IRS grants filing extension to storm victims

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- After granting a two-day filing extension earlier this week, the IRS has extended for an additional week the time taxpayers affected by the nor'easter will have to file their federal tax returns.

Taxpayers in the Northeast who were affected by the nor'easter on April 16 may now file their federal tax returns up until 11:59 p.m. on April 26, a week and two days beyond the original deadline, the IRS announced Wednesday evening.

IRS spokesman Terry Lemons said the extension applies to taxpayers "generally in the Northeastern corridor" who were affected by the storm on April 16 in a way that prevents them from meeting the original April 17 filing deadline - for example, because of power outages or missed flights.

If you take advantage of the extension and you're mailing in a paper return, write "April 16 Storm" on the pages of your return. If you're filing electronically, select the "disaster" feature on your software.

It's not clear yet whether the affected states will themselves extend their deadlines to match the new federal deadline. Most in the Northeast had changed their to April 19 after the IRS's initial announcement. To find out if your state has changed its deadline, check its department of taxation Web site, the link to which you can find here.

If you have yet to file your return, here are some last-minute tax tips to ease the process, including a guide to filing for an automatic 6-month extension.

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Last-minute tax tips