The Massachusetts Department of Revenue said today that it will extend the deadline for certain corporate tax filings and payments for taxpayers impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

The extensions will largely affect companies with operations in Massachusetts and a principal place of business in any of the federally-declared disaster areas in New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

Affected taxpayers also include individuals and businesses whose tax records, including records needed for tax payments, are located in these counties or municipalities, and relief workers affiliated with a recognized government or philanthropic organization assisting in the relief activities in the covered disaster areas.

DOR said the extensions apply to tax returns and tax payments, including estimated tax payments, that have either an original or an extended due date occurring between October 29, 2012 and January 31, 2013.  Included in the extension are:

• The filing of corporate excise or unrelated business income tax returns in the instance of a business corporation or non-profit corporation with a fiscal year-end that has a filing due date within the extension period;
• Estate and trust income tax returns, estate tax returns, partnership returns, and S corporation returns that have filing due dates within this extension period, as well as to payments that are due with such returns;
• Estimated corporate excise tax payments that would normally be due within this extension period and estimated personal income tax payments that would normally be due by January 15, 2013.

The Internal Revenue Service granted a similar extension for federal tax filings on November 2.

“There are a significant number of global companies that provide good jobs in Massachusetts with headquarters in the areas affected by storm Sandy. We extend our appreciation to Commissioner Amy Pitter and the staff at DOR for making this timely adjustment,” said John Regan, Executive Vice President of Government Affairs at AIM.

To see if your business is eligible for the Massachusetts extension, read the DOR recent Technical Information Release (TIR). 

DOR computer systems will identify taxpayers located in the covered disaster area and apply automatic filing and payment relief for electronically-filed returns.  If the taxpayer is unable to file electronically, the taxpayer’s paper forms and returns should be marked at top in red ink with the notation “2012 Hurricane Sandy.”

Any affected taxpayer who files and pays by the extended deadline and still receives late filing or payment penalties or other charges inconsistent with the policy should electronically file Form CA-6 to request an abatement of such charges through the DOR Website at www.mass.gov/dor, using either Webfile for Income or Webfile for Business.