Due to circumstances that can rise when the US armed forces enter a combat zone, IRS grants taxpayers that are in the combat zone or directly supporting the individuals in the combat zone or are receiving special military pay for imminent danger and hostile fire an extension of deadline for taking care of their tax matters. An extension of 180 days is granted plus the days the individual spent in a combat zone or the day the combat zone ceased to exist. These days also include any hospitalization as a result of injuries or wounds incurred in the combat zone. This includes up to five years of hospitalization in the United States and any amount of hospitalization outside of US. Meaning if you were injured in 1992 in a combat zone and were hospitalized in Saudi Arabia for six years returning in 1998, then the deadline for filing the tax return for the year 1991 is extended to the day you return to the US plus 180 days.
In addition to the extra days mentioned above, you can also use the days IRS grants all taxpayers to file their tax returns and take actions with the IRS. These days are January 1st to April 15th. If the above individual, let’s call her Sam, was flown to a combat zone on January 15th 1992 and was injured within a month and hospitalized and then she returned to the US on May 2nd 1998, she has until January 28th, 1999 to file the tax return for the year 1991. I have arrived at this number by using simple math.
IRS grants all taxpayers 105 days to take actions and file their returns. Our taxpayer left the country on January 15th. That leaves her 90 days to file her tax returns. But because she was in a combat zone for the rest of the month and beginning of February she was unable to file her taxes. During this time she also incurred injuries that landed her in a hospital for the next six years. She returned on May 2nd, 1998 to her home. Upon her return her tax liability for the tax year 1991 is extended to 180 days plus the 90 days she was left to take actions with the IRS. That is a total of 270 days, which when added to May 2nd, 1998 becomes January 28th, 1999. Another thing to note here is any time in missing status counts as time in a combat zone.
Actions extended by the IRS that the Individual taxpayer could take:
