Sponsors (2)
The bill accelerates and targets tax and relief tools to help residents, families, charities, and employers respond to Hurricanes Helene and Milton—improving near‑term liquidity and encouraging donations—while relying on narrow eligibility windows, temporary incentives, and added administrative requirements that may leave some affected people out or create longer‑term retirement and complexity trade‑offs.
Residents (homeowners and renters) who lived in presidentially declared disaster areas between Sept 28–Nov 2, 2024 become eligible for federal disaster relief for economic losses from Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Low‑income taxpayers in qualified hurricane areas can use prior‑year earned income to increase their Earned Income Credit (including for joint filers), likely boosting refunds or reducing taxes for affected families.
Increased tax incentives for cash donations to qualifying charities (through Dec 31, 2025), including allowing certain gifts to be treated as 2024 contributions and a limited increase for standard deduction filers, will likely raise donations to direct hurricane relief nonprofits.
Households harmed outside the specified Sept 28–Nov 2, 2024 window or in areas not covered by a Presidential major disaster declaration are excluded from relief, leaving many storm‑affected people without federal aid.
New documentation, election, and acknowledgment requirements (proof of residence/loss, contemporaneous charity acknowledgments, per‑contribution elections) create extra recordkeeping burdens that can delay benefit access and complicate giving.
Key provisions are temporary or limited (donation deduction through 2025, one‑time EIC substitution, $100,000 caps and temporary loan limits), so benefits may be short‑lived and insufficient for longer recovery or recurring hardship.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Temporary tax relief for residents of declared Hurricane Helene/Milton disaster areas: EIC prior-year substitution, enhanced charitable deduction, and penalty-free qualified retirement distributions with special rollover rules.
Official title: To provide tax relief for damages relating to Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Introduced January 3, 2025 by Vernon G. Buchanan · Last progress January 3, 2025
Provides temporary federal tax relief tied to Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton disaster areas. Affected residents can elect to use prior-year earned income to compute the Earned Income Credit for tax years that include the disaster period; individuals may treat certain retirement plan distributions as special qualified hurricane disaster distributions with relaxed penalties, rollover, and income-spreading rules; and donors who give cash to eligible charities for hurricane relief during a defined period may claim an enhanced, temporary charitable deduction with special carryforward and ordering rules.