June 2015 - Severe Storm Affected Taxpayers

The Department of Revenue will waive penalties and interest for taxpayers who cannot file or pay on time as a result of June’s violent storms and tornadoes.

This waiver applies to affected taxpayers for payments or returns due between June 22, 2015 and December 31, 2015. This includes annual, monthly, and quarterly returns and payments that would have been due during that time period, as well as estimated and accelerated payments. Taxes affected include individual income tax, business income tax, withholding taxes, sales and use, motor fuel and excise taxes, bingo, pull tabs, and charitable games.

IFTA filers impacted by the storms can delay filing and paying their taxes for the second quarter of 2015 (April – June 2015, due July 31, 2015) and the third quarter of 2015 (July – September 2015, due November 2, 2015).

Other bill payments due during these months will be handled on a case by case basis with reasonable cause.

Governor Bruce Rauner has declared Grundy and Lee counties state disaster areas.

Taxpayers should file or pay as soon as possible. When they do so, they should write “Tornado – June 2015” in red on the outside of their envelope and on the top of each page of the tax return. Taxpayers should include with the return a brief written explanation of why they could not file timely.

MyTax Illinois filers – to quickly and easily claim disaster relief through MyTax Illinois, log in to your MyTax Illinois account, navigate to the account you wish to claim disaster relief for, and click “Claim Disaster Relief” under “Account Maintenance” in the left sidebar. Check back soon for "Tornado – June 2015" to be on the list.

Complete the online disaster relief claim request and submit it. If you wish to claim disaster relief for multiple tax types or disasters, you must complete a separate request for each tax type or disaster.

IL-1040 filers submitting a non-login return using MyTax Illinois – notify the Department using the email procedure described below for “Electronic filers.”

IFTA filers – notify the Department by email at REV.IFTA@illinois.gov​. Affected taxpayers should include their name, account identification number, period that is affected, and a brief explanation of why they will be late, along with an estimate of when they believe they can file or pay.

Electronic filers (who do not mail tax documents and who do not log in to their MyTax Illinois account) – notify the Department by email at REV.TornadoJun2015@illinois.gov. Affected taxpayers should include their name, account identification number (if using a Social Security

number, only include the last four digits), mailing address used on your return, period that is affected, and a brief explanation of why the return or payment will be late, along with an estimate of when they believe they can file or pay.