Tax credit certification deadlines after 2004 disasters

EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING ADMINISTRATION ADVISORY SYSTEM
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Washington, D.C. 20210

CLASSIFICATION: WOTC & WtWTC
CORRESPONDENCE SYMBOL: OWI
DATE: April 22, 2005

TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT GUIDANCE LETTER NO. 30-04

TO: ALL STATE WORKFORCE LIAISONS
ALL STATE WORKFORCE AGENCIES

FROM: EMILY STOVER DeROCCO, Assistant Secretary

SUBJECT: Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) and Welfare-to-Work Tax Credit (WtWTC) Program and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) “Relief Period” Granted to Employers Affected by Recent Tropical Storms and Hurricanes

1. Purpose. To inform the state workforce agencies (SWAs) of special filing “relief periods” for WOTC/WtWTC certification requests in Presidential Disaster Areas (PDAs) struck by recent tropical storms and hurricanes and provide guidance for its implementation.

2. References. Internal Revenue Service, Revenue Procedure 2004-13, 2004-4 I.R.B. 335; the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004 (P.L. 108-311); Internal Revenue Code of 1986, Sections 51, 51A, and 7508A, as amended; 26 CFR 301.7508A-1; and ETA Handbook No. 408, Third Edition, November 2002.

3. Background. Section 7508A of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. 7508A) permits the IRS to grant a postponement of time to perform specified acts for taxpayers affected by a presidentially declared disaster or a terroristic or military action. Section 301.7508A-1(b) of the Regulations on Procedure and Administration (26 CFR 301.7508A-1(b)) gives the IRS the authority to disregard a period of time in determining whether any or all of the acts described in section 301.7508A-1(c) were performed within the time prescribed.

Section 301.7508A-1(c) lists acts that may be postponed. In addition to the listed acts, Section 301.7508A-1(c)(1)(vii) includes any other act specified in a revenue ruling, revenue procedure, notice, announcement, news release, or other guidance published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin. Revenue Procedure 2004-13, published in 2004-4 I.R.B. at 335-356, provides an updated list of time-sensitive acts, the performance of which may be postponed under section 7508A.

RESCISSIONS:
EXPIRATION DATE: Continuing

Section 15.12 of Revenue Procedure 2004-13 lists the following act related to the WOTC and WtWTC Program as one that can be postponed under 26 U.S.C. 7508A:

“Sec. 51(d)(12)(A)(ii)(I) and 51A(d)(1) -- An employer seeking the Work Opportunity Credit or the Welfare-to-Work Credit with respect to an individual must submit Form 8850, Pre-Screening Notice and Certification Request for the Work Opportunity and Welfare-to-Work Credits, to the State Employment Security Agency not later than the 21st day after the individual begins work for the employer.”

Postponements under these IRS provisions are not automatically available if a disaster occurs. Rather, the IRS, generally, publishes a notice or news release authorizing a postponement for a specified extension period that is available to “affected taxpayers.”

20 CFR 301.7508A-1(d)(1) defines “affected taxpayer” as including any business entity or sole proprietor whose principal place of business is located in a covered disaster area, and any business entity or sole proprietor whose principal place of business is not located in a covered disaster area, but whose records necessary to meet a deadline for an act covered by in section 301.7508A-1(c) are maintained in a covered disaster area.

Section 301.7508A-1(d)(2) defines “covered disaster area” as an area of a Presidentially declared disaster to which the IRS has determined section 301.7508A-1(b) applies.

4. Information. The IRS has issued a series of news releases, available on its website, announcing special filing “relief periods” for “tax payers” in PDAs struck by recent tropical storms and hurricanes. As explained above, WOTC/WtWTC certification requests from employers and consultants within the PDAs (or whose records are within a PDA) are eligible for this relief. This relief is a measure similar to the one granted as a result of the September 11, 2001 terrorists attacks in New York and Arlington County in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Affected taxpayers described in any of these news releases can postpone the due dates of their IRS Forms 8850 until (in some cases) December 30, 2004. Taxpayers should mark the top margin of IRS Form 8850 in red with the appropriate disaster designation. The IRS Forms 8850 that can be postponed are those due on or after the date on which the storm or hurricane struck. Below is a list of news releases each identifying the storm or hurricane, the affected states, the date the storm or hurricane first hit the area, the final date of the extension period and the disaster designation.

