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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 8 / Wednesday, January 13, 2021 / Proposed Rules
period of time. In those cases, the calculation of the mandatory 60-day postponement period could result in a prolonged postponement of specified time-sensitive acts that could span well beyond the one-year discretionary period authorized under section 7508Aa. It defies logic for the Secretarys discretionary postponement period under section 7508Aa to be limited to a period of up to 1 year, and there be no limit on the mandatory 60-day postponement period under section 7508Ad. If section 7508Ad were interpreted as requiring such prolonged postponement periods, that interpretation would be contrary to the directive of section 7508Ad1 that the mandatory 60-day postponement period must be disregarded in the same manner as a period specified under section 7508Aa. For the foregoing reasons, these proposed regulations provide that the phrase shall be disregarded in the same manner as a period specified under subsection a in section 7508Ad1 means that the mandatory postponement period cannot exceed the one-year period authorized under section 7508Aa.
Further ambiguities arise when the declaration establishing a Federally declared disaster for purposes of section 7508A does not specify any incident date. Under such circumstances, it is not possible to apply the statutory language in section 7508Ad1 to provide relief beginning on the earliest incident date specified in the declaration and ending on the date which is 60 days after the latest incident date so specified. For that reason, these proposed regulations provide that where a declaration establishing a Federally declared disaster for purposes of section 7508A does not specify an incident date, there is no mandatory period for relief under section 7508Ad. If the Secretary determines to postpone timesensitive tax acts in response to such a declaration, under the discretionary authority in section 7508Aa, the only postponement period will be the period determined by the Secretary under 7508Aa.
These proposed regulations apply only to the relief that is made available under section 7508A in the event of a Federally declared disaster. It does not apply to other relief provisions under other provisions of the Code that automatically arise as a result of a Federally declared disaster, such as the loss provisions under section 165 of the Code.
III. Federally Declared Disasters As noted above, the term Federally declared disaster is defined in section
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165i5 as any disaster subsequently determined by the President of the United States to warrant assistance by the Federal Government under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. The term Federally declared disaster does not appear in the Stafford Act, but the term disaster is used in the Stafford Act to refer to either an emergency or a major disaster declared by the President in accordance with the procedures contained therein. The use of different terminology between the Code and the Stafford Act could cause confusion as to whether a declaration of an emergency under the Stafford Act establishes a Federally declared disaster under the Code. Section 165i5 provides that a Federally declared disaster is any disaster that is determined to warrant assistance under the Stafford Act. Under the Stafford Act, the President can declare either an emergency or a major disaster.
There is no provision to declare a disaster, but the term disaster is used in the Stafford Act as an umbrella term that encompasses both an emergency and a major disaster. As a result, the term any disaster in section 165i5 encompasses both an emergency and a major disaster. The IRS
has previously acknowledged in multiple Revenue Rulings that Federally declared disasters include either an emergency or a major disaster declared under the Stafford Act. See Rev. Rul.
200329, 200311 I.R.B. 587 Mar. 17, 2003; Rev. Rul. 200211, 200210 I.R.B.
608 Mar. 11, 2002; Rev. Rul. 200115, 200113 I.R.B. 922 Mar. 26, 2001; and Rev. Rul. 200015, 200012 I.R.B. 774
Mar. 20, 2000. These proposed regulations formalize that clarification by amending the definition of Federally declared disaster in 1.16511b1 of the Income Tax Regulations to specifically provide that the term Federally declared disaster includes both a major disaster declared under section 401 of the Stafford Act and an emergency declared under section 501 of the Stafford Act.
IV. The COVID19 Pandemic The disaster relief provided under section 7508A in response to the COVID19 pandemic illustrates some of the provisions in these proposed regulations. The COVID19 pandemic became a Federally declared disaster for purposes of section 7508A on March 13, 2020, when the President issued his nationwide emergency declaration under section 501b of the Stafford
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Act.5 In response to that declaration, pursuant to the discretionary authority under section 7508Aa and b, the Secretary determined the taxpayers affected by the disaster, the timesensitive tax acts that should be postponed, and the time period for postponement. Those determinations were reflected in several notices released to the public beginning in late March. Notice 202017 was issued on March 18, 2020,6 Notice 202018, superseding Notice 202017, was issued on March 20, 2020,7 Notice 202020, amplifying Notice 202018, was issued on March 27, 2020,8 and Notice 2020
23, amplifying Notices 202018 and 202020, was issued on April 9, 2020.9
Additional notices continued to be released thereafter, as the Secretary continued to exercise his discretionary authority under section 7508Aa and b in response to the Presidents March 13 declaration, including a joint notice with the Department of Labor published on May 4, 2020,10 and Notice 202035, issued on May 28, 2020.11 Because the Presidents March 13 emergency declaration did not specify an incident date, there is no mandatory 60-day postponement period under section 7508Ad. The only postponement period provided under section 7508A
for the time-sensitive acts postponed in response to that declaration are the periods determined by the Secretary under section 7508Aa and b.
Subsequent to the Presidents March 13 nationwide emergency declaration, beginning on March 20, 2020, and continuing on almost a daily basis until April 13, 2020, the President approved major disaster declarations under section 401 of the Stafford Act for all 50
states, the District of Columbia, and 5
U.S. territories, in connection with the COVID19 pandemic. Those declarations specified an incident period of January 20, 2020 and continuing. The Secretary did not use his discretion under section 7508Aa to postpone any time-sensitive tax acts in response to those state-by-state declarations. As discussed earlier, a period for performing acts cannot be disregarded under section 7508Ad in the same manner as a period specified under section 7508Aa if no period for performing such acts is in fact disregarded under section 7508Aa in 5 https www.whitehouse.gov/briefingsstatements/letter-president-donald-j-trumpemergency-determination-stafford-act/.
6 202015 I.R.B. 590 April 6, 2020.
7 202015 I.R.B. 590 April 6, 2020.
8 202016 I.R.B. 660 April 13, 2020.
9 202018 I.R.B. 742 April 27, 2020.
10 85 FR 26351 May 4, 2020.
11 202025 I.R.B. 948 June 15, 2020.

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