LA County Tax Preparers Can Get Relief For Their Out-Of-Area Clients

Sharon Kreider, CPA

If you are a tax preparer located in a federally designated disaster area, your clients can be considered as “affected” by the disaster. See FAQs for Disaster Victims posted on the IRS website. Here are two IRS answers that may help you get through the 2025 tax season especially if you, your family, friends, or clients are personally suffering through the CA Wildfires (or Milton or Helene or the many other disasters in the news.)

Comment: All of the FAQs are important to you and your clients. You need to make time to review them all.

Affected taxpayers: FAQ Q1

Disaster relief applies to the clients of tax preparers who are unable to file returns or make payments on behalf of the client because of a federally declared disaster. Therefore, if you are a taxpayer outside of the disaster area, you may qualify for relief if:

Your preparer is in the federally declared disaster area, and
The preparer is unable to file or pay on your behalf.

To get the postponement for filing or payment, you must:

Call the Disaster Hotline at 866-562-5227
Explain your necessary records are located in a covered disaster area
Provide the FEMA disaster number of the area where your tax preparer is located. The CA Wildfire FEMA disaster number is 4856.

Affected taxpayers: FAQ Q2

If the affected partnership or S Corporation cannot provide you with your Schedule K-1s and applicable statements necessary to file your return, then you are an affected taxpayer. Your filing and payment deadlines are postponed until the end of the postponement period just like the affected partnership or S Corporation.

To get the postponement for filing or payment, you must:

Call the Disaster Hotline at 866-562-5227
Explain your necessary records are located in a covered disaster area
Provide the FEMA disaster number of the county where the affected partnership or S Corp is located