- Tennessee taxpayers now have until May 22, 2026 to file and pay federal taxes after Winter Storm Fern.
- Automatic relief applies to over 20 designated counties, including Davidson, Rutherford, Williamson, and Wilson for most tax obligations.
- The postponement covers returns and payments originally due between January 22 and May 22, 2026.
(TENNESSEE) — The Internal Revenue Service extended federal tax filing and payment deadlines to May 22, 2026 for individuals and businesses in Tennessee affected by Winter Storm Fern, giving automatic relief to taxpayers in more than 20 designated counties.
The storm began on January 22, 2026, and the relief covers returns and payments originally due on or after January 22, 2026, and before May 22, 2026, under section 7508A of the Internal Revenue Code.
The agency announced the extension in IRS notice TN-2026-01 on April 3, 2026. It applies automatically in the designated areas, meaning eligible taxpayers do not need to take separate action to obtain the extra time for covered filings and payments.
That relief reaches both individuals and businesses. It also extends beyond residents physically located inside the disaster zone, because taxpayers whose records are in affected counties may qualify even if they are outside the designated areas.
Among the counties identified as examples are Davidson, Rutherford, Williamson, and Wilson. The IRS said the relief applies in over 20 designated Tennessee counties, without limiting it to those four.
For many households, the most immediate effect is on individual income tax returns and payments. Those obligations fall within the postponement if their original due dates land during the relief window that runs from January 22, 2026 to May 22, 2026.
Businesses also get extra time on a broad range of federal obligations. The covered filings include corporate returns, estate returns, trust returns, partnership returns and S corporation returns with original or extended due dates that fall within the postponement period.
The extension also reaches estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax returns. Tax-exempt organization information returns and employment and excise tax returns with original or extended due dates during the same period are covered as well.
Quarterly payroll and certain excise tax returns due February 2, 2026, and April 30, 2026, are part of the relief. That gives employers in the affected counties more time to meet filing requirements tied to those dates.
The notice also covers other time-sensitive actions under Treas. Reg. § 301.7508A-1(c)(1) and Rev. Proc. 2018-58. In practice, that means the postponement extends beyond standard annual returns and reaches a wider set of federal tax deadlines that fall inside the disaster window.
The IRS paired that filing extension with penalty relief for some deposits. Penalties on payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after January 22, 2026, and before February 6, 2026, may be abated if the deposits were made by February 6, 2026.
That provision matters because filing relief and deposit relief do not always operate on the same timetable. Here, the IRS gave taxpayers until May 22, 2026 for many filings and payments, while setting a separate February 6, 2026 date for certain payroll and excise tax deposits to qualify for penalty abatement.
Taxpayers who receive late-filing or late-payment penalty notices covering due dates within the relief period do not have to treat those notices as final. The IRS said they should call the number on the notice to request abatement.
That instruction reflects how disaster relief is often administered after notices have already been generated. A taxpayer may qualify for postponed deadlines automatically and still need to contact the agency if a penalty notice was issued for a due date that falls inside the relief period.
The relief also reaches some taxpayers outside the designated counties. People and businesses located elsewhere but whose necessary records are in affected counties may contact the IRS to request the same postponement.
That point broadens the practical reach of the announcement. A business based outside the designated area, for example, may still depend on records kept in an affected county and may seek relief on that basis.
The agency said additional disaster-related benefits may apply as well, including the ability to claim certain losses. Those benefits sit alongside the filing and payment extension and can affect how taxpayers account for storm-related damage.
For Tennessee taxpayers trying to sort out which obligations moved and which did not, the timeline is central. Winter Storm Fern began on January 22, 2026, and the postponement applies to due dates that fall on or after that day and before May 22, 2026.
That window captures a wide slice of the spring tax calendar. It includes not only individual returns and payments, but also business filings, organization returns and specified payroll and excise filings that otherwise would have come due during the same stretch.
The announcement arrived on April 3, 2026, in IRS notice TN-2026-01, after the storm had already been affecting taxpayers for weeks. By making the relief automatic in designated counties, the IRS removed the need for most eligible filers there to submit a separate request for extra time.
Automatic relief, however, does not mean every taxpayer should ignore correspondence. Anyone who gets a late-filing or late-payment notice for a due date within the covered period still needs to use the number on that notice to seek abatement.
The Tennessee action also fits into a pattern of federal tax relief after severe weather in the state. The IRS said the current relief is distinct from earlier Tennessee storm relief, including the November 3, 2025 extension for storms beginning April 2, 2025 under TN-2025-02.
That comparison separates the Winter Storm Fern relief from prior disaster actions and helps define which event controls which deadline. Taxpayers who received earlier Tennessee relief cannot assume it governs the new postponement, because this extension is tied to a different storm and a different notice.
The distinction matters for recordkeeping and compliance. A filer reviewing multiple postponements needs to match the storm event, the relevant counties and the notice number to the return or payment at issue.
For Tennessee residents, the named examples of Davidson, Rutherford, Williamson and Wilson counties will likely stand out first. Yet the IRS framed the eligible area more broadly, saying the automatic relief reaches over 20 designated Tennessee counties.
That broader scope means the announcement is not limited to the state’s largest urban centers. The extension reaches a wider group of households, employers, businesses and organizations across Tennessee that fall within the disaster designation.
The list of covered filings also shows that the IRS did not confine the relief to the April income tax deadline. Estate and trust returns, partnership and S corporation returns, tax-exempt organization information returns, employment tax returns and excise tax returns all appear in the notice when their original or extended due dates fall inside the postponement period.
For professional firms and business owners, that breadth may be as important as the new end date. A single taxpayer can have several federal obligations with different due dates, and the notice groups many of them under the same disaster-related postponement.
The same is true for fiduciaries and exempt organizations. Estates, trusts and tax-exempt entities often work on filing schedules distinct from individual taxpayers, and the IRS included them in the Tennessee relief so long as the deadlines fall within the January 22, 2026 to May 22, 2026 window.
The reference to other time-sensitive actions under Treas. Reg. § 301.7508A-1(c)(1) and Rev. Proc. 2018-58 adds another layer. It signals that the relief is not confined to the return types named individually and can extend to additional actions recognized under those authorities.
For taxpayers in the designated counties, the immediate takeaway is straightforward. Covered federal filings and payments that would have been due between January 22, 2026 and before May 22, 2026 now move to May 22, 2026.
For taxpayers outside those counties who keep records in the disaster area, the path is different but still open. They may contact the IRS to request relief.
The agency also pointed taxpayers to its Tennessee disaster relief information for more guidance and updates. With the filing calendar compressed by Winter Storm Fern and the extension tied to IRS notice TN-2026-01, the new federal deadline now centers on one date: May 22, 2026.
