Updated: 4/23/25
On Wednesday, April 23, 2025, the North Carolina Department of Revenue (NCDOR) issued a notice entitled ‘Important Notice: Tax Relief for Victims of Hurricane Helene’.
The notice states that North Carolina tax returns or tax payments that have a due date (original or extended) falling between September 25, 2024, and September 25, 2025, will not be subject to the state’s failure to file or failure to pay penalties if the return is filed or the tax is paid by September 25, 2025.
The NCDOR is unable to waive interest associated with any late payments (see current interest relief through May 1, 2025, for specific NC counties); therefore, any payments that are due between September 25, 2024, and September 25, 2025, are required to be paid by their original or extended due dates (without this relief) in order to avoid interest accruing on the payment from the date it was originally due. This applies to all estimated income tax payments that are due within this timeframe as well. Therefore, unlike the relief provided by the IRS related to federal estimated tax payments, North Carolina estimated tax payments should continue to be made as originally scheduled.
Updated: 11/5/24
On October 25, 2024, North Carolina Governor Cooper signed additional legislation into law (Senate Bill 743) that expands the interest relief previously available to certain taxpayers located in designated disaster areas as a result of Hurricane Helene. Previously, the interest relief was only available to those taxpayers that were located within a county that was a designated disaster area. The new legislation expands the relief to include taxpayers whose records necessary to meet a tax deadline or whose tax preparer is located within a designated disaster area. This relief will not be granted automatically by the North Carolina Department of Revenue. In order to be eligible for this additional relief the taxpayer must fully complete and submit Form NC-5502 (Special Penalty and Interest Waiver) on or before November 25, 2024.
Click Here – for additional information provided by the North Carolina Department of Revenue regarding this latest relief and the steps necessary to be granted relief under this recent legislation.
Updated: 10/21/2024
On October 15, 2024, the following counties were added to list of North Carolina counties that are eligible for relief under NC House Bill 149: Cabarrus, Cherokee, Forsyth, Graham, Iredell, Lee, Rowan, Stanly, Surry, Union and Yadkin.
Click Here – for the NCDOR notice (issued on October 11, 2024) that provides a summary of the relief granted in House Bill 149
Click Here – for the NCDOR notice (issued on October 18, 2024) that provides the entire expanded list of counties that are eligible for this relief
Updated: 10/10/2024
On October 10, 2024 Governor Cooper signed House Bill 149 into law which includes a variety of relief provisions for North Carolina residence and businesses impacted by Hurricane Helene. Among the many provisions included, all aimed at helping get individuals and businesses back on their feet after the storm, are several tax related provisions (see Part XIII for the tax related provisions). The following is a summary of the most notable tax related provisions:
- While the North Carolina Department of Revenue (NCDOR) had already provided North Carolina taxpayers with relief from various late filing and payment penalties as a result of Hurricane Helene, due to statutory limitations they were unable to waive any interest associated with payments due within the relief period. House Bill 149 now allows the NCDOR to waive the accrual of interest from September 25, 2024 through May 1, 2025 on underpayments of a variety of income taxes including: corporate income tax (including franchise tax), individual income tax, and taxes due with a partnership, estate and trust returns. This relief applies to returns that are due between September 25, 2024 through May 1, 2025 but only to those taxpayers that reside or are located in the one following counties/areas of North Carolina: Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Clay, Cleveland, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina, Gaston, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mecklenburg, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, Yancey, Nash (which is not in FEMA declared disaster area but specifically added to the list in House Bill 149).
Note: North Carolina taxpayers that are outside of one of the designated counties/areas listed above will still be provided relief from late filing and late payment penalties; however, they will remain subject to interest accrual on any underpayments.
- The bill also provides additional relief to those within the designated counties list above related to the accrual of interest for an underpayment of withheld taxes as well as interest for an underpayment of State, local, or transit sales and use taxes. See House Bill 149 for additional information.
- House Bill 149 states that 2023 PTE elections will be considered timely made for pass-through entity returns due after September 25, 2024 and before May 1, 2025 as long as the election is made on a return filed on or before May 1, 2025. Prior to this bill, the PTE election had to be made by the original or extended due date (without regard to any disaster relief provision) which meant that many pass-through entities would have had to file their returns by October 15, 2024 in order to be eligible to make a 2023 PTE election.
Note: This provisions does not specify that the pass-through entities must be within a designated disaster area; therefore, this relief presumably applies to any 2023 North Carolina pass-through entity with a due date that falls within the relief period.
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On Thursday, October 3, 2024, the North Carolina Department of Revenue (NCDOR) issued a notice entitled ‘Important Notice: Tax Relief for Victims of Hurricane Helene’. While the notice provides relief to all North Carolina individual and business taxpayers, the relief is more limited than what was granted by the IRS for federal tax purposes.
The notice states that North Carolina tax returns or tax payments that have a due date (original or extended) falling between September 25, 2024 and May 1, 2025 will not be subject to the states failure to file or failure to pay penalties, if the return is filed or the tax is paid by May 1, 2025.
The NCDOR is unable to waive interest associated with any late payments; therefore, any payments that are due between September 25, 2024 and May 1, 2025 are required to be paid by their original or extended due dates (without this relief) in order to avoid interest accruing on the payment from the date it was originally due. This applies to all estimated income tax payments that are due within this timeframe as well. Therefore, unlike the relief provided by the IRS related to federal estimated tax payments, North Carolina estimated tax payments should continue to be made as originally scheduled.
Also, please note that this relief does not extend the time to make certain elections, such as electing to be a taxed passed-through entity (PTE election). If a pass-through entity wishes to make a valid PTE election, the NC pass-through tax return on which the election will be made MUST be filed by the original (or extended) due date (without regard to any disaster relief provisions).
NCDOR will be automatically removing these penalties. Affected taxpayers that are assessed a late filing or late payment penalty in error should notify NCDOR of the error by filing Form NC-5500, Request to Waive Penalties, or by calling NCDOR at 1-877-252-3052 in order to have these penalties removed from their account.
Click Here – for more information about the tax relief provided by the IRS for federal tax purposes.
The information contained in this article is for informative purposes only and should not be relied on when making any business, legal, or other decisions. This information may be updated without notice and/or may not contain the most current information that is available related to this topic.