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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
The Internal Revenue Service has further extended tax-filing and payment deadlines for residents of areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina.
Residents of the Katrina-affected areas now have through Jan. 3, 2006 to file tax returns, submit tax payments or make tax deposits for 2004 and estimated taxes for 2005, IRS Commissioner Mark Everson said Thurdsya at a press conference with Treasury Secretary John Snow.
Last week, the IRS said 64 Louisiana parishes, 52 Mississippi counties, six Alabama counties and three Florida counties would be eligible for the filing extensions, and that these areas would also be eligible for disaster-related tax relief.
Other relief measures granted to taxpayers in Katrina-ravaged areas include:
* Abatement of interest and late-filing, late-payment or failure-to-deposit penalties.
* Waiver of fees and expedition of requests for copies of previous returns.
* The choice to claim disaster-related casualty losses for the tax year 2004, which requires amending their returns if already filed but insures an earlier refund; or on their 2005 return, which means they may wait longer for money back since they can't file this year's return until January 2006 at the earliest.
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Read more on lenders lending a hand to Katrina victims.
FEMA is also offering financial relief by giving debit cards to those affected by the hurricane.
And advocacy groups have called on lawmakers to exempt Katrina victims from provisions of a new bankruptcy law set to go into effect this fall.
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