Katrina Emergency
Tax Relief Act of 2005

Courtesy of IRS

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS!

The Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005 (H.R. 3768)
was signed into law on September 23, 2005
You are welcome to read the 30 page Technical Explanation
prepared by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation

As a result of KETRA, once again, IRS extends the deadline for Hurricane Katrina victims – this time to February 28, 2005

The same relief has been granted to anyone affected by Hurricane Rita

THEN, THE BAD NEWS!

Sept. 23, 2005 Problem Alert:
IRS Reports Some Tax Payments From 13 States Lost

The Internal Revenue Service is alerting taxpayers in 13 states that approximately 30,000 estimated tax payments sent to a San Francisco post office box in early September have been lost in the aftermath of a traffic accident.

Taxpayers who may be affected include:

• Residents of Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming and…
• Anyone who mailed an IRS tax payment to the IRS San Francisco post office box between Sept. 1 and Sept. 11.

The accident occurred on the San Mateo Bridge near San Francisco in the early morning hours of Sept. 11, as a contract courier was delivering mail from the post office to a check-processing facility in Hayward, Calif. The IRS estimates that approximately 30,000 of the estimated 45,000 tax payments on board the vehicle – mostly Form 1040-ES quarterly estimated tax payments – were ejected into the San Francisco Bay and are not
recoverable.

Read this for more information – and for information on what to do if your check was soaked…