FLOOD VICTIMS RECEIVE BREAK ON TAX DEADLINES

If you are a flood victim and haven't filed your 1992 income tax return yet, don't panic.

Ralph Shilling, district director of the St. Louis District of the Internal Revenue Service said taxpayers in designated disaster areas of Missouri who are unable to meet their federal tax obligations because of the flood, will be granted amnesty.

Calendar year partnerships will have until Oct. 15 to file their Form 1065 that would have been due on July 15 of this year.

Trusts will also have until Oct. 15 to file Form 1041 or pay any tax that would have been due July 15.

Fiscal year taxpayers who still cannot file by Oct. 15 should apply for an extension of time to file by that date. Interest as required by law will be charged from the original due date of the return until the date taxes are paid.

Calendar year exempt organizations which have been granted extensions to file and as a result of the flood cannot meet their extended due date, may file their series 990 form and pay any taxes due by Oct. 15, without penalties.

Employee's trusts and IRAs which already had extensions to file must do so and pay by Sept. 15, to avoid incurring any penalties.

Taxpayers who have already received extensions of time to file totalling six months cannot, by law, be granted any further extension of time for filing. Taxpayers who, as a result of the disaster will be unable to file by their extended due dates, will be deemed to have reasonable cause for the late filing, and no late filing penalty will be imposed.

Those affected should write in red, bold print, "Flood Disaster, County of _______" on the top of the first page of any return relying on such relief and mail it to: Internal Revenue Service Center, Disaster Claims, P.O. Box 24501, Kansas City, Mo., 64131.

For more information call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040.