The IRS and the State of California have announced significant tax relief measures for individuals and businesses affected by the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles County. This relief applies to taxpayers in areas that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has designated as federally declared disaster zones. 

FEDERAL RELIEF: EXTENDED DEADLINES

The IRS has extended tax filing and payment deadlines to Oct. 15, 2025, is automatically applied to: 

  • Individuals and households residing in Los Angeles County
  • Businesses — including tax-exempt organizations — whose principal place of business is in Los Angeles County

Additional taxpayers may qualify for relief:

  • Estates or trusts with records that are maintained in Los Angeles County necessary to meet a filing or payment deadline
  • Taxpayers not in the covered disaster area, but whose records that are necessary to meet certain filing deadlines are in the disaster area
  • All relief workers affiliated with a recognized government or philanthropic organization assisting in the relief activities in the covered disaster area

The deadline extension covers tax-related obligations originally due between Jan. 7, 2025 and Oct. 15, 2025. This means that the Oct. 15, 2025, deadline will apply to:

  • Individual and gift tax returns and payments normally due on April 15, 2025, including income tax payments as well as 2024 contributions to IRAs and health savings accounts for eligible taxpayers
  • 2024 quarterly estimated income tax payments normally due on Jan. 15, 2025, and 2025 estimated tax payments normally due on April 15, June 16 and Sept. 15, 2025
  • Quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on Jan. 31, April 30 and July 31, 2025 (NOTE: This appears to only apply to the filing of the forms as payments are still due; GHJ will monitor this aspect for any updates from the IRS)
  • Calendar-year partnership and S-corporation returns normally due on March 17, 2025
  • Calendar-year corporation and fiduciary returns and payments normally due on April 15, 2025
  • Calendar-year tax-exempt organization returns normally due on May 15, 2025

For taxpayers with existing extensions to file their 2024 returns, such as fiscal year taxpayers, those deadlines are also extended to Oct. 15, 2025.

Additionally, the IRS gives affected taxpayers until Oct. 15, 2025, to perform other time-sensitive actions described in Treas. Reg. §301.7508A-1(c)(1) and Rev. Proc. 2018-58.

For example, this relief includes an extension of time to file Form 5500 series returns originally due between Jan. 7, 2025 and Oct. 15, 2025 to Oct. 15, 2025.

The relief also includes an extension of time for impacted taxpayers that are in the process of completing a 1031 exchange and offers additional time for both the 45-day identification period and the 180-day completion period. This means any 45-day identification period and any 180-day completion period that falls between Jan. 7, 2025 and Oct. 15, 2025 are now extended to the later of October 15, 2025 or the actual period.

CALIFORNIA STATE RELIEF: EXTENDED DEADLINES

California has aligned with the federal relief and announced state-level extensions for filing and payment deadlines to Oct. 15, 2025. This includes individual, fiduciary and business tax filings, estimated payments and other deadlines originally due within the postponement period described above. The automatically extended Oct. 15, 2025, deadline will also apply to:

  • Calendar-year California 2025 LLC annual tax payments normally due on April 15, 2025, and LLC estimated fee payments normally due on June 15, 2025
  • California Pass-through Entity Elective Tax payments normally due on March 15 and June 15, 2025

Tax relief is available to affected taxpayers for non-income-based taxes such as property taxes, sales tax and Los Angeles business tax. Further information regarding extensions for non-income-based taxes can be found here.

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

  • Non-California State Relief: Non-California states may not conform to the federal extension. Accordingly, you should consult your tax advisor.
  • Waiver Of Penalties and Interest: Penalties and interest that would typically apply during the relief period will be waived, provided payments are made by the Oct. 15, 2025 deadline.

EXCLUDED DEADLINES

The federal and California relief does not apply to the following filings and payments:

  • Information returns, such as W-2s, Forms 1094-1099 and Forms 1042-S, 3921, 3922 or 8027
  • Employment and excise tax deposits

CASUALTY LOSSES

Taxpayers may claim disaster-related casualty losses on their federal and California state tax return for either the year the loss occurred (2025) or the prior year (2024). Claiming the loss for 2024 may expedite refunds but careful consideration should be given.

Guidance on casualty losses, special elections and deferral opportunities will be provided in an upcoming alert — stay tuned for more details.

FILING GUIDELINES

  • Per the IRS, affected taxpayers claiming the disaster loss on their return should put FEMA disaster declaration number 4856-DR on any return.
  • Per the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB), taxpayers should write the name of the disaster (for example, Los Angeles County Fire) in blue or black ink at the top of their tax return to alert the FTB. If taxpayers are filing electronically, they should follow the software instructions to enter disaster information.

OTHER RELIEF

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Taxpayers are encouraged to consult their tax advisors or review updates on the IRS and California tax agency websites:

If you have questions about how this disaster relief applies to your situation, please contact the IRS directly or consult your GHJ tax advisor.