List of News Releases:

IR-2004-108 — Tropical Storm Bonnie and Hurricane Charley — affected Florida counties — struck 8/11-30/04 — extended through 12/30/04.

IR-2004-115 — Hurricane Frances — affected Florida counties — struck beginning 9/3/04 — extended through 12/30/04.

FL 2004-14/NFL 2004-18 — Hurricane Jeanne — affected Florida counties — struck beginning 9/24/04 — extended through 12/30/04.

IR-2004-118 — Hurricane Ivan — affected Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi counties — struck beginning 9/13/04 — extended through 12/30/04.

List of Expired News Releases (in case of backlogs):

NC04-74 — Tropical Storm Gaston — affected Virginia counties — struck 8/30-9/8/04 — extended through 11/3/04.

NC04-76 — Tropical Storm Frances — affected North Carolina counties — struck 9/7-12/04 — extended through 11/9/04. The extension period for counties also struck by Hurricane Ivan is 11/18/04.

NGA-04-03/SGA-2004-14 — Hurricane Ivan — affected Georgia counties — struck beginning 9/14/04 — extended through 11/18/04.

Unnumbered — severe storms and flooding — affected Ohio counties — struck beginning 8/27/04 — extended through 11/18/04.

IRS PA-2004-60 — Tropical Depressions Frances and Ivan — affected Pennsylvania counties — struck beginning 9/8/04 — extended through 11/18/04.

NC04-81 — Hurricane Ivan — affected North Carolina counties — struck beginning 9/16/04 — extended through 11/18/04.

Unnumbered — severe storms, flooding and landslides — affected West Virginia counties — struck 9/16-27/04 — extended through 11/18/04.

NJ-2004-49 — Tropical Depression Ivan — affected New Jersey counties — struck 9/18-10/1 — extended through 12/1/04.

NY-2004-36 — Tropical Depression Ivan — affected New York counties — struck 9/16-9/24 — extended through 12/1/04.

SC05-04 — Tropical Storm Frances — affected South Carolina counties — struck 9/6-10/11 — extended through 12/7/04.

Unnumbered — Severe storms and flooding — affected Minnesota counties — struck 9/14-27/04 — extended through 12/7/04 — “Severe Storms — MN.”

NY-2004-47 — affected “New York Floods, 14 counties” — struck from 8/13/04 through 9/16/04 — extended through 12/16/04.

VA-2004-67 — remnants of hurricane Jeanne — affected Virginia counties — struck beginning 9/27/04 — extended through 12/20/04 — “Hurricane Jeanne - VA.”

To learn the affected counties in each state and the disaster designation, it will be necessary to check the news releases. The IRS updates news releases as new disaster areas pertaining to a particular event are declared. The most recent version of each news release can be found at http://www.irs.gov. To access this information, SWAs and employers should follow these simple steps: from the home page, click on Newsroom at the top. Then click on Disaster Relief under Related Topics in the left hand column. Then click on state news links.

Neither IRS nor this office will issue additional advisories after future disasters. This TEGL provides specific universal information that applies to similar or different disasters. In the future, when any area in the country is designated a disaster area by the President, go to www.irs.gov to learn the particulars for that disaster. If a link to the disaster is not on the homepage, click on Newsroom and follow the instructions in the paragraph above.

5. Guidance to SWAs. For all applicable deadlines, a timely postmark or equivalent from a private delivery service serves as sufficient evidence of timely filing if the SWA receives the IRS Form 8850 after the postponed deadline. For a list of acceptable private delivery services for purposes of submitting IRS Form 8850 to the SWA, see Notice 2001-62.

6. Action Requested. Recipients are requested to distribute this TEGL, with Attachment, to all WOTC State Coordinators, related program staff, employers and consultants and other interested partners.

7. Inquiries. Questions should be directed to the WOTC Regional Coordinators.

8. Attachment. Notice 2001-62.

ATTACHMENT: Notice 2001-62

The ETA advisory page labels its linked attachment "Notice 2001-62," but that PDF is a five-page excerpt from a printout of Revenue Procedure 2004-13. The official IRS copy of the named notice follows: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-01-62.pdf. The differently titled ETA attachment is available at https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ETA/advisories/TEGL/2005/TEGL30-04_Attach.pdf.

