Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 8 / Wednesday, January 13, 2021 / Proposed Rules 2607 

(iii) Did not end that calendar year in 

a funding shortfall or receive shortfall 

prevention funding from HUD. 

(2) HUD shall publish the calculation 

for determining excess HAP reserve in 

the Federal Register, and such notice 

shall provide for public comment before 

becoming effective. 

(b) Standard performer designation. A 

PHA that passed all for indicators but 

did not meet the funding utilization 

criteria for a high performer designation 

in paragraph (a) is designated as a 

standard performer. 

(c) Troubled PHA designation. A PHA 

that failed any of the four indicators 

under § 985.201 is designated as 

troubled PHA under the small rural 

PHA assessment. 

§ 985.207 Frequency of assessments. 

(a) Frequency of small rural PHA 

assessments. (1) Initial Assessment. The 

initial small rural PHA assessment will 

be effective when the PHA’s next 

SEMAP assessment would have been 

applied. For PHAs that under SEMAP 

qualify for biennial review as a small 

PHA (less than 250 assisted units), the 

transition to the small rural PHA 

assessment will occur when the PHA’s 

next biennial SEMAP assessment is 

required. 

(2) Triennial assessments. HUD shall 

assess small rural PHAs no more than 

once every three years, except that a 

troubled small rural PHA shall be 

subject to an annual assessment in 

accordance with § 985.204. 

§ 985.209 Troubled small rural PHAs. 

(a) Appeals—(1) HUD action. HUD 

must review, consider, and provide a 

final written determination to a small 

rural PHA that appeals its designation 

as a troubled PHA. 

(2) Deciding HUD official. The HUD 

decision on the PHA appeal shall be 

made by a HUD official who has not 

been involved in and is not subordinate 

to any person who has been involved in 

the original determination to designate 

the PHA as a troubled PHA under the 

small rural PHA assessment. 

(b) Corrective action agreement. No 

later than 60 days after the date on 

which the PHA is designated a troubled 

PHA, the PHA and HUD will enter into 

a corrective action agreement (CAA) 

under which he PHA shall take actions 

to correct the deficiencies upon which 

the troubled PHA designation is based. 

The PHA must comply with HUD 

requirements for the submission of the 

CAA, including but not limited to the 

date by which the CAA must be 

submitted to HUD. The CAA must: 

(1) Have a term of one year, and shall 

be renewable at the option of HUD; 

(2) Specify goals to be achieved; 

(3) Identify obstacles to goal 

achievement and ways to eliminate or 

avoid them; 

(4) Identify resources that will be used 

or sought to achieve goals; 

(5) Provide, where feasible, for 

technical assistance to assist the PHA in 

curing its deficiencies; 

(6) Identify an PHA staff person with 

lead responsibility for completing each 

goal; 

(7) Identify key tasks to reach each 

goal; 

(8) Specify time frames for 

achievement of each goal, including 

intermediate time frames to complete 

each key task; 

(9) Provide for regular evaluation of 

progress toward improvement; 

(10) Provide for the reconsideration of 

the PHA’s designation as a troubled 

PHA no less than annually, and provide 

for the termination of the agreement 

when HUD determines the PHA is no 

longer troubled; 

(11) Provide that in the event of 

substantial noncompliance by the PHA 

under the agreement, HUD may (i) 

contract with another PHA or a private 

entity to administer the HCV program; 

and (ii) withhold funds otherwise 

distributable to the troubled PHA; 

(12) Be signed by the PHA board of 

commissioners chairperson and by the 

PHA executive director. If the PHA is a 

unit of local government or a state, the 

corrective action plan must be signed by 

the Section 8 program director and by 

the chief executive officer of the unit of 

government or his or her designee. 

(c) Monitoring. The PHA and HUD 

must monitor the PHA’s 

implementation of its CAA to ensure 

performance targets are met. 

(d) Annual small rural assessment. A 

troubled PHA shall be subject to the 

small rural assessment on an annual 

basis. 

(e) Use of administrative fee reserve 

prohibited. Any PHA assigned 

designated troubled may not use any 

part of the administrative fee reserve for 

other housing purposes (see § 982.155(b) 

of this title). 

(f) Upgrading poor performance 

rating. HUD shall change an PHA’s 

overall performance rating from 

troubled to standard or high performer 

if HUD determines that a change in the 

rating is warranted because of improved 

PHA performance and a standard or 

high designation on a subsequent small 

rural PHA assessment. 

(g) Default under the Annual 

Contributions Contract (ACC). HUD may 

determine that a PHA’s failure to correct 

identified deficiencies resulting from its 

small rural PHA assessment or to 

execute and implement a corrective 

action agreement as required by HUD 

constitutes a default under the ACC. 

§ 985.211 Small rural PHA assessment 

records. 

HUD shall maintain small rural PHA 

assessment files, including designations, 

notifications, appeals, corrective action 

agreements, and related correspondence 

for at least 3 years. 

Brian D. Montgomery, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2021–00098 Filed 1–12–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4210–67–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

Internal Revenue Service 

26 CFR Parts 1 and 301 

[REG–115057–20] 

RIN 1545–BP98 

Mandatory 60-Day Postponement of 

Certain Tax-Related Deadlines by 

Reason of a Federally Declared 

Disaster 

AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), 

Treasury. 

ACTIONS: Notice of proposed 

rulemaking. 

SUMMARY: This document contains 

proposed regulations relating to the new 

mandatory 60-day postponement of 

certain time-sensitive tax-related 

deadlines by reason of a Federally 

declared disaster. This document also 

contains proposed regulations clarifying 

the definition of ‘‘Federally declared 

disaster.’’ These proposed regulations 

affect individuals who reside in or were 

killed or injured in a disaster area, 

businesses that have a principal place of 

business in a disaster area, relief 

workers who provide assistance in a 

disaster area, or any taxpayer whose tax 

records necessary to meet a tax deadline 

are located in a disaster area. This 

document invites comments from the 

public regarding these proposed 

regulations. 

DATES: Written or electronic comments 

and requests for a public hearing must 

be received by March 15, 2021. Requests 

for a public hearing must be submitted 

as prescribed in the ‘‘Comments and 

Requests for a Public Hearing’’ section. 

ADDRESSES: Commenters are strongly 

encouraged to submit public comments 

electronically. Submit electronic 

submissions via the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal at 

www.regulations.gov (indicate IRS and 

2608 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 8 / Wednesday, January 13, 2021 / Proposed Rules 

1 In rare catastrophic events, the PDA may not be 

completed before the disaster is declared. Tribal 

governments may seek assistance either under a 

state declaration request or tribal leaders may 

independently choose to request a major disaster 

declaration from the President. 

2More information about the process for 

declaring major disasters or emergencies under the 

Stafford Act can be found at 44 CFR 206.31 et seq. 

and on the FEMA website: https://www.fema.gov/ 

disasters/how-declared. It is rare for the President 

to declare an emergency without a request from a 

state, territory, or tribal government. Examples 

include the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah 

Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995, the loss 

of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003, and the 

COVID–19 pandemic in 2020. 

