The Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2023, enacted on December 12, 2024, extends the special rules for the treatment of certain disaster-related personal casualty losses and provides tax relief for losses due to wildfires and the train derailment that occurred on Feb. 3, 2023, in East Palestine, Ohio. If you are claiming benefits under the Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2023 for a tax year for which you have already filed a tax return and you didn’t claim the benefits on that return, you will need to file an amended return. You can file your amended return electronically if you are amending a return for the current or prior two tax periods. You must file a Form 1040-X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, on paper to amend your return if the amended return is for earlier years or if your prior year return was originally filed on paper during the current processing year. If you file your amended return electronically, rather than on paper, you can elect to have any refund directly deposited into a U.S. financial institution account.
See Form 1040-X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return: Frequently asked questions for more information on amending your return. Also, see Form 4684, Casualties and Thefts, and its instructions, and the 2024 Publication 547, Casualties, Disasters, and Thefts, for more information on these newly enacted tax benefits.
We will update the next revision of the Instructions for Form 1040-X to reflect these changes.