The Internal Revenue Service has given people and businesses in Hawaii County until February 1, 2027, to file federal tax returns delayed by the earthquake that struck the Big Island in May 2026. For anyone still dealing with earthquake damage, an extension like that can feel like the whole tax calendar has been pushed back. The same announcement draws a much sharper line around one specific payment, though: money already owed on a 2025 return every April 15 is carved out of the relief entirely, and it has been collecting interest and penalties since the day it went unpaid.
What HI-2026-03 Actually Postpones
The IRS announced the relief, designated HI-2026-03, on September 10, 2026, after the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a federal disaster declaration covering the magnitude-6.0 earthquake that began May 22, 2026, in Hawaii County. Under the notice, filing and payment deadlines that would otherwise fall between May 22, 2026, and February 1, 2027, are pushed to that later date. That covers individual, corporate, partnership, and estate and trust returns, along with certain employment and excise tax filings for anyone who lives or runs a business in the covered county.
Quarterly payroll and certain excise tax returns normally due July 31 and November 2, 2026, move to February 1 as well, and penalties on payroll and excise tax deposits otherwise due between May 22 and June 8, 2026, are waived as long as the deposits are made by June 8. The IRS says it automatically identifies taxpayers located inside the covered disaster area and applies the relief without any application. Anyone whose home or business sits outside Hawaii County, but whose tax records are located inside it, has to call the agency’s disaster line at 866-562-5227 to claim the same treatment.
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The April 15 Tax Bill That Kept Accruing
Buried inside the same release is the exception that gives this story its edge. The February 1, 2027, deadline applies to people who had a valid extension to file their 2025 individual income tax return — but, as the IRS states plainly, “because tax payments related to these 2025 returns were due on April 15, 2026, those payments are not eligible for this relief.” A taxpayer who owed money on last year’s return and hadn’t paid it by mid-April has been accruing interest and the failure-to-pay penalty every month since, earthquake or not.
That distinction matters because the two deadlines look identical on the calendar but are not legally connected. Filing paperwork late is now penalty-free through next February. Paying a balance that was already due back in April is a separate clock the earthquake declaration never reset. A household that read the September announcement as blanket relief and stopped worrying about an old balance could be sitting on months of accumulated interest and penalty charges it didn’t expect.
Two Hawaii County Disasters Layered Into One Deadline
This is not the county’s first round of relief this year. The IRS notes that the new postponement “combines with earlier tax relief provided after the March severe storms, flooding, and mudslides in Hawaii County,” so taxpayers who were already inside a postponement window from the spring storms have that window extended again by the earthquake declaration rather than starting over on a second, separate clock. The IRS maintains a running list of every active disaster postponement nationwide, and Hawaii County residents dealing with both events at once fall under the combined February 1, 2027, date rather than two competing ones.
The relief is tied to FEMA disaster declaration number 4936-DR, which affected taxpayers are told to write on any return claiming a disaster-related loss. The IRS also uses that same number to waive its usual fee for copies of previously filed returns for anyone who lost paperwork in the quake.
Casualty Losses Can Go on Either Tax Year
One part of the relief works in a household’s favor without qualification. Taxpayers in the covered disaster area can claim casualty losses on their federal return for either the year the earthquake happened or the prior year, whichever produces the better result, and they get extra time — up to six months past the return’s regular due date — to decide which year to use. Qualified disaster relief payments from a government agency for things like temporary housing, home repairs, or replacing damaged belongings are also excluded from gross income, so a homeowner receiving FEMA assistance for earthquake repairs does not have to report that money as taxable income.
If a Penalty Notice Already Arrived
Some taxpayers may have received a late-filing or late-payment notice before the county-wide relief was processed. The IRS’s instruction is to call the phone number printed on that notice and ask for the penalty to be abated, rather than assume the September announcement automatically wipes out a charge already assessed. Taxpayers who don’t qualify for the disaster-specific relief at all — because they live outside Hawaii County, for instance — can still ask for penalty relief for reasonable cause through the agency’s standard process, which covers fires, natural disasters, and similar circumstances beyond a taxpayer’s control.
The Refund Clock Moves Too, Under Public Law 119-64
The notice also flags a change with less obvious upside. Under the recently enacted Public Law 119-64, the Disaster Related Extension of Deadlines Act, a postponed federal filing deadline now counts as an extension for purposes of the statute of limitations on claiming a tax refund or credit, not just for meeting a due date. For a Hawaii County household still owed money on an older return, that law is what keeps the window for claiming a refund open for as long as the disaster postponement itself runs — through February 1, 2027, according to the IRS’s own announcement of HI-2026-03.
Inside the kit
A notice decoder, the refund-trace steps for Form 3911, a refund status tracker spreadsheet and the 3-year refund deadline.
The IRS Refund Recovery Kit includes a 13-page kit, a notice decoder and the refund-trace steps (Form 3911).
Open The IRS Refund Recovery Kit.
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by a human editor. Figures are linked to their primary sources; where a claim could not be verified from the public record, we say so.
