses will have until Sept. 25, 2025, to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period.

This means, for example, that the Sept. 25, 2025, deadline will now apply to:

• Individual income tax returns and payments normally due on April 15, 2025.
• 2024 contributions to IRAs and health savings accounts for eligible taxpayers.
• 2024 quarterly estimated tax payments normally due on Jan. 15, 2025, and 2025 estimated tax payments normally due on April 15, June 16 and Sept. 15, 2025.
• Quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on Oct. 31, 2024, and Jan. 31, April 30 and July 31, 2025.
• Calendar-year corporation and fiduciary returns and payments normally due on April 15, 2025.
• Calendar-year tax-exempt organization returns normally due on May 15, 2025.
• 990, 1040, 1041 and 1120 filers with a valid extension for tax year 2023. Please note, the payments on these returns are not eligible because they were due last spring before the hurricane.

The Disaster Assistance and Emergency Relief for Individuals and Businesses page has details on other returns, payments and tax-related actions qualifying for relief during the postponement period. 

The IRS automatically provides filing and penalty relief to any taxpayer with an IRS address of record located in the disaster area. These taxpayers do not need to contact the agency to get this relief.

It is possible an affected taxpayer may not have an IRS address of record located in the disaster area, for example, because they moved to the disaster area after filing their return. In these kinds of unique circumstances, the affected taxpayer could receive a late filing or late payment penalty notice from the IRS for the postponement period. The taxpayer should call the IRS Special Services toll-free number at 866-562-5227 to update their address and request disaster tax relief.

In addition, the IRS will work with any taxpayer who lives outside the disaster area but whose records necessary to meet a deadline occurring during the postponement period are located in the affected area. Taxpayers qualifying for relief who live outside the disaster area need to call 866-562-5227. This also includes workers assisting the relief activities who are affiliated with a recognized government or philanthropic organization. Disaster area tax preparers with clients located outside the disaster area can choose to use the Bulk Requests from Practitioners for Disaster Relief option described on IRS.gov.

Further tax filing extensions available to Oct. 15

Anyone who needs a tax filing extension beyond Sept. 25, 2025, for tax year 2024 can get it, but they must request the extra time. This type of filing extension is not an extension of time to pay.

These requests cannot be filed electronically. They can be filed only on paper using Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.

Though this extension will give a taxpayer until Oct. 15, 2025, to file, the IRS emphasized that tax payments are still due by Sept. 25, 2025. Visit IRS.gov/extensions for details.

Additional tax relief

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 this year), or the return for the prior year (2023). Taxpayers have up to six months after the due date of the taxpayer’s federal income tax return for the disaster year (without regard to any extension of time to file) to make the election. For individual taxpayers, this means Oct. 15, 2025. Be sure to write the FEMA declaration number – 3617-EM – on any return claiming a loss. See Publication 547, Casualties, Disasters and Thefts, for details.

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. See Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income, for details.

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.

Taxpayers who do not qualify for disaster tax relief may qualify for reasonable cause penalty abatement. See Penalty Relief for Reasonable Cause for additional information. 

The tax relief is part of a coordinated federal response to the damage caused by these storms and is based on local damage assessments by FEMA. For information on disaster recovery, visit disasterassistance.gov.

Reminder about tax return preparation options

• Eligible individuals or families can get free help preparing their tax return at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) or Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) sites. To find the closest free tax help site, use the VITA Locator Tool or call 800-906-9887. Note that normally, VITA sites cannot help claim disaster losses.
• To find an AARP Tax-Aide site, use the AARP Site Locator Tool or call 888-227-7669.
• Any individual or family whose adjusted gross income (AGI) was $84,000 or less in 2024 can use IRS Free File’s guided tax software at no cost. There are products in English and Spanish.
• Another Free File option is Free File Fillable Forms. These are electronic federal tax forms, equivalent to a paper Form 1040, and are designed for taxpayers who are comfortable filling out IRS tax forms. Anyone, regardless of income, can use this option.
• MilTax, a Department of Defense program, offers free return preparation software and electronic filing for federal tax returns and up to three state income tax returns. It’s available for all military members and some veterans, with no income limit.

Additionally, the North Carolina Department of Revenue is postponing various federal tax filing and payment deadlines until Sept. 25, 2025, in response. Read more here.