Additional Tax Relief IDEAS

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Actions that employers can take to aid hurricane victims:

• Employers can make cash payments to charities providing relief on employee accumulated and earned vacation, sick or personal leave.  Payments can be made before Jan. 1, 2019. Tax treatment: Donated leave is not included in the employee’s income, and employers may deduct these cash payments to charity as a business expense.
• 401(k)s and similar employer-sponsored retirement plans can make loans and hardship distributions to hurricane victims and members of their families. A retirement plan can allow a hurricane victim to take a hardship distribution or borrow up to the specified statutory limits from the victim’s retirement plan. It also means that a person who lives outside the disaster area can take out a retirement plan loan or hardship distribution and use it to assist a son, daughter, parent, grandparent or dependent who lived or worked in the disaster area. Hardship withdrawals must be made by Jan. 31, 2018.
• The IRS is waiving late-deposit penalties for federal payroll and excise tax deposits normally due during the first 15 days of the disaster period. Check out the disaster relief page for the time periods that apply to each jurisdiction.
• Individuals and businesses who suffered uninsured or unreimbursed disaster-related losses can choose to claim them on either the return for the year the loss occurred (in this instance, the 2017 return normally filed next year), or the return for the prior year (2016). See Publication 547 for details.
• The IRS is waiving the usual fees and expediting requests for copies of previously filed tax returns for disaster area taxpayers. This relief can be especially helpful to anyone whose copies of these documents were lost or destroyed by the hurricane.
• If disaster-area taxpayers are contacted by the IRS on a collection or examination matter, they should be sure to explain how the disaster impacts them so that the IRS can provide appropriate consideration to their case.

Updates:

US congress had not approved these provisions as of today, Sept. 27, 2017

Source: IRS.gov

HCAD INFORMATION

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Hurricane Harvey Damage Report Feature Now On Harris County Appraisal District App 

HCAD phone application to upload

Harris County homeowners who have any type of property damage from Hurricane Harvey can now report that damage to the Harris County Appraisal District through the district’s upgraded app. The upgraded app allows residential property owners to report flood, tornado or roof damage electronically.   

“The appraisal district can use this information to identify the most damaged neighborhoods and properties to help the homeowner next year when the property is reappraised January 1 by possibly reducing the value because of existing damage or ongoing repair work,” said Roland Altinger, chief appraiser.   The upgraded app gives the homeowner options to quickly identify whether the damage was on the home or garage and provides an event damage report that lists options for the amount of water, an estimate of damage caused by a tornado or roof leaks and a section for fire damage. 

HOW YOU SIGN ON THE APP

When the homeowner is ready to submit the report, they take a photo of the front and back of their driver’s license to verify the property owner’s identity.  The app will prompt the user to allow access to the camera.  “We started to develop this app last week when we heard of the approaching hurricane,” Altinger said. “This is a revolutionary advance in property assessment, and we are the only appraisal district in the world that has it available for our property owners.” 

PHONE Operating Systems Available

The appraisal district already had an existing app for iPhones and Androids that provided information to property owners and allowed them to submit exemption applications and request their iFile number, which is needed to file a protest.  

Searching for the address or phone numbers automatically triggers elements on the phone, which would then load maps for directions or prompt the phone to dial a number.   “This upgrade is another example of how we are continuing to make it easier and more convenient for property owners to work with the appraisal district.” Altinger said. The new HCAD app is available to download for free through the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store, but it requires an iPhone 4 or an iPad 3 or beyond. 

If you already have the app, you can update it to reveal the new damage report feature. The appraisal district also has set up a special phone line for property owners to report Hurricane Harvey damage at 713.821.5805, or they can email that information to help@hcad.org .  Please provide your name, address, phone number and account number, if you have it, along with the number of inches or feet of water you received. 

About HCAD

The Harris County Appraisal District is a political subdivision of the State of Texas established in 1980 for the purpose of discovering and appraising property for ad valorem tax purposes for each taxing unit within the boundaries of the district.  The district has more than 1.8 million parcels of property to assess each year with a total market value of approximately $575 billion.  The appraisal district in Harris County is the largest in Texas, serving approximately 500 taxing units, and one of the largest appraisal districts in the United States.  For further information, visit www.hcad.org. 

Source HCAD

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Individuals who reside or have a business in

Aransas, Bee, Brazoria, Calhoun, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Goliad, Harris, Jackson, Kleberg, Liberty, Matagorda, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, Victoria, and Wharton Counties may qualify for tax relief. DUE DATES EXTENDED

The declaration permits the IRS to postpone certain deadlines for taxpayers who reside or have a business in the disaster area. For instance, certain deadlines falling on or after Aug. 23, 2017 and before Jan. 31, 2018, are granted additional time to file through Jan. 31, 2018. This includes taxpayers who had a valid extension to file their 2016 return that was due to run out on Oct. 16, 2017. It also includes the quarterly estimated income tax payments originally due on Sept. 15, 2017 and Jan. 16, 2018, and the quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on Oct. 31, 2017. In addition, penalties on payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after Aug. 23, 2017, and before Sept. 7, 2017, will be abated as long as the deposits were made by Sept. 7, 2017. CASUALTY LOSSES Affected taxpayers in a federally declared disaster area have the option of claiming disaster-related casualty losses on their federal income tax return for either the year in which the event occurred, or the prior year. Individuals may deduct personal property losses that are not covered by insurance or other reimbursements.