IRS Announces Tax Relief Measures for Tennessee Following Severe Weather Events

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – April 14, 2025 – The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced its commitment to supporting Tennessee residents and businesses impacted by the recent severe weather events, including powerful straight-line winds, tornadoes, and widespread flooding, which began on April 2, 2025. Acknowledging the significant hardships these events have caused, the IRS is implementing substantial tax relief measures aimed at alleviating the burden on affected parties.

Taxpayers, including both individuals and businesses, throughout the entire state of Tennessee now have until November 3, 2025, to file various federal tax returns and remit tax payments. This extension applies to all areas designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), encompassing all 95 counties within Tennessee.

This tax relief effectively postpones a range of tax filing and payment deadlines that originally fell between April 2, 2025, and November 3, 2025. Consequently, affected individuals and businesses will have until November 3, 2025, to fulfill their tax obligations, including both filing returns and submitting any taxes due within this period. 

Specifically, the November 3, 2025, deadline will now apply to key obligations, including individual income tax returns and payments, normally due on April 15, 2025; contributions to IRAs and HSAs for 2024; quarterly estimated tax payments, normally due on April 15, June 16, and September 15, 2025; quarterly payroll and excise tax returns, normally due on April 30, July 31, and October 31, 2025; calendar-year corporation and fiduciary returns and payments, normally due on April 15, 2025; and calendar-year tax-exempt organization returns, usually due on May 15, 2025. Furthermore, the IRS will abate penalties associated with the failure to make payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after April 2, 2025, and before April 17, 2025, provided that these deposits are made by April 17, 2025.

The IRS is proactively granting this filing and penalty relief to all taxpayers whose IRS address of record is located within the designated disaster area. These individuals and businesses are not required to take any affirmative action to receive this automatic relief.

In addition to these extensions, individuals and businesses in the federally declared disaster area who have sustained uninsured or unreimbursed disaster-related losses have the option to claim these losses on either their 2025 tax return or their 2024 tax return. Taxpayers have up to six months after the standard due date of their federal income tax return for the disaster year, without regard to any extensions, to make this election. For individual taxpayers, this deadline is October 15, 2026. When claiming a loss, taxpayers must include the FEMA declaration number 3625-EM on the return.

Generally, qualified disaster relief payments are excluded from gross income. This exclusion typically applies to amounts received from government agencies to cover reasonable and necessary personal, family, living, or funeral expenses, as well as expenses related to the repair or rehabilitation of a residence or the replacement of its contents.

Taxpayers who participate in retirement plans or individual retirement arrangements (IRAs) may have access to additional relief options, including special disaster distributions and hardship withdrawals, subject to specific plan rules.

The IRS remains dedicated to ongoing recovery efforts and may provide further disaster relief in the future. Taxpayers who do not qualify for the aforementioned disaster tax relief may still be eligible for reasonable cause penalty abatement.

The entire Frazier team expresses its solidarity with the people of Tennessee during this challenging time and is committed to providing the necessary tax guidance and representation.