Marion County, which holds Indianapolis, is one of 21 Indiana counties where the Internal Revenue Service has pushed federal tax deadlines to February 1, 2027 after severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes and flooding that began August 11. Taxpayers in those counties do not file a form, send a letter or make a call to get the postponement. The IRS says it works out who qualifies on its own, by where the taxpayer is located.
The announcement, release IN-2026-01 of September 2, turns on two questions that sound simple and are not: which counties are in, and what the agency means by automatic.
Carroll through Wayne: the counties the IRS reads off a return
The covered area is the set of counties listed in the IRS release, which carries the federal disaster declaration number 4933-DR. Counted from the live release, they are Carroll, Dearborn, Decatur, Delaware, Fayette, Franklin, Hamilton, Hancock, Henry, Lake, LaPorte, Madison, Marion, Morgan, Porter, Pulaski, Randolph, Rush, Tipton, Union and Wayne. That is 21 counties, and no others are in the release. A county missing from the list, however close to a storm path, is outside the postponement unless a later IRS notice adds it.
The list in the release itself, and not a news summary or a neighbor’s recollection, is the reference to check, because a disaster list can be revised by a later notice. As of the read made for this article on October 5, the release still shows the same 21.
What “automatic” means: the address on record
The release says it in one sentence: “The IRS automatically identifies taxpayers located in the covered disaster area and applies filing and payment relief.” The sentence does not define “located.” The IRS’s general disaster assistance page does, at least for who counts as affected: individuals whose principal residence is in a covered disaster area, and business entities or sole proprietors whose principal place of business is there…