Taxpayers in storm-damaged parts of Michigan, Wisconsin and Mississippi are running out the clock on an IRS postponement that moved a long list of federal tax deadlines to Monday, November 2.
The relief has been in place since July, but it does not work the same way in all three states. In Mississippi, a 2025 tax bill that went unpaid in April is not covered at all, a difference that can turn into penalties and interest for anyone who assumed otherwise.
Three storm declarations, one November deadline
The IRS announced all three postponements on July 13, 2026, each tied to a federal disaster declaration. The Michigan relief covers counties hit by severe storms, tornadoes and flooding that began April 10, under FEMA declaration 4925-DR. The Wisconsin relief covers 21 counties and the Oneida Indian Reservation after storms that began April 13, under declaration 4923-DR.
The Mississippi relief is narrower: five counties, Franklin, Lamar, Lawrence, Lincoln and Wilkinson, after storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes and flooding that began May 6, under declaration 4922-DR. Wisconsin’s list runs from Bayfield and Brown to Waukesha, Waupaca and Winnebago, and includes Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties. Michigan’s spans dozens of counties from the Upper Peninsula to Washtenaw.
The IRS keeps every active postponement on its disaster relief page, which lists the November 2 date for all three states, along with typhoon relief in the Northern Mariana Islands that ends the same day.
Inside the kit: A notice decoder and a refund status tracker spreadsheet, for the extension filer who sends a 2025 return in by November 2 and then has to read whatever IRS letter or refund status comes back. Open The IRS Refund Recovery Kit.
What moved to November 2 in Michigan and Wisconsin
Because the Michigan and Wisconsin storms started before April 15, the postponement reaches back to the regular filing season. Both releases say 2025 individual returns and the tax payments normally due April 15, 2026 now have until November 2. So do returns for anyone who filed a valid extension, which would ordinarily be due October 15.
Quarterly estimated tax payments originally due on or after each state’s start date are also pushed to November 2, which takes in the April, June and September installments. The IRS says affected taxpayers will not face failure-to-pay penalties on those installments if they pay by the new date. Quarterly payroll and certain excise returns due April 30 and July 31 are covered too.
Not everything moved. The Wisconsin release says information returns such as W-2s and 1099s are not postponed, and neither are payroll and excise tax deposits, though penalties on deposits due in the first two weeks after the storms are abated if the deposits were made by a set date in late April.
The Mississippi exception that catches people
Mississippi’s storms began May 6, three weeks after the regular deadline. That timing changes what the postponement covers. The Mississippi release says payments tied to 2025 returns were due April 15, 2026, and “those payments are not eligible for this relief.”
In practice, a Mississippi resident with a valid extension still has until November 2 to file the 2025 return, and estimated payments originally due on or after May 6 are also postponed. But a balance from the 2025 return that was not paid in April has been accruing interest, and potentially penalties, since then. Filing late on November 2 does not change that.
Penalty notices and casualty losses
The Michigan release says that anyone who receives a late-filing or late-payment penalty notice with a due date inside the postponement period should call the number on the notice to have the penalty abated. It adds that taxpayers who live outside the covered area can still qualify if the records they need to file are located inside it.
Storm victims can also claim uninsured property losses. The Michigan release says a disaster loss can be claimed on the return for the year of the disaster or the year before, with an election deadline set relative to the disaster-year return’s due date. It asks filers to note the FEMA declaration number on the return, and the declaration numbers are 4925-DR for Michigan, 4923-DR for Wisconsin and 4922-DR for Mississippi.
After November 2, ordinary deadlines return. For extension filers in these counties, that means the 2025 return is due that Monday, and any refund on it starts moving only once the IRS has it in hand.
After the postponed return goes in
The November 2 postponement settles when storm-area extension filers must send their 2025 returns, but it says nothing about what happens next. A refund that stalls, or a penalty notice that arrives despite the relief, still has to be read correctly and answered, and the storm postponement does not explain how.
The IRS Refund Recovery Kit combines a notice decoder with a refund status tracker spreadsheet and the refund-trace steps for Form 3911, so a postponed return can be followed from filing to payment.
Read the notice decoder in The IRS Refund Recovery Kit.
This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy against the IRS disaster relief announcements for Michigan, Wisconsin and Mississippi and the IRS disaster relief page.
Julian Harrow specializes in taxation, IRS rules, and compliance strategy. His work helps readers navigate complex tax codes, deadlines, and reporting requirements while identifying opportunities for efficiency and risk reduction. At The Daily Overview, Julian breaks down tax-related topics with precision and clarity, making a traditionally dense subject easier to understand.
