Five-Minute Tax Briefing – October 31, 2023

Item for Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Further Tax Relief for California Storm Victims: The IRS has announced further tax relief for individuals and businesses in 55 California counties impacted by severe winter storms, flooding, landslides, and mudslides over a period of several months. The IRS had previously postponed tax deadlines for qualifying taxpayers until 10/16/23. Affected individuals and businesses now have until 11/16/23 to file all returns and pay any taxes that were originally due on or after 3/9/23 and before 11/16/23. The 11/16/23 deadline also applies to quarterly estimated tax payments and quarterly payroll and excise tax returns that were originally due during the relief period. In addition, penalties on payroll and excise tax deposits due during the relief period will be abated, as long as the deposits are made by 11/16/23. Other time-sensitive tax-related actions such as 2022 contributions to IRAs and HSAs are postponed as well. News Release IR 2023-189 and News Release CA-2023-03.

Item for Tuesday, October 17, 2023

Applicable Federal Rates for November: The Section 7520 rate for November 2023 is 5.60%, while the Applicable Federal Rates (AFRs) are as follows (Rev. Rul. 2023-20):

AnnualSemiannualQuarterlyMonthly
Short-term (≤ 3 years)5.30%5.23%5.20%5.17%
Mid-term (> 3 years but ≤ 9 years)4.69%4.64%4.61%4.60%
Long-term (> 9 years)4.83%4.77%4.74%4.72%

Item for Monday, October 16, 2023

IRS Provides Relief for Taxpayers Affected by Terrorist Attacks in Israel: The IRS has announced tax relief for individuals and businesses affected by the terrorist attacks in the State of Israel. Qualifying taxpayers now have until 10/7/24 to file various federal and business tax returns, make tax payments, and perform other time-sensitive tax-related actions that were originally due on or after 10/7/23 and before 10/7/24 (postponement period). The 10/7/24 deadline applies to 2022 individual, calendar-year corporate, and tax-exempt organization tax returns, certain quarterly estimated income tax payments, certain 2023 individual and business returns and payments, and certain quarterly payroll and excise tax returns, all of which were originally due during the postponement period. In addition, penalties on payroll and excise tax deposits due during the postponement period will be abated, as long as the deposits are made by 10/7/24. Other time-sensitive tax-related actions such as retirement plan contributions and rollovers are postponed as well. See Notice 2023-71 and Rev Proc 2018-58 for additional details. News Release IR 2023-188 and Notice 2023-71 .

Item for Friday, October 13, 2023

IRS Releases 2023 Unused Low-income Housing Credit Carryovers: The IRS has published Rev. Proc. 2023-32, which provides the unused low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) carryovers for calendar year 2023. Qualifying states use the LIHTC to renovate or construct low-income housing in communities that lack affordable housing. The IRS adds any unused credits from one year to the national pool of unused housing credit carryovers. It then reallocates these amounts among qualifying states for use in the next calendar year. For 2023, the IRS allocated $3.245 million from the national pool to 28 states. The new Revenue Procedure contains a complete list of qualifying states and the LIHTC carryover amounts allocated to each. Texas received the largest allocation ($450,294), followed by Florida ($333,529) and New York ($295,030). The states that received the smallest allocations were Vermont ($9,702), South Dakota ($13,641), and Delaware ($15,269). Rev. Proc. 2023-32.