The Internal Revenue Service has pushed back filing and payment deadlines for taxpayers in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Under Notice 2026-63, returns and payments that would otherwise fall due between Sept. 30, 2026 and Sept. 30, 2027 are now due on Sept. 30, 2027. The agency announced the change on Sept. 30 as release IR-2026-116.
Relief is applied automatically. Affected filers do not need to call the IRS or submit a form if their address on a previously filed return places them in the covered area. The postponement moves deadlines only. It does not cancel any tax that is owed.
The new date and what it moves
According to the IRS announcement, eligible individuals and businesses have until Sept. 30, 2027, to file returns and pay taxes that come due during the relief window. The notice covers a wide range of federal obligations. Its text lists income tax, estate tax, gift tax, generation-skipping transfer tax, employment tax, most excise taxes, qualified retirement plan contributions, Tax Court petitions and refund claims.
One carve-out appears in the notice itself: firearms excise tax is excluded. Everything else in that list is eligible for the later date when the taxpayer qualifies.
The window is the latest step in a longer run of relief. The IRS describes the combined period as running from Oct. 7, 2023 through Sept. 30, 2027, and the release points back to earlier notices, including Notice 2023-71, Notice 2024-72 and Notice 2025-53. Each earlier notice carried its own postponement date, and the new one extends coverage for acts falling due from Sept. 30, 2026 onward.
Where the covered area ends
The text of Notice 2026-63 defines the covered area as the State of Israel, the West Bank or Gaza. The notice then reaches beyond people who simply live there. Affected taxpayers include:
- individuals whose principal residence is in the covered area;
- businesses and sole proprietors whose principal place of business is there;
- relief workers affiliated with government or philanthropic organizations;
- taxpayers whose tax preparer or records are located in the covered area;
- spouses of affected taxpayers, on joint returns only; and
- visitors to the covered area who were killed, injured or taken hostage.
For the first two groups, the IRS says in its release that it “automatically identifies taxpayers whose principal residence or principal place of business is located in the covered area based on previously filed returns and applies relief.” In practice, a filer whose most recent return lists an address in Israel, the West Bank or Gaza should see the later deadline applied without any action.
Taxpayers who fit another category but whose filing address is outside the covered area are treated differently. The IRS says they must contact the agency to request relief and give the date they qualify. The disaster hotline is 866-562-5227, and international callers can use 267-941-1000. Eligibility for those groups turns on facts the IRS cannot see from an address, such as where a preparer or the records are kept.
Interest, penalties and the balance still owed
The announcement is about deadlines, and that distinction matters for anyone planning around it. Postponing a due date is not the same as forgiving a tax bill. Income tax, employment tax and the other covered taxes remain owed in full, and a return filed in September 2027 still has to report the correct figures.
Neither the IRS release nor the notice text, as published, specifically addresses interest, penalties or additions to tax. Filers with a balance due should not assume that any charge is waived beyond what the notice sets out. The notice sets one thing: the date by which covered returns must be filed and covered payments made. A taxpayer unsure how the postponement applies to a particular balance, particularly one that began accruing before Sept. 30, 2026, can raise it with the IRS through the numbers above or with a tax professional who works with cross-border filers.
Refund claims are also on the notice’s list, which means a taxpayer who expects money back is not forced to rush.
What the IRS did not say
The release is headlined as announcing that additional relief may be available, but its body does not spell out what that relief would be. The IRS names no individual official in the announcement or the notice, so the agency itself is the only attributable source for the postponement. Readers who want the current list of relief programs can find it on the IRS page for tax relief in disaster situations, where this notice is listed separately from the domestic disaster postponements that follow storms and floods.
The IRS describes the Sept. 30, 2027 date in Notice 2026-63 as the new deadline for covered filings and payments, and the same release confirms that the relief is applied from addresses already on file.
A Postponed Filing Date and the Balance Still Owed
The IRS Refund Recovery Kit is written for taxpayers who deal with IRS notices and refunds and want the paperwork in order. It is meant for readers who need to decode a notice they received or follow where a refund stands.
The IRS Refund Recovery Kit is a 13-page kit that includes a notice decoder, the refund-trace steps using Form 3911, a refund status tracker spreadsheet and the 3-year refund deadline.
See the IRS Refund Recovery Kit’s notice decoder and refund tracker →
This article was produced with AI assistance and checked against the primary sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
