On July 24, 2025, President Trump signed the Filing Relief for Natural Disasters Act (H.R. 517) into law. This new law:
- Authorizes the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to grant disaster relief extensions for federal tax related deadlines for qualified state declared disasters, which expands the relief beyond just federally declared events
- Lengthens the automatic extension period of certain federal tax related deadlines from 60 to 120 days once a qualified federal or state disaster declaration is issued
The new rules are effective for qualified disaster declarations made after the date of enactment, July 24, 2025. The longer 120-day window and postponement authority for state-level disaster declarations apply prospectively to new disaster declarations—previous disasters remain subject to the 60-day rule unless the IRS issues separate guidance.
This Benefits Alert discusses the expanded disaster relief available under the Internal Revenue Code (IRC, or Code) and how this new law impacts employer-sponsored defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) plans. Please note that this law operates independently of the disaster related distributions and loans enacted under SECURE 2.0.
Events that qualify for relief
IRC § 7508A gives the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department authority to postpone certain federal tax related deadlines up to one year for individuals and businesses that are affected by federally declared disasters, significant fires, or terroristic or military actions. These extensions help protect those affected from interest and penalties, excise taxes, and qualification failures related to retirement plans for late filing, late payment, or late actions. The IRS will publish a notice or guidance authorizing the postponement of the deadlines related to a particular disaster and post it on their website.
Federally declared disasters. Under IRC § 7508A, a disaster area generally refers to any geographic area that the President of the United States—acting through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)—has officially declared a major disaster and for which direct federal financial assistance has been authorized for individuals and households.
State declared disasters. The new law codifies a process that allows state1 governors (or in the case of the District of Columbia, the mayor) to request IRC § 7508A relief for qualified state declared disasters, even in the absence of a FEMA major disaster declaration. Upon request by a qualifying state and after consulting with FEMA, the IRS may extend deadlines for any qualified state declared disaster. A qualified state declared disaster is any natural catastrophe2 deemed by the governor to be severe and significant enough to justify deadline relief. Disasters that span multiple states require the governor of each state to request relief. If a state does not request relief, affected taxpayers in that state are not eligible for the extended deadlines (absent such disaster qualifying as a federally declared disaster).
Qualified taxpayers eligible for relief
IRC § 7508A and Treasury Regulation 301.7508A-1 list the affected taxpayers that qualify for disaster related deadline extensions, and include, but are not limited to:
- Any individual whose principal residence (whether owned or rented) is in a qualifying disaster area
- Any business entity or sole business owner whose principal place of business is in a disaster area
- Any taxpayer whose records necessary to meet required deadlines are kept in a disaster area, even if the taxpayer is located elsewhere
- Any individual who is killed or injured because of the disaster while visiting a disaster area
- For a joint return, the spouse of any of the individuals above
- Any other person the IRS determines is affected by the disaster
Deadlines that may be extended for DB and DC plans
Rev. Proc. 2018-58 and Treasury Regulation 301.7508A-1 list the retirement plan related deadlines that may be extended for presidentially declared disasters. With the enactment of H.R. 517, these extended deadlines also apply to qualified state declared disasters. If a deadline is required under the Code—or is related to a Code-controlled filing or tax deduction—disaster relief under IRC § 7508A may extend the time available for a retirement plan sponsor, plan administrator, participant, or beneficiary to complete certain actions.
The IRS may postpone all or only certain deadlines listed in the revenue procedure depending on the nature and scope of the disaster declaration. Examples of plan related items that may be eligible for relief are provided below.
Employer contributions
For DB plans, this may allow for extensions to make any minimum required contributions (including quarterly installments). Excise taxes related to late DB funding may also be suspended for the length of the relief period. For DC plans, this may apply to deductible employer matching or profit sharing contributions or to required employer contributions to money purchase pension plans.
Government filings
Extensions may apply to various IRS filings, including:
- Form 5500 (plan reporting)
- Form 8955-SSA (reporting terminated vested participants)
- Form 5330 (reporting for items such as excise taxes for late funding, nondeductible contributions, prohibited transactions, refunds to correct failed ADP and/or ACP nondiscrimination tests made after 2½ months (or six months for an eligible automatic contribution arrangement (EACA)) after plan year-end or reversions of terminated DB plan assets to employers)
- Filings due inside the relief window
- Corporate or partnership income tax returns (Forms 1120, 1120-S, 1065) when the filing deadline controls plan contribution deductions.
- Funding waiver applications (if the due date falls within the disaster window)
- Initial and final adjusted funding target attainment percentage (AFTAP) certifications for single employer plans (e.g., for a calendar year plan, the March 31 initial AFTAP and the October 1 final AFTAP)
- Benefit restriction notices for single employer plans under IRC § 436.
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) and U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) filing relief require separate agency action, but historically both agencies follow the IRS lead. Plan sponsors and service providers should not rely on an IRS notice outlining disaster relief for deadline extensions for other agencies.
Participant-level transactions that have a statutory deadline
This includes:
- § 401(a)(9) required minimum distributions
- 60-day rollover period for distributions from qualified plans, 403(b) plans, and governmental 457(b) plans
- Repayment and cure periods for plan loans
- Corrections of excess deferrals that must be distributed by April 15 of the following tax year
- Corrections of excess contributions for failed ADP and/or ACP nondiscrimination tests that must be distributed within 2½ months (or six months for an EACA) after plan year end to avoid excise taxes
The extensions do not automatically cover the following:
- ERISA required participant notices and disclosures (e.g., quarterly benefit statements, blackout notices, 404a-5 fee disclosures) unless the DOL issues its own relief
- PBGC required filings (e.g., premium payments, reportable event notices, § 4010 submissions, termination filings) unless PBGC provides their own relief
Mandatory 120-day extension
The federal tax related deadlines above are automatically extended from the earliest incident day specified in the disaster declaration to 120 days (up from 60 days prior to H.R. 517) after the later of (1) the earliest incident date or (2) the date the disaster was officially declared. If more than one disaster declaration is issued for the same disaster area within a 120-day span (up from 60 days), each declaration gets its own separate 120-day deadline extension (up from 60 days).
The IRS may grant an additional discretionary extension of up to one year on top of—or overlapping with—the 120-day mandatory extension.
Compliance calendars
Milliman publishes compliance calendars for single-employer DB plans, multiemployer DB plans, and DC plans each year. Our 2025 compliance calendars show the statutory or regulatory deadlines for calendar year plans before any disaster relief extensions.
Final thoughts
The Filing Relief for Natural Disasters Act expands the relief provided by IRC § 7508A. For employer-sponsored DB and DC plans, this means potentially more access to deadline extensions and a 120-day automatic grace period for new federal and state disaster declarations. Because a postponed deadline can move subsequent due dates, each new IRS disaster notice should prompt plan sponsors and their service providers to re-examine the entire compliance calendar, confirm which task deadlines move, and communicate with affected participants.
Milliman consultants are ready to help plan sponsors stay on top of their compliance requirements if a disaster strikes. Please reach out to your Milliman consultantwith any questions.
1 The Filing Relief for Natural Disasters Act provides that “state” includes the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
2 The Filing Relief for Natural Disasters Act notes that a qualified state declared disaster means a “natural catastrophe (including any hurricane, tornado, storm, high water, winddriven water, tidal wave, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm, or drought), or, regardless of cause, any fire, flood, or explosion, in any part of the State...”