You may qualify for tax relief if you are outside a disaster area but your tax preparer is within it, as long as the area your tax preparer is in is a federally declared disaster area and they are unable to file or pay your taxes on your behalf. To approve the postponement of your filing or payment, you must call the Disaster Hotline of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) at (866) 562-5227 and explain that your necessary tax records are in a covered disaster area. You also will be required to provide the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster number of the area in which your tax preparer resides.