The IRS says individuals and businesses in Fayette, Harrison and Kanawha counties in West Virginia have until Feb. 4, 2027 to file and pay many federal taxes after severe storms and flooding that began Aug. 14, 2026. The relief, announced Oct. 14 as release WV-2026-02, follows a disaster declaration from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and applies automatically to people who live or have a business in those three counties.
For households still cleaning up, the practical question is which deadlines moved and which did not. Individuals on extension for their 2025 returns, people with estimated tax installments and employers with quarterly payroll returns are among those covered, while the April 15, 2026 payment for 2025 taxes is not.
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Which West Virginia households and businesses are covered?
The IRS says the postponement reaches individuals and households that live or have a business in the three counties named in the FEMA declaration, which the release identifies as 4953-DR. Taxpayers do not have to file anything to get it. The agency says it applies the relief automatically to taxpayers in the covered area.
Affected taxpayers who are outside the covered area are told to call IRS Special Services at 866-562-5227. Tax professionals who work for clients in the covered area can also use the agency’s process for bulk requests when they have records for ten or more clients.
What does the Feb. 4 date move?
The release lists a wide range of returns: individual, corporate, estate and trust, partnership, S corporation and tax-exempt organization filings, along with certain employment and excise returns, whose original or extended due dates fall inside the postponement window. Individual 2025 returns that were on extension are now due Feb. 4, 2027. Because the disaster period began Aug. 14, the window includes dates that have already passed, and the IRS says those dates now run to Feb. 4 for the people it covers.
Estimated tax installments that were originally due on or after Aug. 14, 2026 are postponed to the same day, and the IRS says no failure-to-pay penalty for estimated tax applies if they are paid by then. Quarterly payroll and certain excise returns that would normally be due Nov. 2, 2026 and Feb. 1, 2027 also move to Feb. 4.
Penalties get their own treatment. Payroll and excise deposits due between Aug. 14 and Aug. 31, 2026 will have penalties abated if the deposits were made by Aug. 31. For other late-filing or late-payment penalty notices with dates in the postponement period, the release says to call the number printed on the notice and ask for abatement.
What stays on the original schedule?
The postponement is not a blanket waiver. The IRS says the 2025 payments that were due April 15, 2026 are not eligible, so a balance from that filing season is not covered by the new date. Interest and late-payment penalties also keep accruing on payment plans, although a missed installment during the postponement will not default an installment agreement.
Several filings are excluded as well: information returns in the W-2, 1094, 1095, 1097, 1098 and 1099 series, and Forms 1042-S, 3921, 3922 and 8027, along with employment and excise tax deposits, unless an IRS revenue procedure lists the act as postponable. People who want their bank to stop automatic debits during the postponement are told to contact the IRS or the bank.
Can a flood loss lower the tax bill?
People with uninsured storm or flood damage to personal property may deduct the loss. The release says a taxpayer can claim a federally declared disaster loss on the return for the year it happened or on the prior year’s return, and that the election can be made up to six months after the due date of the disaster-year return, not counting extensions. The declaration number, 4953-DR, goes on the return, and IRS Publication 547 explains the election to claim a loss in the preceding tax year.
The IRS adds a few smaller items. Fees are waived for copies of prior returns when 4953-DR is written at the top of Form 4506 or 4506-T. Qualified disaster relief payments are generally excluded from gross income, and retirement plan and IRA participants may take a special disaster distribution on Form 8915-F or a hardship withdrawal.
Where can people get free help filing?
The release points to volunteer help through the IRS’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and Tax Counseling for the Elderly programs at 800-906-9887, or AARP Tax-Aide at 888-227-7669. It cautions that volunteer sites generally cannot claim disaster losses. Free File guided software is available to anyone with 2025 adjusted gross income of $89,000 or less, and Free File fillable forms are open to everyone.
The IRS lists the West Virginia announcement among its tax relief in disaster situations notices, where the agency keeps its running list of postponements.
Rebuilding your records after the Aug. 14 flooding?
A postponement to Feb. 4, 2027 moves the deadline but not the paperwork: an insurance claim, a casualty-loss deduction and a request for a prior-year return all depend on finding the right policy numbers and documents after a flood. Water damage has a way of taking those papers first.
The Family Emergency Binder has 14 fill-in sections, one at a time, including a page for insurance policies and one for legal papers and wishes. It is an 18-page binder that keeps every account, policy, doctor and document in one place, so the next disaster does not start with a search through wet boxes.
Get the emergency binder with a page for every insurance policy and account →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the 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.
