IRS gives further relief to taxpayers affected by Sandy

The IRS said Friday that it is pushing back a slew of filing and payment deadlines for Northeast residents affected by Hurricane Sandy.

The tax-collecting agencies said that taxpayers in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York would have until Feb. 1 to pay any taxes due between Oct. 31 and Jan. 31. 

Those taxes include payroll and excise taxes for both the third and fourth quarters, which are generally due on Oct. 31 and Jan. 31. Taxpayers who owe an individual estimated payment, who normally face a deadline of Jan. 15, will also have until February.

The IRS also said this assistance would be provided automatically, and that it would offer assistance on any interest or penalty that those taxpayers might face.

In a separate announcement, the tax-collecting agency also said that a taxpayer could exclude so-called qualified disaster relief payments from their taxable income. Those payments can include money used to take care of certain expenses that insurance would not cover, such as funerals and personal or living expenses.

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