Part III - Administrative, Procedural, and Miscellaneous

Designated Private Delivery Services

Notice 2001-62

This notice updates the list of designated private delivery services (“designated PDSs”) set forth in Notice 99-41, 1999-2 C.B. 325, for purposes of the timely mailing treated as timely filing/paying rule of section 7502 of the Internal Revenue Code, effective September 1, 2001. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is adding two new delivery services to the list of designated PDSs. Also, this notice modifies Rev. Proc. 97-19, 1997-1 C.B. 644, to provide a new address for a PDS to submit its written application for designation. This new address will also be used to request administrative review of a letter of denial of designation, appeal a letter confirming the denial of designation, provide written notification of any change in application information, and appeal a proposed revocation letter. Section 7502(f) authorizes the Secretary to designate certain PDSs for the timely mailing treated as timely filing/paying rule of section 7502. Rev. Proc. 97-19 provides the criteria currently applicable for designation of a PDS. Notice 97-26, 1997-1 C.B. 413, provides special rules to determine the date that will be treated as the postmark date for purposes of section 7502. Notice 97-50, 1997-2 C.B. 305, modifying Rev. Proc. 97-19 and Notice 97-26, provides that each year there will be only one application period to apply for designation, which will end on June 30th. Notice 99-41 provides that the IRS will publish a subsequent notice providing a new list of designated PDSs only if a designated PDS (or service) is added to, or removed from, the current list. Effective September 1, 2001, the list of designated PDSs is as follows:

1. Airborne Express (Airborne): Overnight Air Express Service, Next Afternoon Service, and Second Day Service;

2. DHL Worldwide Express (DHL): DHL "Same Day" Service and DHL USA Overnight;

3. Federal Express (FedEx): FedEx Priority Overnight, FedEx Standard Overnight, and FedEx 2 Day; and

4. United Parcel Service (UPS): UPS Next Day Air, UPS Next Day Air Saver, UPS 2nd Day Air, UPS 2nd Day Air A.M, UPS Worldwide Express Plus, and UPS Worldwide Express.

UPS Worldwide Express Plus and UPS Worldwide Express are added to the list published in Notice 99-41. Both of these services provide delivery services to the United States from foreign countries. Airborne, DHL, FedEx, and UPS are not designated with respect to any type of delivery service not identified above. The list of designated PDSs and services set forth above will remain in effect until further notice. The IRS will publish a subsequent notice setting forth a new list only if a designated PDS (or service) is added to, or removed from, the current list, or if there is a change to the application and/or appeal procedures. Delivery services that wish to be designated in time for an upcoming filing season must continue to submit applications by June 30th of the year preceding that filing season, as required by Rev. Proc. 97-19 (as modified by Notice 97-50). Notice 97-26 continues to provide special rules used to determine the date that will be treated as the postmark date for purposes of section 7502. As a result of the IRS’s reorganization, the application addresses listed in section 6 of Rev. Proc. 97-19 are no longer correct. Section 6 of Rev. Proc. 97-19 is modified to provide that a PDS may now submit its written application by mailing it to:

Internal Revenue Service
Attn: Director, Submission Processing W:CAS:SP
New Carrollton Federal Building
5000 Ellin Road
Lanham, MD 20706

Applications will no longer be accepted by hand delivery at the Courier’s Desk located at 1111 Constitution Avenue, N.W. The above address is also where a PDS may write to: (1) obtain administrative review of a letter of denial of designation under section 9.03 of Rev. Proc. 97-19; (2) appeal a letter confirming the denial of designation under section 9.06 of Rev. Proc. 97-19; (3) provide prompt written notification to the IRS of any change in application information under section 10.01 of Rev. Proc. 97-19; and (4) appeal the issuance of a proposed revocation letter under section 12.03 of Rev. Proc. 97-19.

EFFECT ON OTHER DOCUMENTS

Revenue Procedure 97-19 is modified. Notice 99-41 is modified and, as so modified, is superseded.

EFFECTIVE DATE

This notice is effective on September 1, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

The principal author of this notice is Charles A. Hall of the Office of Associate Chief Counsel, Procedure and Administration (Administrative Provisions and Judicial Practice Division). For further information regarding this notice contact Charles A. Hall at (202) 622-4940 (not a toll-free call).