Keep calm and carry on, advises the Internal Revenue Service. That’s after thousands of Californians were thrown into a panic this week when presented with demands that they pay their taxes owed in the next three weeks.
The notices came even though those in counties considered affected by severe winter storms, flooding, and mudslides were granted an automatic extension to file and pay up by Oct. 16. The extension was granted to those in 51 counties, including Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara and Ventura. The filing date bumped the previous May 15 date, itself an extension of the usual April 15 deadline.
Taxpayers who owe a lot to the IRS were stunned by the mailed notice, with some fearing that, because they weren’t a victim of fire or flood, they were on the hook. But the federal agency sent out a digital notice this week, advising recipients to ignore the previous notice.
“The IRS reassures California taxpayers that they continue to have an automatic extension until later this year to file and pay their taxes for those covered by disaster declarations in the state,” the agency noted in a statement Wednesday.