3https://www.fema.gov/disasters/disasterdeclarations. 

REG–115057–20) by following the 

online instructions for submitting 

comments. Once submitted to the 

Federal eRulemaking Portal, comments 

cannot be edited or withdrawn. The IRS 

expects to have limited personnel 

available to process public comments 

that are submitted on paper through 

mail. Until further notice, any 

comments submitted on paper will be 

considered to the extent practicable. 

The Department of the Treasury 

(Treasury Department) and the IRS will 

publish for public availability any 

comment submitted electronically, and 

to the extent practicable on paper, to its 

public docket. Send paper submissions 

to: CC:PA:LPD:PR (REG–115057–20), 

room 5203, Internal Revenue Service, 

P.O. Box 7604, Ben Franklin Station, 

Washington, DC 20044. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Concerning the proposed regulations, 

William V. Spatz at (202) 317–5461; 

concerning submission of comments, 

Regina Johnson, (202) 317–5177; (not 

toll-free numbers). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

These proposed regulations amend 

the Procedure and Administration 

Regulations (26 CFR part 301) under 

section 7508A of the Internal Revenue 

Code (Code) relating to the discretionary 

authority of the Secretary of the 

Treasury or his delegate (Secretary) to 

postpone certain time-sensitive tax 

deadlines by reason of a Federally 

declared disaster. These proposed 

regulations also amend the Income Tax 

Regulations (26 CFR part 1) under 

section 165 to clarify the definition of 

Federally declared disaster. 

I. FEMA Procedures for Declaring a 

Disaster and Providing Relief 

When it is apparent that a Federal 

disaster declaration, pursuant to the 

Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford 

Act), Public Law 93–288, as amended, 

42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq, may be necessary 

to assist in the recovery of an affected 

area, a state, territory, or tribal 

government may contact the appropriate 

regional office of the Federal Emergency 

Management Agency (FEMA) and 

request a joint Federal-state, territory, or 

tribal government Preliminary Damage 

Assessment (PDA). Local government 

representatives are also included, if 

possible. Together, the team conducts 

an assessment of the affected area to 

determine the extent of the disaster, its 

impact on individuals and public 

facilities, and the types of Federal 

assistance that may be needed. This 

information is gathered to show whether 

the disaster is of such severity and 

magnitude that an effective response is 

beyond the capabilities of the state, 

territory, or tribal governments and the 

affected local governments and that 

supplemental Federal assistance is 

necessary. See 44 CFR 206.33. 

After the PDA is complete and the 

chief executive of the state, territory, or 

tribal government determines that the 

damage from the major disaster exceeds 

the state’s, territory’s, or tribal 

government’s resources, the executive 

may submit a declaration request to the 

President through the applicable FEMA 

Regional Office.1 As part of the request, 

the chief executive must furnish 

information on the nature and amount 

of state, territory, or tribal government 

and local resources that have been or 

will be committed to alleviating the 

results of the disaster, provide an 

estimate of the amount and severity of 

damage and the impact on the private 

and public sectors, and provide an 

estimate of the type and amount of 

assistance needed under the Stafford 

Act. The President determines whether 

a disaster has caused damage of such 

severity that it is beyond the combined 

capabilities of state, territory, or tribal 

governments and local governments to 

respond. A major disaster declaration 

provides a wide range of Federal 

assistance programs for individuals and 

public infrastructure. See Stafford Act 

section 401 (42 U.S.C. 5170). A similar 

declaration request may be submitted to 

the President in the event of an 

emergency of such severity and 

magnitude that effective response is 

beyond the capabilities of the state, 

territory, or tribal governments. If the 

United States has the primary 

responsibility for response to an 

emergency, the President may issue an 

emergency declaration without a request 

from the chief executive of a state, 

territory, or tribal government. See 

Stafford Act section 501 (42 U.S.C. 

5191).2

Once a declaration is made, affected 

areas and eligible assistance are 

determined. See 44 CFR 206.40. FEMA 

announces on its website and in the 

Federal Register whether specific 

counties, parishes, boroughs, tribal 

lands, or municipalities (counties) 

within a state that were affected by a 

major disaster are eligible for Federal 

‘‘public assistance’’ and/or ‘‘individual 

assistance.’’ 3 ‘‘Public assistance’’ relief 

is described in Stafford Act sections 406 

and 407 as including Federal assistance 

to repair, restore, and replace disasterdamaged public facilities, which may 

include debris removal, roads and 

bridges, water control facilities, 

buildings and equipment, utilities, 

parks, and recreational facilities. 42 

U.S.C. 5172 and 5173. Emergency 

protective measures, described in 

Stafford Act section 403 (42 U.S.C. 

5170b), are actions taken by state, tribal, 

territorial and local governments to 

meet immediate threats to life and 

property resulting from a major disaster. 

‘‘Individual assistance’’ relief is 

described in Stafford Act section 408 as 

Federal assistance to individuals and 

households, including disaster programs 

for crisis counseling, unemployment 

assistance, legal services, and 

supplemental nutrition assistance. 42 

U.S.C. 5174. FEMA defines an 

‘‘incident’’ as any condition which 

meets the definition of a major disaster 

or emergency under the Stafford Act 

and which causes damage or hardship 

that may result in a Presidential 

declaration of a major disaster or an 

emergency. 44 CFR 206.32(e). FEMA 

also defines an ‘‘incident period’’ as 

‘‘[t]he time interval during which the 

disaster-causing incident occurs.’’ 44 

CFR 206.32(f). 

II. Disaster Relief Under Section 

7508A(a) 

A. Overview 

Under section 7508A(a), the Secretary 

has discretionary authority to determine 

which taxpayers can have acts 

postponed by reason of being affected 

by a Federally declared disaster and to 

specify both the time-sensitive acts that 

are postponed and a period of time that 

may be disregarded, up to one year, in 

determining whether such acts were 

timely performed. The time-sensitive 

acts that may be postponed under 

section 7508A(a) include acts due to be 

performed by taxpayers or the 

government. See § 301.7508A–1(c). 

The term ‘‘Federally declared 

disaster’’ is defined in section 165(i)(5) 

as ‘‘any disaster subsequently 

determined by the President of the 

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 8 / Wednesday, January 13, 2021 / Proposed Rules 2609 

4https://www.fema.gov/disasters/disasterdeclarations. 

United States to warrant assistance by 

the Federal Government under the 

Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

Emergency Assistance Act.’’ The 

Stafford Act does not use the term 

‘‘Federally declared disaster.’’ It uses 

the defined terms ‘‘emergency’’ and 

‘‘major disaster’’ and also uses the 

generic term ‘‘disaster’’ to refer to both 

emergencies and major disasters. See 

Stafford Act § 101, 42 U.S.C. 5121 (using 

the term ‘‘disaster’’); Stafford Act § 102, 

42 U.S.C. 5122 (defining the terms 

‘‘emergency’’ and ‘‘major disaster’’); 

H.R. Rep. 93–1037, p. 26 (May 13, 1974) 

120 Cong. Rec. 14156 (clarifying that the 

term ‘‘disaster’’ as used in the Stafford 

Act ‘‘includes an emergency or a major 

disaster’’). As described above, the 

declaration of either an emergency or a 

major disaster requires a determination 

by the President that Federal assistance 

is warranted under the Stafford Act. 

