The IRS announced that Santa Clara County has been added to the list of counties under the Federal Disaster Declaration for the August 2020 fires.
Following the recent disaster declaration for individual assistance issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the IRS announced that affected taxpayers in certain areas will receive tax relief.
Individuals and households who reside or have a business in Santa Clara, Butte, Lake, Monterey, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties qualify for tax relief. but taxpayers in localities added later to the disaster area will automatically receive the same filing and payment relief.
The declaration permits the IRS to postpone certain tax-filing and tax-payment deadlines for taxpayers who reside or have a business in the disaster area. For instance, certain deadlines falling on or after August 14, 2020, and before December 15, 2020, are postponed to December 15, 2020. This includes individual and business tax filers that had a valid extension to file their 2019 return due to run out on October 15, 2020. The IRS noted, however, that because tax payments related to these 2019 returns were due on July 15, 2020, those payments are not eligible for this relief.
The December 15 deadline applies to the third quarter estimated tax payment due on September 15. It also applies to the quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on November 2. In addition, it applies to tax-exempt organizations, operating on a calendar-year basis, that had a valid extension due to run out on November 1.
California automatically follows IRS extended deadlines to file and pay taxes until the date indicated for the specific disaster. At the time of this writing, FTB is working on updating its Disaster Loss page to add Santa Clara County to the list of counties affected by the August & September 2020 wildfires (Disaster Code 115).