Michigan taxpayers hit by spring storms, tornadoes and flooding have until Monday, November 2, to file 2025 federal returns and pay the tax, the IRS says. The relief covers 37 counties, among them Kalamazoo, Saginaw and Washtenaw, and it applies even to people whose April deadline passed months ago. With about 10 days left, the question is who still needs to act.
Which Michigan counties get the extra time
The IRS issued the relief in announcement MI-2026-02 on July 13, tied to the disaster that began April 10 and to FEMA declaration 4925-DR. The release says affected taxpayers “now have until Nov. 2, 2026, to file various federal individual and business tax returns.”
The storms, tornadoes and flooding began April 10, which is why estimated payments due on or after that date are included in the postponement. The 37 counties are Alcona, Allegan, Alpena, Antrim, Barry, Benzie, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Crawford, Eaton, Emmet, Grand Traverse, Gratiot, Iosco, Iron, Kalamazoo, Kalkaska, Lake, Manistee, Marquette, Mecosta, Menominee, Missaukee, Montcalm, Montmorency, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana, Ogemaw, Osceola, Oscoda, Presque Isle, Roscommon, Saginaw, Tuscola, Washtenaw and Wexford.
Counties outside that list, including Wayne, Oakland, Kent and Genesee, are not covered by this announcement. Taxpayers in those counties keep their regular deadlines unless a separate notice applies to them.
The IRS keeps the notice on its disaster relief index under MI-2026-02, where it is the only Michigan entry on the 2026 list and carries the same Nov. 2 date. The index describes it as various deadlines postponed to Nov. 2, 2026.
What the postponement covers in dollars and filings
The postponement reaches 2025 individual returns and the tax normally due April 15, 2026. It also covers people who held a valid extension for their 2025 return. Estimated tax installments due on or after April 10 are pushed to Nov. 2, and no failure-to-pay penalty applies if they are paid by then.
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Businesses get the same date for many returns. The release lists corporate, estate, trust, partnership and S corporation returns with an original or extended due date before Nov. 2, as well as quarterly payroll and certain excise returns normally due April 30 and July 31.
The postponement also covers other time-sensitive acts listed in Treasury Regulation 301.7508A-1(c)(1) and Revenue Procedure 2018-58 that fall between April 10 and Nov. 2. The release adds that the government may extend the foreign bank account report deadline for affected filers, with notices to come from FinCEN.
Some obligations stay on their original schedule. The IRS says the postponement of time to file and pay “does not apply to information returns,” which means W-2 and 1099 series forms. Employment and excise tax deposits are also left out of the broader relief, with a narrow abatement for deposits due April 10 through 27.
Other help written into the IRS announcement
Taxpayers who lost property can claim the casualty loss on either the 2026 return or the 2025 return. They should write the declaration number 4925-DR on the return. The IRS also waives its usual fee for copies of past returns when that number is written at the top of Form 4506 or 4506-T.
The choice of year matters for the size of the tax benefit. The IRS says the election to claim the loss on the earlier year’s return can be made up to six months after that return’s due date, without regard to extensions. The release refers to Publication 547 and Form 4684 for the rules.
Retirement savers in the area may take a special disaster distribution on Form 8915-F or a hardship withdrawal, subject to each plan’s rules. The release also notes that qualified disaster relief payments are generally excluded from gross income. Public Law 119-64 extends the refund claim window for affected taxpayers as well.
Anyone who gets a late-filing or late-payment notice with a due date inside the postponement period should call the number printed on the notice. The release says the IRS will abate the penalty in that case. People who do not live in a covered county can still ask for relief under the usual reasonable-cause rules.
Where late filers can still find free help
The IRS says its Free File program has closed and will return in January 2027, so the usual no-cost software route is off the table for now. The release instead points to volunteer sites. VITA and Tax Counseling for the Elderly sites take calls at 800-906-9887, and AARP Tax-Aide answers at 888-227-7669.
It adds that volunteer sites normally cannot help claim disaster losses. Volunteer help at those sites is aimed at ordinary returns rather than loss claims.
A return filed by November 2 lands after the October 15 extension date that most Americans faced. For Michigan households in the 37 counties, that gap is the whole point of the relief. The date that matters now is a Monday, and a missed one would bring back the usual late-filing and late-payment charges.
Still waiting on a 2025 refund after the Michigan storms?
Filing by November 2 avoids the late penalties, but a return filed this late can still draw an IRS letter, and the release itself tells anyone with a penalty notice to call the number printed on it. Knowing what a letter means is the difference between a quick call and weeks of guessing.
The IRS Refund Recovery Kit does not set deadlines or grant disaster relief. It picks up after filing, with a notice decoder, a refund status tracker spreadsheet and the Form 3911 refund-trace steps. Part 4, Why It Stalled, walks through the common IRS letters one at a time.
Track a late refund and decode IRS letters with the refund recovery kit →
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