Accordingly, the IRS has previously 

acknowledged that a Federally declared 

disaster under section 165(i)(5) includes 

either an emergency or a major disaster 

declared under the Stafford Act. See 

Rev. Rul. 2003–29, 2003–11 I.R.B. 587 

(Mar. 17, 2003); Rev. Rul. 2002–11, 

2002–10 I.R.B. 608 (Mar. 11, 2002); Rev. 

Rul. 2001–15, 2001–13 I.R.B. 922 (Mar. 

26, 2001); and Rev. Rul. 2000–15, 2000– 

12 I.R.B. 774 (Mar. 20, 2000). 

Section 7508A(a) of the Code neither 

mentions FEMA, nor the concept of the 

‘‘incident period’’ as determined by 

FEMA. As noted above, section 

7508A(a) leaves it to the Secretary’s 

discretion to identify the period of 

postponement, that is, the start and end 

dates of the ‘‘incident,’’ and the type of 

relief to provide, from a tax 

administration perspective. The 

Secretary has historically looked to 

FEMA declarations to identify which 

counties are sufficiently affected by a 

major disaster for the Secretary to 

exercise the discretion under section 

7508A(a) to postpone periods of time for 

the taxpayers in these disaster-affected 

counties to perform certain specified 

time-sensitive tax actions. 

Section 7508A(a) is not self-executing; 

it does not operate, on its own, to 

postpone any time-sensitive act in the 

event of a Federally declared disaster. 

Instead, the statute authorizes the 

Secretary to determine who is affected 

by a Federally declared disaster for 

purposes of section 7508A, what timesensitive acts performed by these 

taxpayers (or performed by the 

government with respect to these 

taxpayers)should be postponed, and for 

what period of time the postponement 

period should run. 

Section 7508(a)(1) enumerates timesensitive acts that are postponed with 

respect to a taxpayer serving in a combat 

zone (and which the Secretary may 

postpone with respect to taxpayers 

affected by a Federally declared 

disaster, via section 7508A(a)(1)). These 

acts include filing any income, estate, 

gift, employment, or excise tax return; 

making any income, estate, gift, 

employment, or excise tax payment or 

any installment thereof; filing a petition 

with the Tax Court for redetermination 

of a deficiency, or for review of a Tax 

Court decision; allowing a credit or 

refund of any tax; filing a claim for 

credit or refund of any tax; bringing suit 

upon a claim for credit or refund; 

making an assessment of any tax; giving 

or making any notice or demand for the 

payment of any tax, or with respect to 

any liability to the United States in 

respect of any tax; collecting, by levy or 

otherwise, the amount of any liability in 

respect of any tax; bringing suit by the 

United States, or any officer on its 

behalf, in respect of any liability in 

respect of any tax; and any other act 

required or permitted under the internal 

revenue laws specified by the Secretary. 

Additional acts that may be postponed 

in the event of a Federally declared 

disaster are listed in Rev. Proc. 2018–58, 

2018–50 I.R.B. 990, which is the current 

version of a revenue procedure that is 

updated periodically to reflect 

additional acts or other changes. The 

revenue procedure provides that in 

order for taxpayers to be entitled to a 

postponement of the time-sensitive acts 

listed in the revenue procedure, the IRS 

needs to issue guidance providing such 

relief with respect to a Federally 

declared disaster, typically by crossreferencing the revenue procedure in an 

IRS news release. This is the case not 

just for acts listed in the revenue 

procedure, but for all acts listed in 

section 7508(a)(1). As a result, in the 

event of a Federally declared disaster, 

the IRS generally issues a news release 

or other guidance identifying the 

affected taxpayers for purposes of 

section 7508A (typically by reference to 

counties or states), the time-sensitive 

acts postponed, and the period of time 

for the postponement. 

B. Historical Application 

The historical practice before the 

enactment of section 7508A(d) was 

generally to postpone time-sensitive tax 

acts under section 7508A(a) without 

regard to the latest incident date for a 

disaster as described by FEMA. The 

postponement period set by the 

Secretary generally began on the earliest 

incident date specified in a FEMA 

disaster declaration and ended 120 days 

later, although a longer period for relief 

could be selected if the disaster 

coincided with any major filing 

deadlines. See IRM 25.16.1.5.2(2) (rev. 

06–26–2018) (‘‘The severity of the 

disaster and proximity of tax deadlines 

are primary factors in determining the 

level of tax relief that is provided.’’). 

These postponement periods typically 

extended more than 60 days after the 

latest incident date specified in a FEMA 

disaster declaration. For example, an 

end date for the major disaster incident 

was indicated in FEMA’s initial disaster 

declarations for 48 of FEMA’s 53 major 

disaster declarations issued for disasters 

occurring in 2019 and declared before 

December 19, 2019. For these 48 FEMA 

major disaster declarations in 2019 with 

initial ending incident dates assigned to 

them by FEMA, the incident period 

ranged from one day to 130 days, with 

a median incident period of nine days. 

For the five 2019-year major disasters 

where FEMA’s initial declarations did 

not specify an end date for the disaster, 

FEMA later amended the declarations to 

provide an end date to the incident 

period for the disaster. FEMA major 

disaster declarations and any 

amendments thereto are posted on the 

FEMA website 4 and published in the 

Federal Register. 

III. Section 7508A(d) 

On December 20, 2019, section 

7508A(d) was added to the Code by 

section 205 of the Taxpayer Certainty 

and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2019, 

enacted as Division Q of the Further 

Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, 

Public Law 116–94, 133 Stat. 2534, 3226 

(FCAA). Section 7508A(d) provides 

qualified taxpayers a mandatory 60-day 

period that is to be disregarded ‘‘in the 

same manner as a period specified 

under [section 7508A(a)]’’ (mandatory 

60-day postponement period). Section 

7508A(d)(1). Section 7508A(d) does not 

identify the acts for which a period is 

disregarded under section 7508A(a). 

Section 7508A(d)(4) provides that a rule 

similar to section 7508A(d)(1) applies 

with respect to any person described in 

section 7508A(b) for certain pensionrelated acts. In contrast to the rest of 

section 7508A(d), section 7508A(d)(4) 

identifies specific pension-related acts 

to which the mandatory 60-day 

postponement period provided in 

section 7508A(d)(1) applies. In addition, 

section 7508A(d)(5) coordinates the 

mandatory 60-day postponement period 

with a period specified by the Secretary 

by providing that the mandatory 60-day 

postponement period with respect to a 

person (including by reason of the 

application of section 7508A(d)(4)) is in 

2610 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 8 / Wednesday, January 13, 2021 / Proposed Rules 

addition to (or concurrent with, as the 

case may be) any period specified by the 

Secretary under section 7508A(a) or (b) 

with respect to such person. 

