It May Not Be Too Late to Make a 2011 IRA or Roth IRA Contribution

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

By Jeffery Levine, IRA Technical Expert
Follow Me on Twitter: @IRAGuru4EdSlott

Wait a minute? Isn’t the deadline for making an IRA or Roth IRA contribution the tax filing deadline, not including extensions? You bet your bottom dollar it is! Then how, you might ask, can you possibly make a 2011 IRA contribution on May 9, 2012 – well after the general filing deadline of April 17, 2012?

It’s rather simple really. While most people’s filing deadline was April 17, 2012, a small portion of the population received a much-needed break due to some bad weather. Earlier in 2012, severe storms and high winds affected people in several states including West Virginia, Tennessee, Indiana and Kentucky. A number of counties in each of these states were declared federal disaster areas.

As federally declared disaster areas, IRS has the authority to extend certain deadlines for those that live in, or have a business in the affected areas. Accordingly, IRS has extended the tax filing deadline for many people in the affected areas to May 31, 2012. 

The tax code does not specify an exact date that IRA contributions must be made by. Instead, the tax code ties that date (the latest date to make an IRA contribution) to an individual’s filing deadline, not counting any extensions that are filed. As a result, the deadline to make a 2011 IRA or Roth IRA contribution has been automatically extended to May 31, 2012 if you live in certain automatically covered counties.

For more information or to view the most current list of automatically covered counties, visit the IRS’ “Tax Relief in Disaster Situations” website at:

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=108362,00.html

If you were impacted by severe weather but don’t reside or have a business in one of the automatically covered areas, you may still be eligible for relief. You can request relief by calling the IRS disaster hotline at 866-562-5227.
 

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