Did California Extend the Tax Deadline for Disasters?

California extends state tax filing and payment deadlines for taxpayers in counties covered by a disaster declaration, and it has issued several such extensions recently. The largest was the California tax deadline extension for disasters issued after the January 2025 Los Angeles County wildfires, which pushed state filing and payment obligations for affected taxpayers to October 15, 2025.¹ Separate 2025 declarations covered Ventura, Mono, Calaveras, Tuolumne, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara counties, each with its own postponement window.² Whether an extension applies to you depends on where you live or do business, and claiming it takes a specific step on your return.

Who Qualifies

Eligibility is primarily geographic. You qualify for a postponement if your principal residence or principal place of business sits in a county named in the disaster declaration.¹ The Franchise Tax Board publishes a disaster code list that identifies the exact counties included for each event.²

You can also qualify from outside the disaster area. If your tax records are held by a preparer whose office is inside a covered county, you get the same postponement. The FTB recommends keeping documentation such as utility bills or bank statements that establish either your address in the area or your preparer’s location there.³

Two kinds of declarations can trigger relief: a presidential disaster declaration through FEMA, or a state of emergency declared by the Governor. Sometimes both apply, and sometimes only one does. For the January 2025 fire event, Los Angeles County was covered by both, while Ventura County was covered by only the gubernatorial declaration.² For purposes of moving filing and payment deadlines, the effect is the same.

The IRS applies its own eligibility rules on the federal side. Those cover residents of the disaster area, businesses based there, anyone whose records are kept in the area, recognized relief workers, and anyone who was visiting and was injured or killed.⁴ If your IRS address is in a covered county, the federal relief is applied automatically. If you qualify only because your records are located there, you have to call IRS Special Services to request it.

Which Deadlines Move

California disaster postponements sweep in essentially every major state tax obligation that falls inside the postponement window. For the Los Angeles County fires, the FTB listed the following as covered:⁵

Personal income tax returns (Form 540) and any balance due.
Business entity returns, including Form 100/100W for corporations, Form 565 for partnerships, and S corporation returns.
Quarterly estimated tax installments for individuals and businesses that come due in the window.
Fiduciary returns (Form 541) for estates and trusts.
Tax-exempt organization returns (Form 199).
The $800 LLC annual tax.⁶

Watch one subtle point. A payment that is originally due on the same date as the end of the postponement period is not pushed further out. During the LA County extension, estimated payments originally due October 15, 2025, stayed due that day.¹

Current California Disaster Extensions

Beyond the January 2025 Los Angeles County fires, several other 2025 events have triggered their own state postponements:²

Gifford Fire, August 2025, covering San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, declared in December 2025.
Pack Fire, November 2025, covering Mono County.
TCU Lightning Complex Fires, September 2025, covering Calaveras and Tuolumne counties.
Franklin Fire, December 2024, limited to the City of Malibu in Los Angeles County, declared in June 2025.

Each event has its own postponement period and its own covered counties. New declarations can be issued at any time, so the FTB’s emergency tax relief page is the authoritative place to check whether an extension currently applies to your county.⁷

Federal relief for the January 2025 Los Angeles County fires matched the state side. IRS Notice IR-2025-10 postponed federal deadlines to October 15, 2025, including individual returns and payments normally due April 15, calendar-year partnership and S corporation returns due March 17, corporate and fiduciary returns, quarterly payroll and excise returns, and calendar-year tax-exempt organization returns due May 15. The federal notice also gave affected taxpayers until October 15, 2025, to make 2024 IRA and health savings account contributions, which normally close with the April filing deadline.⁸

How to Claim the Extension on Your Return

The FTB needs to see that your return qualifies for disaster relief, and the method depends on how you file.

On a paper return, write the name of the disaster at the top of the first page in blue or black ink, along with the year the loss occurred. For example: “Disaster: Los Angeles County Fires 2025.”⁹ The FTB specifies blue or black ink, not red, even though older guidance in some places suggests otherwise.¹⁰

If you e-file, follow your software’s prompts to enter the disaster information. Most tax software has a disaster code field during the final review. You’ll need the specific code from the FTB’s list — code 157 identifies the January 2025 Los Angeles County fires and windstorm, for instance.²

If a Penalty Notice Arrives Anyway

Automated systems sometimes issue penalty notices to taxpayers who qualify for relief. If this happens, call the number on the notice. For the Los Angeles County fires, the FTB set up a dedicated disaster hotline at 888-825-9868, plus a separate email address.¹¹ Have your FTB identification number ready, along with the address where you lived or operated during the disaster. These issues typically clear up without a formal appeal.

Penalties and Interest if You Miss the New Date

File and pay within the postponement period and the FTB cancels both interest and penalties on unpaid income tax for the full length of the extension.¹⁰ Miss the extended date and the usual rules apply from the new due date forward: a 5% monthly late-filing penalty on the unpaid balance, up to 25%.¹²

Revenue and Taxation Code section 19131 allows a “reasonable cause” waiver when the failure to file was not due to willful neglect.¹³ Being affected by a disaster generally meets that standard, but you have to raise it with the FTB in response to any penalty notice.

What the State Extension Does Not Cover

Two boundaries matter. First, sales tax, use tax, and other fees administered by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration run on a separate disaster relief program. CDTFA typically grants up to three months to file and pay, and its covered-county list for a given event sometimes differs from the FTB’s.¹⁴ A state income tax extension does not move your CDTFA deadlines.

Second, the extended date for IRA and HSA contributions is a federal feature of IRS disaster postponements, not a California one.⁸ If you plan to rely on it, confirm with your plan administrator that the IRS postponement reaches your specific account and contribution year.

1
Franchise Tax Board. Los Angeles County Fires
2
Franchise Tax Board. List of California Disaster Codes
3
Franchise Tax Board. Help With Disaster Relief
4
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Announces Tax Relief for Taxpayers Impacted by Severe Storms
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Franchise Tax Board. Disaster Declaration Tax Payments
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Franchise Tax Board. 2026 Instructions for Form FTB 3522 LLC Tax Voucher
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Franchise Tax Board. Emergency Tax Postponement
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Internal Revenue Service. IRS California Wildfire Victims Qualify for Tax Relief
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Franchise Tax Board. FTB Publication 1034 – 2025 Disaster Loss How to Claim a State Tax Deduction
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Franchise Tax Board. Disaster Loss Deduction
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Franchise Tax Board. Tax News June 2025 – Los Angeles County Disaster
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Franchise Tax Board. Common Penalties and Fees
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California Legislative Information. California Code RTC 19131
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California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. State of Emergency Tax Relief