Because section 7508A(a) does not, on 

its own, operate to postpone any acts, 

the Secretary must determine which 

acts to postpone. As a result, the 

requirement in section 7508A(d)(1) that 

the mandatory 60-day postponement 

period be disregarded ‘‘in the same 

manner as a period specified under 

[section 7508A(a)]’’ indicates that the 

acts covered by the mandatory 60-day 

postponement period under section 

7508A(d)(1) must also be determined by 

the Secretary in the manner required 

under section 7508A(a). 

Under section 7508A(d)(5), the 

mandatory 60-day postponement period 

in section 7508A(d) runs concurrently 

with the postponement period 

determined by the Secretary under 

section 7508A(a) if the period 

determined by the Secretary under 

section 7508A(a) is equal to or longer 

than 60 days. If the Secretary’s 

postponement period under section 

7508A(a) is less than 60 days, the 

mandatory 60-day postponement period 

would run concurrently for the length of 

the Secretary’s postponement period 

under section 7508A(a) and then 

continue running in addition to the 

Secretary’s postponement period. The 

mandatory 60-day postponement period 

generally begins on the earliest incident 

date specified in a FEMA disaster 

declaration and ends on the date which 

is 60 days after the latest incident date. 

IV. Legislative History of Section 

7508A(d) 

The legislative history of section 

7508A(d) of the Code is sparse. There 

are no House, Senate, or Conference 

Reports concerning the FCAA. The 

identical text of section 7508A(d) was 

included in the same session of 

Congress in H.R. 3301, which was not 

enacted. Before H.R. 3301 was set to be 

marked up by the House Ways and 

Means Committee on June 30, 2019, the 

staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation 

prepared a partial description of 

proposed section 7508A(d) in JCX 30–19 

(June 18, 2019) (Joint Committee 

Report). 

The Joint Committee Report (at 86–87) 

described twelve categories of timesensitive acts that could be postponed 

which are performed by taxpayers (for 

example, filing any return or paying any 

tax) or by the IRS (for example, 

assessment or collection of any tax), 

which are the same eleven items 

described in section 7508(a)(1)(A)–(K) 

(for taxpayers serving in a combat zone), 

plus the set of acts regarding pensions 

that are described in § 301.7508A– 

1(c)(1)(iii). The Joint Committee Report 

did not discuss why section 7508A(d) 

only refers to the acts regarding 

pensions in section 7508A(d)(4) to be 

postponed, but not the eleven categories 

of acts described in section 

7508(a)(1)(A)–(K). The Joint Committee 

Report also did not discuss the intended 

meaning of section 7508A(d)(1)’s 

provision that periods of time ‘‘shall be 

disregarded in the same manner as 

under [section 7508A(a)].’’ 

As regards the proposed length of the 

mandatory 60-day postponement 

period, the Joint Committee (at 87) 

stated only that ‘‘[t]he 60-day period 

begins on the earliest incident date 

specified in the declaration of the 

relevant disaster and ends on the date 

which is 60 days after the latest incident 

date so specified.’’ The Joint Committee 

Report did not refer to or explain how 

the new proposed section 7508A(d) 

might be applied in the event that a 

declaration did not specify an incident 

date, or in the event of a prolonged and 

uncertain disaster period, such as in the 

case of a drought or pandemic. 

On January 21, 2020, a month after 

the enactment of section 7508A(d), the 

House Ways and Means Committee 

released a report on H.R. 3301, H. Rept. 

No. 116–379 (2020) (House Committee 

Report), which largely repeated (at 97– 

100) the explanations previously 

provided by the Joint Committee Report 

regarding the features of section 

7508A(d). In this report, the Ways and 

Means Committee titled the section 

discussing the text of what had been 

enacted as section 7508A(d), 

‘‘Automatic Extension of Filing 

Deadlines in Case of Certain Taxpayers 

Affected by Federally Declared 

Disasters.’’ H.R. Rep. No. 116–379, at 97 

(2020). Next, the House Committee 

Report described the current law (prior 

to enactment of section 7508A(d)), 

beginning with a discussion of the filing 

deadlines for Federal income tax returns 

and quarterly estimated tax payments, 

and ending with a listing of all of the 

items in section 7508(a)(1) and section 

7508A(a) that the Secretary may 

postpone in the event of a Federally 

declared disaster. Id. at 97–98. Then, the 

report identified the reason for change 

as follows: 

The Committee believes that the certainty 

and additional time provided by an 

automatic extension of filing deadlines for 

taxpayers affected by Federally declared 

disasters will ease the burden of tax 

compliance for taxpayers dealing with the 

hardship of disaster recovery. 

Id. at 99. Again, the House Committee 

Report only identified an automatic 

extension of filing deadlines as the 

purpose for the new statutory text. 

However, in the Explanation of 

Provision section that followed, the 

House Committee Report seems to 

indicate that the statute was meant to 

postpone all of the deadlines that it had 

listed in its description of current law: 

The provision provides to qualified 

taxpayers in the case of a Federally declared 

disaster a mandatory 60-day period that is 

disregarded in determining whether the acts 

listed above were performed in the time 

prescribed; the amount of interest, penalty, 

additional amount, or addition to tax; and the 

amount of credit or refund. The 60-day 

period begins on the earliest incident date 

specified in the declaration of the relevant 

disaster and ends on the date which is 60 

days after the latest incident date so 

specified. 

Id. at 99. The ‘‘Explanation of 

Provision’’ section of the House 

Committee Report is inconsistent with 

the report’s ‘‘Reason for Change’’ 

section, and neither section comports 

with the statutory text of section 

7508A(d) as enacted, because the 

statutory text does not reference which 

specified acts (let alone all) are 

postponed under section 7508A(a). 

Explanation of Provisions 

The Treasury Department and the IRS 

have determined it necessary to propose 

regulations addressing the enactment of 

section 7508A(d) because the statutory 

text is ambiguous in at least two 

respects. First, it is unclear what timesensitive acts are to be postponed. 

Second, it is unclear how the mandatory 

60-day postponement period is to be 

calculated when the declaration 

specified in section 7508A(d) does not 

contain an incident date. Further, the 

legislative history described in the 

Background section is insufficient to 

explain these areas of ambiguity. The 

Treasury Department and the IRS have 

also determined it necessary to propose 

regulations addressing the ambiguity 

between the different terms used in the 

Code and in the Stafford Act to refer to 

disasters determined by the President to 

warrant Federal assistance. This 

Explanation of Provisions section 

discusses the proposed regulations 

addressing each of these areas of 

ambiguity. 

