BATON ROUGE- In harmony with a March 10 announcement from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Louisiana citizens who were impacted by winter storms that occurred February 11-19 of this year have until June 15 to file various individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

According to a March statement released by the IRS, affected taxpayers in all 64 parishes will receive tax relief, and 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 example, certain deadlines falling on or after February 11, 2021, and before June 15, 2021 are postponed through June 15, 2021. This includes 2020 business returns, normally due on March 15 and individual and business returns normally due on April 15.

The June 15, 2021 deadline applies to the first quarter estimated tax payment due on April 15. It also applies to the quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on April 30, 2021.

In addition, it applies to tax-exempt organizations, operating on a calendar-year basis, that have a 2020 return due on May 17, 2021. In addition, penalties on deposits due on or after February 11, 2021 and before February 26, 2021, will be abated as long as the tax deposits were made by February 26, 2021.

If an affected taxpayer receives a late filing or late payment penalty notice from the IRS that has an original or extended filing, payment or deposit due date that falls within the postponement period, the taxpayer should call the telephone number on the notice to have the IRS abate the penalty.

For information on services currently available, visit the IRS operations and services page at IRS.gov/coronavirus.

The IRS automatically identifies taxpayers located in the covered disaster area and applies filing and payment relief. But affected taxpayers who reside or have a business located outside the covered disaster area should call the IRS disaster hotline at 866-562-5227 to request this tax relief.