IRS Sends Special Notice to Taxpayers in 8 States

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building in Washington on March 22, 2013. Susan Walsh/AP Photo

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has sent out a special mailing to taxpayers in disaster-affected areas, letting them know they have more time to pay their taxes.

The IRS said in a statement Thursday that the special mailing was being sent out to California and seven other states as a follow-up clarification after an earlier message wrongly told them they had 21 days to pay.

“Although the initial notice indicated a payment deadline of 21 days, taxpayers in these disaster-declared regions actually have until a later date this year to make their payments within the designated timeframe,” the agency stated.

Taxpayers with balances due who live in parts of Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee that fell under disaster declarations received a CP14 notice from the IRS in late May and June.

Many of the CP14 notices incorrectly said the affected taxpayers had three weeks to pay outstanding balances.

“We know our initial mailing caused confusion for taxpayers and tax professionals, and we worked quickly to send a follow-up reminder to help reassure people,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a statement.

“This mailing reflects how we’re trying to be more taxpayer-focused given the additional resources that we’ve been given under the Inflation Reduction Act.”

The new mailing, called CP14CL, will be sent out within the next several weeks, the agency said.

The earlier CP14 notices also included a special insert that features the correct payment deadline, which was extended under special tax relief to taxpayers in federally declared disaster zones.

The IRS has also updated these inserts, which will accompany upcoming CP14 balances-due notices so as to make it clear that the letter does not apply to people covered by disaster declarations.

Disaster-Related Deadline Extensions

Earlier this year, taxpayers in federally declared disaster regions—like ones hit by deadly winter storms—were granted tax relief by the IRS in the form of an extension on their deadlines to file their tax returns and pay amounts due.

A vehicle is partially covered in snow, in the San Gabriel Mountains in San Bernardino County near Los Angeles County, in Mount Baldy, Calif., on Feb. 24, 2023. Mario Tama/Getty Images

The IRS issued notices granting such relief to taxpayers affected by severe weather in parts of Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, New York, and Tennessee. The deadline extensions varied across different disaster areas, with relevant parts of Florida, for example, getting an extension until Aug. 15, while Tennessee storm victims had theirs extended until July 31.

Disaster-area taxpayers in most of California, as well as parts of Alabama and Georgia, were granted an extension until Oct. 16 to file their tax returns and make tax payments.

But taxpayers in these areas—with the vast majority in California—were later bombarded with CP14 balance due notices with erroneous deadlines.

More Details

Normally, extensions give taxpayers more time to file their returns after the deadline, but any taxes owed are still supposed to be made by the original deadline, with late payments subject to interest and penalties.

But in the case of disaster relief extensions, the deadline for paying taxes owed was also pushed back.

However, by law, the IRS has 60 days to issue a demand for payment as soon as a balance-due tax return has been processed.

It would appear that the IRS’ systems had trouble dealing with the nuance of the special disaster-related extensions for taxes owed and the statutory balances due notification requirements.

This means that when disaster-relief eligible tax returns were filed before the April 18 deadline and assessed, the IRS started sending balances due notices 60 days after the taxes were assessed without regard for the deadline extension.

“The current mailings being received by some taxpayers, the IRS Notice CP-14, are for taxpayers who have a balance due, and they are sent out as a legal requirement,” the IRS said in an earlier statement.

The IRS said that the “special inserts” included with these letters are meant to clarify that the actual taxes owed due date falls later than the date in the notice.

This is not the first time the IRS has sent out CP-14 notices with incorrect information.

In July 2022, for example, the agency said that some payments made on tax returns weren’t correctly applied to joint taxpayer accounts and so these taxpayers were receiving erroneous balance due notices.