I. Time-Sensitive Tax Acts 

Section 7508A(d) provides a 

mandatory 60-day period during which 

qualified taxpayers will receive disaster 

relief. Except for the rules regarding 

pensions described in section 

7508A(d)(4), section 7508A(d) does not 

specify the time-sensitive tax acts to be 

postponed during the mandatory 60-day 

postponement period. Section 

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 8 / Wednesday, January 13, 2021 / Proposed Rules 2611 

7508A(d)(1), however, provides that this 

mandatory 60-day postponement period 

‘‘shall be disregarded in the same 

manner as a period specified under 

[section 7508A(a)].’’ Section 7508A(a) is 

not self-executing. Rather, it requires the 

Secretary to determine whether a 

taxpayer is affected by a Federally 

declared disaster for purposes of section 

7508A(a), whether any time-sensitive 

tax acts are to be postponed for such 

taxpayers, and the duration of such 

postponement. Section 7508A(d)(1)’s 

reference to section 7508A(a) thus 

requires a determination by the 

Secretary of the time-sensitive tax acts, 

if any, to be postponed under section 

7508A(a). Therefore, these proposed 

regulations provide that the Secretary’s 

determination under section 7508A(a) of 

the acts subject to postponement due to 

a Federally declared disaster is an 

essential prerequisite to determining the 

acts to which the mandatory 60-day 

postponement period applies with 

respect to that Federally declared 

disaster for qualified taxpayers. 

There are circumstances when the 

Secretary has chosen to limit the extent 

to which the discretion to postpone 

time-sensitive acts under section 

7508A(a) might otherwise be exercised. 

For example, section 7508A(a)(1) 

(through its reference to acts described 

in section 7508(a)(1)) lists several time 

sensitive acts performed by the IRS—not 

by taxpayers—that are available for 

postponement in the event of a 

Federally declared disaster, including 

the assessment of any tax, making of 

notice and demand for payment of any 

tax, collection of any tax, and initiating 

litigation with respect to any tax 

liability. Although all of these acts can 

be postponed under section 7508A(a) in 

the same manner as time-sensitive acts 

performed by taxpayers, the Secretary 

rarely chooses to postpone them. Over 

the past 20 years, time-sensitive 

government acts were only postponed 

under section 7508A(a) in connection 

with four Federally declared disasters: 

the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks 

(Notice 2001–68, 2001–47 I.R.B. 504), 

Hurricane Katrina (Notice 2005–66, 

2005–40 I.R.B. 620 and Notice 2005–81, 

2005–47 I.R.B. 977), Hurricane Rita 

(Notice 2005–82, 2005–47 I.R.B. 978), 

and the COVID–19 pandemic (Notice 

2020–23, 2020–18 I.R.B. 742). The 

statutory text of section 7508A(d) 

provides no indication that Congress 

intended to postpone all time-sensitive 

acts for which relief potentially could be 

provided under section 7508A(a), 

including those acts due to be 

performed by the government with 

respect to a qualified taxpayer. It has 

generally not been the practice of the 

Secretary to exercise all of the authority 

given under section 7508A(a) to 

postpone all time-sensitive government 

acts with respect to taxpayers affected 

by a Federally declared disaster. 

The Secretary generally also chooses 

not to exercise the discretion under 

section 7508A(a) with respect to many 

time-sensitive acts carried out by 

taxpayers. For example, section 

7508(a)(1)(A)–(B) and section 

7508A(a)(1) combine to provide, among 

other things, that the Secretary has the 

discretion to specify a period of up to 

one year that may be disregarded in 

determining whether an affected 

taxpayer with respect to a qualifying 

disaster has timely filed any return of 

income tax or paid the United States 

any employment or excise taxes. The 

Secretary may exercise the discretion 

under section 7508A(a) to not provide 

postponement periods for the filing of 

certain information returns with respect 

to income, such as Forms W–2 (Wage 

and Tax Statement) and forms in the 

1099 series. These information returns 

with respect to income are required by 

most income tax filers in order to timely 

prepare their own income tax returns, 

such as Forms 1040 (U.S. Individual 

Income Tax Returns) or Forms 1120 

(U.S. Corporation Income Tax Returns). 

These information returns may also be 

used by the IRS to verify withheld 

amounts that were claimed on an 

income tax return before tax refunds are 

issued. As a result, for tax 

administration reasons, the Secretary 

generally does not postpone the timesensitive acts of filing and furnishing 

these information returns, except for 

certain information returns relating to 

individual retirement accounts (IRAs) 

and certain other tax-exempt accounts. 

Finally, the Secretary may choose not 

to provide any relief under section 

7508A in response to a Federally 

declared disaster. For example, when a 

disaster is eligible for assistance that is 

limited to only the clean-up of public 

property or other short-term public 

services, the Secretary may determine 

that relief is not warranted under 

section 7508A. 

For the foregoing reasons, these 

proposed regulations provide that the 

phrase, ‘‘shall be disregarded in the 

same manner as a period specified 

under [section 7508A(a)]’’ in section 

7508A(d)(1) first requires the Secretary’s 

exercise of discretion under section 

7508A(a) to specify the postponed set of 

time-sensitive acts for taxpayers (and 

potentially for the government) during 

the entirety of the postponement period 

under both section 7508A(a) and (d). 

Accordingly, if the Secretary determines 

not to postpone a time-sensitive act 

pursuant to the discretionary authority 

under section 7508A(a), that act will 

also not be postponed under section 

7508A(d). Similarly, if no time-sensitive 

acts are postponed under section 

7508A(a), then none will be postponed 

under section 7508A(d). 

II. Calculation of the Mandatory 60-Day 

Postponement Period 

The earliest and latest incident dates 

referred to in subsections 

7508A(d)(1)(A)–(B) for a Federally 

declared disaster are the dates for these 

events set forth in the declaration 

establishing the Federally declared 

disaster for purposes of section 7508A. 

In the circumstances where there is a 

certain event with an incident date or 

incident dates stated in the declaration, 

as described in Examples (1)–(3) of the 

proposed regulation, the period 

described in section 7508A(d)(1) will 

generally run concurrently with the 

discretionary periods specified by the 

Secretary under section 7508A(a) or (b), 

when the postponement period 

provided by the Secretary is equal to or 

greater than 60 days. (As explained 

previously, the postponement period 

provided by the Secretary is generally 

120 days.) If the postponement period 

provided by the Secretary is less than 60 

days, then section 7508A(d) would 

apply to provide a mandatory 60-day 

postponement period, running 

concurrently with the Secretary’s 

postponement period at the start, and 

then after the period prescribed under 

section 7508A(a) ran out, the mandatory 

period under section 7508A(d) would 

continue to run for the remainder of the 

60-day period. 

In flooding, wildfire, or earthquake 

disasters, it is not unusual for FEMA 

initially to issue a major disaster 

declaration with no known end date for 

the disaster incident period. However, 

insofar as Congress could have been 

aware when section 7508A(d) was 

enacted, these open-ended disaster 

incident periods were generally 

resolved with the addition by FEMA of 

a closing date within a short time 

(usually less than 60 days) after the first 

reported incident date. Also, it is clear 

from the legislative history that 

Congress did not anticipate a situation 

such as a pandemic or drought, where 

the beginning date and end dates are not 

clear, or a situation where the 

declaration does not specify an incident 

date. 

