President Trump has signed into law a bipartisan bill led by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) aimed at providing tax relief for Americans affected by natural disasters. The new legislation, known as the Filing Relief for Natural Disasters Act, enables the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to postpone tax filing deadlines for individuals impacted by state-declared disasters, expanding current provisions that only apply to federal disaster declarations.
Senator Blackburn stated, “The last thing Tennesseans should have to worry about when a natural disaster like Hurricane Helene strikes is meeting a tax-filing deadline. Now that President Trump has signed our bipartisan Tax Relief for Natural Disasters Act into law, Americans impacted by natural disasters will have the flexibility to focus on recovery, not tax paperwork.”
Senator Cortez Masto added, “When a natural disaster strikes, hard-hit families looking for tax relief shouldn’t have to wait for the federal government to act. This commonsense bill will ensure that taxpayers who have been through state emergencies can get the flexibility from the IRS that they deserve while recovering.”
The legislation was co-sponsored in the Senate by John Kennedy (R-La.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), with Representatives David Kustoff (R-Tenn.) and Judy Chu (D-Calif.) leading companion efforts in the House of Representatives.
Under this new law, governors of states or territories now have authority to extend federal tax filing deadlines during state-declared emergencies or disasters—a power previously reserved only for federally declared events. The period for mandatory federal filing extensions has also been increased from 60 days to 120 days.