Ambiguities in applying section 

7508A(d) arise when the incident date 

is specified in the declaration as 

beginning on a certain date but 

remaining open-ended for an extended 

2612 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 8 / Wednesday, January 13, 2021 / Proposed Rules 

5https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefingsstatements/letter-president-donald-j-trumpemergency-determination-stafford-act/. 

6 2020–15 I.R.B. 590 (April 6, 2020). 

7 2020–15 I.R.B. 590 (April 6, 2020). 

8 2020–16 I.R.B. 660 (April 13, 2020). 

9 2020–18 I.R.B. 742 (April 27, 2020). 

10 85 FR 26351 (May 4, 2020). 

11 2020–25 I.R.B. 948 (June 15, 2020). 

period of time. In those cases, the 

calculation of the mandatory 60-day 

postponement period could result in a 

prolonged postponement of specified 

time-sensitive acts that could span well 

beyond the one-year discretionary 

period authorized under section 

7508A(a). It defies logic for the 

Secretary’s discretionary postponement 

period under section 7508A(a) to be 

limited to ‘‘a period of up to 1 year,’’ 

and there be no limit on the mandatory 

60-day postponement period under 

section 7508A(d). If section 7508A(d) 

were interpreted as requiring such 

prolonged postponement periods, that 

interpretation would be contrary to the 

directive of section 7508A(d)(1) that the 

mandatory 60-day postponement period 

must ‘‘be disregarded in the same 

manner as a period specified under 

[section 7508A(a)].’’ For the foregoing 

reasons, these proposed regulations 

provide that the phrase ‘‘shall be 

disregarded in the same manner as a 

period specified under subsection (a)’’ 

in section 7508A(d)(1) means that the 

mandatory postponement period cannot 

exceed the one-year period authorized 

under section 7508A(a). 

Further ambiguities arise when the 

declaration establishing a Federally 

declared disaster for purposes of section 

7508A does not specify any incident 

date. Under such circumstances, it is 

not possible to apply the statutory 

language in section 7508A(d)(1) to 

provide relief ‘‘beginning on the earliest 

incident date specified in the 

declaration’’ and ‘‘ending on the date 

which is 60 days after the latest incident 

date so specified.’’ For that reason, these 

proposed regulations provide that where 

a declaration establishing a Federally 

declared disaster for purposes of section 

7508A does not specify an incident 

date, there is no mandatory period for 

relief under section 7508A(d). If the 

Secretary determines to postpone timesensitive tax acts in response to such a 

declaration, under the discretionary 

authority in section 7508A(a), the only 

postponement period will be the period 

determined by the Secretary under 

7508A(a). 

These proposed regulations apply 

only to the relief that is made available 

under section 7508A in the event of a 

Federally declared disaster. It does not 

apply to other relief provisions under 

other provisions of the Code that 

automatically arise as a result of a 

Federally declared disaster, such as the 

loss provisions under section 165 of the 

Code. 

III. Federally Declared Disasters 

As noted above, the term ‘‘Federally 

declared disaster’’ is defined in section 

165(i)(5) as ‘‘any disaster subsequently 

determined by the President of the 

United States to warrant assistance by 

the Federal Government under the 

Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

Emergency Assistance Act.’’ The term 

‘‘Federally declared disaster’’ does not 

appear in the Stafford Act, but the term 

‘‘disaster’’ is used in the Stafford Act to 

refer to either an ‘‘emergency’’ or a 

‘‘major disaster’’ declared by the 

President in accordance with the 

procedures contained therein. The use 

of different terminology between the 

Code and the Stafford Act could cause 

confusion as to whether a declaration of 

an emergency under the Stafford Act 

establishes a ‘‘Federally declared 

disaster’’ under the Code. Section 

165(i)(5) provides that a Federally 

declared disaster is ‘‘any disaster’’ that 

is determined to warrant assistance 

under the Stafford Act. Under the 

Stafford Act, the President can declare 

either an emergency or a major disaster. 

There is no provision to declare a 

‘‘disaster,’’ but the term ‘‘disaster’’ is 

used in the Stafford Act as an umbrella 

term that encompasses both an 

emergency and a major disaster. As a 

result, the term ‘‘any disaster’’ in section 

165(i)(5) encompasses both an 

emergency and a major disaster. The IRS 

has previously acknowledged in 

multiple Revenue Rulings that Federally 

declared disasters include either an 

emergency or a major disaster declared 

under the Stafford Act. See Rev. Rul. 

2003–29, 2003–11 I.R.B. 587 (Mar. 17, 

2003); Rev. Rul. 2002–11, 2002–10 I.R.B. 

608 (Mar. 11, 2002); Rev. Rul. 2001–15, 

2001–13 I.R.B. 922 (Mar. 26, 2001); and 

Rev. Rul. 2000–15, 2000–12 I.R.B. 774 

(Mar. 20, 2000). These proposed 

regulations formalize that clarification 

by amending the definition of 

‘‘Federally declared disaster’’ in 

§ 1.165–11(b)(1) of the Income Tax 

Regulations to specifically provide that 

the term ‘‘Federally declared disaster’’ 

includes both a major disaster declared 

under section 401 of the Stafford Act 

and an emergency declared under 

section 501 of the Stafford Act. 

IV. The COVID–19 Pandemic 

The disaster relief provided under 

section 7508A in response to the 

COVID–19 pandemic illustrates some of 

the provisions in these proposed 

regulations. The COVID–19 pandemic 

became a Federally declared disaster for 

purposes of section 7508A on March 13, 

2020, when the President issued his 

nationwide emergency declaration 

under section 501(b) of the Stafford 

Act.5 In response to that declaration, 

pursuant to the discretionary authority 

under section 7508A(a) and (b), the 

Secretary determined the taxpayers 

affected by the disaster, the timesensitive tax acts that should be 

postponed, and the time period for 

postponement. Those determinations 

were reflected in several notices 

released to the public beginning in late 

March. Notice 2020–17 was issued on 

March 18, 2020,6 Notice 2020–18, 

superseding Notice 2020–17, was issued 

on March 20, 2020,7 Notice 2020–20, 

amplifying Notice 2020–18, was issued 

on March 27, 2020,8 and Notice 2020– 

23, amplifying Notices 2020–18 and 

2020–20, was issued on April 9, 2020.9

Additional notices continued to be 

released thereafter, as the Secretary 

continued to exercise his discretionary 

authority under section 7508A(a) and 

(b) in response to the President’s March 

13 declaration, including a joint notice 

with the Department of Labor published 

on May 4, 2020,10 and Notice 2020–35, 

issued on May 28, 2020.11 Because the 

President’s March 13 emergency 

declaration did not specify an incident 

date, there is no mandatory 60-day 

postponement period under section 

7508A(d). The only postponement 

period provided under section 7508A 

for the time-sensitive acts postponed in 

response to that declaration are the 

periods determined by the Secretary 

under section 7508A(a) and (b). 

Subsequent to the President’s March 

13 nationwide emergency declaration, 

beginning on March 20, 2020, and 

continuing on almost a daily basis until 

April 13, 2020, the President approved 

major disaster declarations under 

section 401 of the Stafford Act for all 50 

states, the District of Columbia, and 5 

U.S. territories, in connection with the 

COVID–19 pandemic. Those 

declarations specified an incident 

period of ‘‘January 20, 2020 and 

continuing.’’ The Secretary did not use 

his discretion under section 7508A(a) to 

postpone any time-sensitive tax acts in 

response to those state-by-state 

declarations. As discussed earlier, a 

period for performing acts cannot be 

disregarded under section 7508A(d) ‘‘in 

the same manner as a period specified 

under [section 7508A(a)]’’ if no period 

for performing such acts is in fact 

disregarded under section 7508A(a) in 

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 8 / Wednesday, January 13, 2021 / Proposed Rules 2613 

connection with a declaration. As a 

result, section 7508A(d) does not 

operate to postpone any acts for a 

mandatory 60-day period in connection 

with those state-by-state declarations. 

Applicability Date 

Section 7805(b)(1)(A) and (B) of the 

Code generally provide that no 

temporary, proposed, or final regulation 

relating to the internal revenue laws 

may apply to any taxable period ending 

before the earliest of (A) the date on 

which such regulation is filed with the 

Federal Register, or (B) in the case of a 

final regulation, the date on which a 

proposed or temporary regulation to 

which the final regulation relates was 

filed with the Federal Register. 

However, section 7805(b)(2) provides 

that regulations filed or issued within 

18 months of the date of the enactment 

of the statutory provision to which they 

relate are not prohibited from applying 

to taxable periods prior to those 

described in section 7805(b)(1). As 

noted above, section 7508A(d) was 

enacted on December 20, 2019, as part 

of the FCAA. 

Accordingly, as provided in section 

7805(b)(2) of the Code, these proposed 

regulations are proposed to apply to 

disasters declared on or after December 

21, 2019. 

Special Analyses 

Certain IRS regulations, including 

these, are exempt from the requirements 

of Executive Order 12866, as 

supplemented and affirmed by 

Executive Order 13563. Therefore, a 

regulatory assessment is not required. 

Pursuant to the Regulatory Flexibility 

Act (5 U.S.C. chapter 6), it is hereby 

certified that these proposed regulations 

will not have a significant economic 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities. The proposed regulations 

clarify how the Secretary may postpone 

certain time-sensitive tax deadlines by 

reason of a Federally declared disaster. 

Such postponements provide more time 

for affected taxpayers to complete timesensitive acts than they otherwise 

would have under the internal revenue 

laws. In addition, the proposed 

regulations would not impose a 

collection of information on any person, 

including small entities, for purposes of 

the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 

chapter 6). Accordingly, the Secretary 

certifies that the regulations will not 

have a significant economic impact on 

a substantial number of small entities. 

Pursuant to section 7805(f) of the 

Internal Revenue Code, the IRS will 

submit the proposed regulations to the 

Chief Counsel for the Office of 

Advocacy of the Small Business 

Administration for comments on the 

regulations’ impact on small businesses. 

Comments and Request for a Public 

Hearing 

Before these proposed regulations are 

adopted as final, consideration will be 

given to comments that are submitted 

timely to the IRS as prescribed in the 

preamble under the ADDRESSES section. 

The Treasury Department and the IRS 

request comments on all aspects of the 

proposed regulations. Any electronic 

comments submitted, and to the extent 

practicable any paper comments 

submitted, will be made available at 

www.regulations.gov or upon request. 

A public hearing will be scheduled if 

requested in writing by any person who 

timely submits electronic or written 

comments. Requests for a public hearing 

are also encouraged to be made 

electronically. If a public hearing is 

scheduled, notice of the date and time 

for the public hearing will be published 

in the Federal Register. Announcement 

2020–4, I.R.B. 2020–17, provides that 

until further notice, public hearings 

conducted by the IRS will be held 

telephonically. Any telephonic hearing 

will be made accessible to people with 

disabilities. 

Drafting Information 

The principal author of these 

regulations is William V. Spatz of the 

Office of Associate Chief Counsel 

(Procedure and Administration). 

However, other personnel from the 

Treasury Department and the IRS 

participated in the development of the 

regulations. 

List of Subjects 

26 CFR Part 1 

Income taxes, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements. 

26 CFR Part 301 

Employment taxes, Estate taxes, 

Excise taxes, Gift taxes, Income taxes, 

Penalties, Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements. 

Proposed Amendments to the 

Regulations 

Accordingly, 26 CFR parts 1 and 301 

are proposed to be amended as follows: 

PART 1—INCOME TAXES 

■ Paragraph 1. The authority citation 

for part 1 continues to read in part as 

follows: 

Authority: 26 U.S.C. 7805 * * * 

■ Par. 2. Section 1.165–11 is amended 

by revising paragraph (b)(1) to read as 

follows: 

§ 1.165–11 Election to take disaster loss 

deduction for preceding year. 

* * * * * 

(b) * * * 

(1) A federally declared disaster 

means any disaster subsequently 

determined by the President of the 

United States to warrant assistance by 

the Federal Government under the 

Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford 

Act). A federally declared disaster 

includes both a major disaster declared 

under section 401 of the Stafford Act 

and an emergency declared under 

section 501 of the Stafford Act. 

PART 301—PROCEDURE AND 

ADMINISTRATION 

■ Par. 3. The authority citation for part 

301 continues to read in part as follows: 

Authority: 26 U.S.C. 7805 * * * 

■ Par. 4. Section 301.7508A–1 is 

amended by revising paragraph (g) and 

adding paragraph (h) to read as follows:: 

§ 301.7508A–1 Postponement of certain 

tax-related deadlines by reasons of a 

Federally declared disaster or terroristic or 

military action. 

* * * * * 

(g) Mandatory 60-day 

postponement—(1) In general. In 

addition to (or concurrent with) the 

postponement period specified by the 

Secretary in an exercise of the authority 

under section 7508A(a) to postpone 

time-sensitive acts by reason of a 

Federally declared disaster, qualified 

taxpayers (as defined in section 

7508A(d)(2)) are entitled to a mandatory 

60-day postponement period during 

which the time to perform those timesensitive acts is disregarded in the same 

manner as under section 7508A(a). A 

similar rule applies with respect to a 

postponement period specified by the 

Secretary under section 7508A(b), to 

postpone acts as provided in section 

7508A(d)(4). Except for the acts set forth 

in paragraph (g)(2) of this section, 

section 7508A(d) does not apply to 

postpone any acts. 

(2) Acts postponed. The timesensitive acts that are postponed for the 

mandatory 60-day postponement period 

are the acts determined to be postponed 

by the Secretary’s exercise of authority 

under section 7508A(a) or (b). In 

addition, in the case of any person 

described in 7508A(b), the timesensitive acts postponed for the 

mandatory 60-day postponement period 

include those described in section 

7508A(d)(4): 

(i) Making contributions to a qualified 

retirement plan (within the meaning of 

2614 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 8 / Wednesday, January 13, 2021 / Proposed Rules 

section 4974(c)) under section 219(f)(3), 

404(a)(6), 404(h)(1)(B), or 404(m)(2); 

(ii) Making distributions under 

section 408(d)(4); 

(iii) Recharacterizing contributions 

under section 408A(d)(6); and 

(iv) Making a rollover under section 

402(c), 403(a)(4), 403(b)(8), or 408(d)(3). 

(3) Calculation of mandatory 60-day 

postponement period—(i) In general. 

The mandatory 60-day postponement 

period begins on the earliest incident 

date specified in a disaster declaration 

for a Federally declared disaster and 

ends on the date that is 60 days after the 

latest incident date specified in the 

disaster declaration. In accordance with 

section 7508A(d)(5), if the period 

determined by the Secretary in 

exercising discretion under 7508A(a) is 

equal to or longer than 60 days, the 

mandatory 60-day postponement period 

under section 7508A(d) runs 

concurrently with the postponement 

period determined by the Secretary 

under section 7508A(a). If the period 

determined by the Secretary in 

exercising discretion under 7508A(a) is 

less than 60 days, in accordance with 

section 7508A(d)(5), the mandatory 60- 

day postponement period will run 

concurrently for the length of the period 

determined by the Secretary under 

section 7508A(a) and then continue 

running in addition to the period 

determined by the Secretary under 

section 7508A(a). 

(ii) Limitations on the mandatory 60- 

day postponement period. (A) In no 

event will the mandatory 60-day 

postponement period be calculated to 

exceed one year. 

(B) In the event the Secretary 

determines to postpone time-sensitive 

acts pursuant to a declaration 

establishing a Federally declared 

disaster for purposes of section 7508A 

that does not specify an incident date, 

there is no mandatory postponement 

period under section 7508A(d). In such 

cases, the only postponement period 

will be the period determined by the 

Secretary under 7508A(a). 

(5) Examples. The rules of this 

paragraph (g) are illustrated by the 

following examples: 

(i) Example (1). Individual A lives in 

a state that experienced severe but 

isolated tornado damage on March 15. 

On March 20, FEMA issued a Federal 

Register Notice announcing a major 

disaster declaration approved by the 

President for the state where Individual 

A lives, describing the incident date for 

the tornado as March 15. Based upon 

that major disaster declaration, the IRS 

published a news release identifying the 

taxpayers (by county) affected by the 

disaster for purposes of section 7508A 

and specifying the time-sensitive acts 

that are postponed and a period of 

postponement from March 15 through 

July 31, pursuant to section 7508A(a). 

Under section 7508A(d), the mandatory 

60-day postponement period that 

Individual A is entitled to begins on 

March 15 and ends 60 days after March 

15, on May 14. The mandatory 

postponement period applies to the 

same time-sensitive acts and runs 

concurrently with the relief the IRS 

provided to Individual A under section 

7508A(a). 

(ii) Example (2). Individual B lives in 

a coastal state which experienced 

harmful effects from a hurricane that 

began to affect the weather in his state 

on August 15 and ceased to be a weather 

factor in his state on August 19. On 

August 22, FEMA issued a Federal 

Register Notice announcing a major 

disaster declaration approved by the 

President, determining that the coastline 

counties in the state where Individual B 

lives were severely affected and that 

these counties were entitled to both 

individual assistance and public 

assistance. The major disaster 

declaration specified the earliest 

incident date for the hurricane in the 

state where Individual B lives as August 

15 and the latest incident date as August 

19. Based upon that major disaster 

declaration, the IRS published a news 

release identifying the taxpayers 

affected by the disaster for purposes of 

section 7508A and specifying the timesensitive acts that are postponed and a 

period of postponement from August 15 

through December 31, pursuant to 

section 7508A(a). Under section 

7508A(d), the mandatory 60-day 

postponement period that Individual B 

is entitled to begins on August 15 and 

ends 60 days after August 19, on 

October 18. The mandatory 

postponement period applies to the 

same time-sensitive acts and runs 

concurrently with the relief the IRS 

provided to Individual B under section 

7508A(a). 

(iii) Example (3). Individual C lives in 

a state that is experiencing multiple 

ongoing wildfires. On August 14, FEMA 

issued a Federal Register Notice 

announcing a major disaster declaration 

approved by the President for the state 

where Individual C lives, specifying the 

earliest incident date for the wildfires as 

August 14 and the incident was 

ongoing. Based upon that major disaster 

declaration, the IRS published a news 

release identifying the taxpayers (by 

county) affected by the disaster for 

purposes of section 7508A and 

specifying the time-sensitive acts that 

are postponed and a period of 

postponement from August 14 through 

December 15, pursuant to section 

7508A(a). The wildfire disaster remains 

ongoing, with no ending incident date 

specified, for several months. The IRS 

publishes a second news release 

postponing the time-sensitive acts 

through January 15. FEMA amends the 

major disaster declaration to specify the 

latest incident date of November 19. 

Under section 7508A(d), the mandatory 

60-day postponement period that 

Individual D is entitled to begins on 

August 14 and ends 60 days after the 

latest incident date of November 19. The 

mandatory postponement period applies 

to the same time-sensitive acts and runs 

concurrently with the relief the IRS 

provided to Individual D under section 

7508A(a), and ends on January 18, 

which is 60 days after the latest incident 

date and three days beyond the 

postponement period specified by the 

IRS under section 7508A(a) in its news 

release. 

(iv) Example (4). Individual D lives in 

the United States, which is experiencing 

a nationwide emergency as a result of its 

residents being exposed to a highly 

infectious and dangerous pandemic 

disease. On March 13, the President 

declared a nationwide emergency under 

section 501(b) of the Stafford Act. The 

pandemic became a Federally declared 

disaster for purposes of section 7508A 

on March 13, however, no incident date 

was specified in the President’s 

emergency declaration. Pursuant to the 

President’s March 13 emergency 

declaration, the IRS published several 

notices identifying the taxpayers 

affected by the disaster for purposes of 

section 7508A and specifying the timesensitive acts that are postponed and a 

period of postponement that generally 

ran from April 1 through July 15, 

pursuant to section 7508A(a). Because, 

in this circumstance, the emergency 

declaration pursuant to which the 

notices were published did not specify 

an incident date, there is no mandatory 

postponement period under section 

7508A(d). The only postponement 

period is the period determined by the 

Secretary pursuant to the discretionary 

authority under section 7508A(a). 

(h) Applicability dates—(1) In general. 

Except as provided in paragraph (h)(2) 

of this section, this section applies to 

disasters declared after January 15, 

2009. 

(2) Paragraph (g). Paragraph (g) of this 

section applies to disasters declared on 

or after December 21, 2019. 

Sunita Lough, 

Deputy Commissioner for Services and 

Enforcement. 

[FR Doc. 2021–00185 Filed 1–11–21; 4:15 pm] 

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